Sunday, October 11, 2009

The Great Right Wing Divide on Afghanistan

Fascinating.  During the Vietnam war, the right wanted more troops, aggressive US action, and clear victory.  The left were anti-war, draft evaders, and wanted our troops to come home.

After 9-11, Afghanistan and Iraq started the same way.  The right was gung-ho to take care of business in both places.  The left was more reticent.  The broader middle generally supported our revenge.

Today we see a different picture – a reversal from the last 50 years.  There are significant numbers of my conservative friends who believe we should not be in Afghanistan any more.  Even conservative George Will has expressed this sentiment.  Not that we want to abrogate victory.  It is because our Commander and Chief believes in fuzzing up the concept of victory.  Our presence no longer has a clear purpose under our appeaser in chief.

Ironically, it seems that the liberals are taking up the banner to exert our influence in Afghanistan by buddying up with the Taliban to fight al Qaeda.  Yup, that’ll work.  What a waste of lives.

Sure, there are those on the right who continue to support the fight.  But increasing numbers of my cohorts are seeing the handwriting on the wall and see the futility - at least during the next three years.

We will not have a clear mission in the “war on Islamic supremacy” until our leaders understand the enemy.  As long as we don’t understand what we are defending against, we will continue to flounder, wasting lives, resources and time.

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