Goose has been categorically opposed to the war in Afghanistan from the beginning. Moose reluctantly supported it -- or perhaps believed it was justified would be a better way to describe her ambivalent position -- because of the clear evidence that the Taliban regime had given aid and comfort to the agents of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. At this point, there is unanimity in Roxie's World that the recent escalation of troops in Afghanistan is a high-risk move that likely comes too late to succeed and may well turn into the kind of quagmire the American military has sought to avoid since Vietnam.
Regardless of one's position on the war or the escalation, one cannot afford not to be paying attention to what is occurring in Afghanistan and Pakistan. People are dying. We have no right to tune it out. WaPo has an extensive package of articles and resources on the issue. The Times has a good piece today on how veterans of Iraq assess the challenges in Afghanistan. And here is a hard-hitting analysis by Chris Hedges which argues that we face defeat in Afghanistan because our purposes are confused and we are embroiled in a civil war.
Read, think, act. It's all we've ever asked of you, beloveds, and all that your citizenship requires of you. Get clicking.
Thanks for this, Rox. As you say, I have never supported the war in Afghanistan -- I just don't get what it will accomplish, and there's just too much dying. And I don't like a lot of dying, don't like it at all. So I urge your readers to click away and to think about what this war is costing us, least of all in $$$, which our nation and its citizens could use right now. But let's think about the costs not only in the lives of our soldiers, but in the many lives of Afghan citizens and soldiers.
ReplyDeletePeace, PEACE out,
Goose
Roxie, I have been reading some of your links, and got marvellously engrossed in Chris Hedges, at Alternet — he IS hard-hitting, the way good journalism should be! You said this before, what you ask, that is, staying tuned in, is only what we owe our citizenship. Thinking about that, I realized I have always been very grateful economically, and freedom-wise for being an American, but also often frustrated and very angry.
ReplyDeleteWe hear you on the anger and frustration, EI. And it's funny how that doesn't necessarily lessen (much) with a new administration that is so much more decent and tolerable and trying to do the right thing than the last one was. Whoever is in charge, citizens have to stay awake and hold their feet to the fire, I guess.
ReplyDeleteFor holding feet to the fire, the blogs are the first and last outpost. It truly is possible now, the old phrase — POWER TO THE PEOPLE! In my view, the people are far more competent to run the country than the government! Go Roxie, we love you ((-:
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