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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Friday, July 21, 2006

Meanwhile

I figure you're getting all the Israel-Lebanon news you could want in the 24/7 wall to wall coverage (if you're not, seek professional help either from your therapist or your cable company,) so, let's look elsewhere, like Afghanistan.
The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan today described the situation in the country as "close to anarchy" with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption.

The stark warning came from Lieutenant General David Richards, head of Nato's international security force in Afghanistan, who warned that western forces there were short of equipment and were "running out of time" if they were going to meet the expectations of the Afghan people.


Or perhaps Somalia, a country which Bin Laden mentioned as a focal point for his followers.

BAIDOA, Somalia - Somalia's top Islamic leader called Friday for a holy war against Ethiopia to drive out troops the largely Christian nation sent to protect the internationally backed Somali government.

Whether or not you agree with the premises of the 'war on terror', neither of these are positive developments towards peace in the world. All three of the US's main engagement points against Islamic movements are turning sour rapidly. (Somalia representing the "Horn of Africa," and I include Iraq.)

The 'war' is going very badly on almost every front. Perhaps it's time to revisit the offense vs. defense debate on terrorism, and now, with a bit more data, to look at whether it was better to invade Iraq as part of some harebrained scheme to create a "tsunami of democracy" rather than spending a fractional amount of that securing US ports, for instance.

(Of course, in March 2003, Colin Powell's State Department issued a report that said the theory of a "domino effect" of spreading democracies was bull. The Bush admin ignored that advice, too, of course. They broke it and hoooo boy have we bought it.)

Oh, and Bush still hasn't spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, and Condi Rice is still stalling her trip to Israel.

2 Comments:

  • "Perhaps it's time to revisit the offense vs. defense debate on terrorism, and now, with a bit more data, to look at whether it was better to invade Iraq as part of some harebrained scheme to create a "tsunami of democracy" rather than spending a fractional amount of that securing US ports, for instance."

    Nah, tha flag waving/kissing morons would never go with it. Neither would the military contractors, now that they've tasted blood.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:01 AM  

  • I don't know. The mood here is changing substantially.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 6:25 AM  

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