Politics : Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
So this is a pro-Biden post, in a backhand way.
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
And in the 1980's the U.S. also helped topple a progressive Marxist government in Afghanistan. There were actually unveiled women in the Afghan government in the 1980's. If we hadn't meddled in the first place Afghanistan might be on its way to becoming a modern state.
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Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
Weren't you one of the ones that had said that Biden would escalate military activity in the Middle East? Keep saying it, please!!
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
Dude, it's not over yet. Lol. If you don't think liberal Democrats over the past 70 years haven't been behind most these foreign interventions, you're incredibly naive.
I'm not a Trump fan, but he did resist escalation of the Afghan war and the military hated him for it.
I think they just want the Russians to move into Afghanistan and modernize it like they did in the 70's and 80's. Lol. Let Moscow handle it.
But Biden will do a full scale invasion of Syria. You watch.
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I'm not a Trump fan, but he did resist escalation of the Afghan war and the military hated him for it.
I think they just want the Russians to move into Afghanistan and modernize it like they did in the 70's and 80's. Lol. Let Moscow handle it.
But Biden will do a full scale invasion of Syria. You watch.
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"filmboards is a bold experiment in free speech and anarchy"
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Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
Don loves you, I gotta tell you. He did bupkis in terms of actual withdrawal, but when Sleepy Joe actually initiates it, you still have to credit Don.
You can't buy this kind of loyalty (we've tried).
You can't buy this kind of loyalty (we've tried).
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
Trump did try to withdraw last year but after he announced the plan the CIA leaked to the New York Times the claim that the Russians were paying to have U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Congress used that as an excuse to prevent withdrawal. Now that Biden has announced that troops will be gone by 9/11 the intelligence community has admitted there is no evidence for the bounty story. Very slick.
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
Deep stated!
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
The prophecy of Chuck Schumer came true:
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
Meh, I don't give a rat's ass about Trump's or Biden's tepid moves to dismantle one instance of American imperialism. The military industrial complex is not done by a long shot.
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"filmboards is a bold experiment in free speech and anarchy"
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"filmboards is a bold experiment in free speech and anarchy"
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Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
You light my fire
If we take the time to see with the heart and not with the mind, we shall see that we are surrounded completely by angels ~ Carlos Santana
If we take the time to see with the heart and not with the mind, we shall see that we are surrounded completely by angels ~ Carlos Santana
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
But Biden will do a full scale invasion of Syria. You watch.I really doubt that will happen. Even if the administration wanted to, and I don't think they do, the public reaction would prevent it. Without some catalyzing event like 9/11 nobody will support another ground war in the Middle East. When Obama went to Congress to get authorization for some airstrikes public opposition prevented it.
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
Agreed. If there hasn't been an international war in Syria with the atrocities that went on there, for years, it's hard to imagine what would draw any other country into that mess, now.
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
It takes a lot less than a 9/11 for the U.S. to invade a country.
Remember Iraq and "weapons of mass destruction"?
They'll find a canard. Syria borders our ally Israel.
All it will take is new videos of ISIS lopping off the heads of a few Americans. The American people will rally its support.
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Remember Iraq and "weapons of mass destruction"?
They'll find a canard. Syria borders our ally Israel.
All it will take is new videos of ISIS lopping off the heads of a few Americans. The American people will rally its support.
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Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
I don't think we would have invaded Iraq the second time without 9/11. According to polls before the invasion around half of Americans thought Saddam was involved in the attack, which was the intention of the Bush administration.
ISIS isn't what it used to be. I don't know if they control any significant territory in Syria anymore. Their leadership has been killed many times over. They haven't had any notable successes in years. I doubt they are attracting recruits like they used to. You can't sell a war on them being an existential threat.
ISIS isn't what it used to be. I don't know if they control any significant territory in Syria anymore. Their leadership has been killed many times over. They haven't had any notable successes in years. I doubt they are attracting recruits like they used to. You can't sell a war on them being an existential threat.
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
I don't think ISIS was ever much of anything beyond a small gang of terrorist media whores and murderers. But they inflamed passions.
My point here is that if the U.S. wants to intervene in Syria to buttress its power in the region, especially in defense of Israel, it will create some conflagration to impel the American people to support it, and Congress to approve it.
And it might very well be that Biden is deescalating American involvement in Afghanistan to clear the way for Syria.
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My point here is that if the U.S. wants to intervene in Syria to buttress its power in the region, especially in defense of Israel, it will create some conflagration to impel the American people to support it, and Congress to approve it.
And it might very well be that Biden is deescalating American involvement in Afghanistan to clear the way for Syria.
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Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
ISIS held a lot of territory. They took a few big cities in Iraq and came close to Baghdad. Despite being vastly outnumbered they were able to take on the Syrian and Iraqi militaries.
Syria is a failed state. It doesn't pose a threat to Israel. I hope the government has learned that invading and occupying a country does not give it power in the region.
Syria is a failed state. It doesn't pose a threat to Israel. I hope the government has learned that invading and occupying a country does not give it power in the region.
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
The territory ISIS gained in Iraq and Syria is a fair point. But the head choppers were just the more vocal members of a coalition.
I disagree. Chaos in Syria is definitely a terrorist launch threat to Israel.
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I disagree. Chaos in Syria is definitely a terrorist launch threat to Israel.
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Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
You have a point there. It's been failed and fragile states that have often allowed terrorists, insurgents and criminals to thrive and damage other countries (think Sudan, Somalia, Colombia and Afghanistan)
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
So do you think the U.S. is the world's policeman?
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Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
I have noticed mostly only Americans use that phrase. I certainly don't, because I wouldn't want it as the world's policeman.
I would just rather that it act as as good member of both the international community as a whole and its specie military and trade alliances. That would put me in a very tiny minority here, among the isolationists.
I would just rather that it act as as good member of both the international community as a whole and its specie military and trade alliances. That would put me in a very tiny minority here, among the isolationists.
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
Israel probably worries more about hostile states than they do about terrorists. As long as there is a civil war in Syria then the various Syrian factions are busy fighting each other and ignoring Israel. Assad can't launch a war against them and they like it that way.
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
I think they should just be left alone to do what they do best: growing lots and LOTS of opium poppies, and weaving rugs.
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
'Unclear' If Over 18,000 Contractors Will Ever Leave Afghanistan: Pentagonhttps://www.zerohedge.com/political/unclear-if-over-18000-contractors-will-ever-leave-afghanistan-pentagon
While President Biden said he will withdraw troops from Afghanistan, it’s not clear if his plan extends to the thousands of contractors working for the Pentagon that are still in the country.
When asked about this issue on Friday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said he wasn’t sure. "So on the contractors, we don’t know exactly. There are some preliminary plans. And clearly, the goal is to get all our personnel out and I suspect that contractors will be part of that. But whether there’ll still be a need for some contractor support, I just don’t know," he said.
The US plans to continue supporting the Afghan military and Air Force. Since the bulk of the maintenance for these armed forces is performed by US contractors, there’s a good chance the Pentagon will justify a continued presence of private contractors.
According to numbers released in January, there are over 18,000 contractors working in Afghanistan. About 4,700 of the current contractors are Afghans that were hired locally. The remaining come from outside of the country, including about a third who are US citizens.
According to Stars and Stripes, 1,575 of the contractors are armed mercenaries, mostly Americans and other foreigners. While this number is only a small fighting force, it could be combined with intelligence operatives and proxies like the Afghan military to give the US the ability to strike inside Afghanistan.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday that the US wants to maintain "counterterrorist assets" in the region. On Tuesday, The New York Times cited current and former US officials who said the US "will most likely rely on a shadowy combination of clandestine Special Operations forces, Pentagon contractors and covert intelligence operatives" to conduct operations inside Afghanistan.
In a separate note, Jeremy Kuzmarov notes, the meaninglessness of President Biden’s announcement becomes apparent when we consider that the Pentagon employs more than seven contractors for every serviceman or woman in Afghanistan, an increase from one contractor for every serviceman or woman a decade ago.
…
These totals reflect the U.S. government’s strategy of outsourcing war to the benefit of private mercenary corporations, and as a means of distancing the war from the public and averting dissent, since relatively few Americans are directly impacted by it.
As long as the U.S. empire remains intact, the war as such will go on, and on… and on.
Re: Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'
These totals reflect the U.S. government’s strategy of outsourcing war to the benefit of private mercenary corporations, and as a means of distancing the war from the public and averting dissent, since relatively few Americans are directly impacted by it.
As long as the U.S. empire remains intact, the war as such will go on, and on… and on.
True, we'll never completely withdraw from Afghanistan just like we never completely withdrew from Iraq, Germany, Korea, etc. and a lot of those troops who are leaving Afghanistan will just be redeployed elsewhere to fight more unnecessary wars.
While removing the bulk of our troops is a good move (and a surprising one) for the new administration, Biden will never challenge the American Empire or curb its imperialistic tendencies.
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Pat Buchanan: Biden Bids Farewell to a 'Forever War'