President Obama addressed an auditorium packed with cadets at West Point tonight in a speech that detailed the new US strategy in Afghanistan. In all actuality, he was addressing nations around the world such as Canada who have been waiting to see what direction the new President would take and the policies he plans to implement that will have a direct effect upon our own military decisions.
The US will be sending another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, sometime in early 2010. Obama wants to start bringing troops home as early as July 2011, the same year that Canada’s UN commitment ends. He has drawn up a time-line because, as he said, an open-ended policy does not denote the sense of urgency needed at this time. An open-ended strategy would also “set goals that cannot be achieved beyond a reasonable cost.”
He took on critics who have called the Afghan War – Obama’s Viet Nam. Refuting this claim, he spoke of the basic differences between the two wars. Unlike the Viet Nam engagement, in Afghanistan the US is joined by UN sanctioned troops from nations all over the world. Also unlike Viet Nam where the US faced by a broad-based insurgency, in Afghanistan they are fighting small pockets of insurgents. Finally, the reason for the US being in Afghanistan in the first place and why the UN sanctioned the war, is that a group of insane murderous nutcase freaking TERRORISTS living/hiding in Afghanistan murdered thousands of innocent people in the US – Canadians among them, and then struck in Britain and Bali. I am glad there is a time-line and that it is much sooner that many were expecting.
In speaking of the new strategy, the President outlined measures such as the importance of training the Afghan citizens, the need to eradicate fraud from the current Afghan government with real policies in place to deal with the problem. He also talked of helping Afghans improve their agricultural practices.
The latter caught my attention since I believe the US could immediately help not only the Afghan people but also themselves simply by buying the heroin/opium from the growers, paying them a fair price and using the product to help ease the world-wide shortage of medicinal heroin/opium. In the process, they would deal a blow to the Taliban who now buy the opium, sell it on the black market, and use the money to buy arms. This idea is not my own. It has been floating around for a few years now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6287975.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article2288585.ece
Instead of adopting this policy, the US appears to have other thoughts as is evident the headline below.
US May Pay Afghan Farmers To Stop Growing Heroin Poppies
Anne Gearan 07/21/09
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/21/us-may-pay-afghan-farmers_n_242448.html
I consider this a backward policy for a couple of reasons. Just giving people money never solves anything – it is no different from setting up a Welfare state. Another reason is that Afghan farmers make far more profit from growing poppies than they do from other agricultural crops, so why would they even bother.
A wise old friend taught me the acronym KISS, a long time ago and it is so true. KISS, for those who don’t know, stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. In other words, sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution. Buy the opium/heroin. Bolster the quantity of medicinal heroin/opium. The Taliban no longer has a ready source of cash. The Afghan growers are happy. The pressure on UN troops eases, a lot.
Then, what do I know.
The President also addressed the issue of the US debt and the need to reign in military spending. He mentioned that the Iraq war cost around a Trillion dollars, and that next year alone military spending will cost about 30 billion. I remember reading in the NY Times that is costs around 1 million dollars a year for each soldier in Afghanistan. He discussed the need to cut down military spending, as the money could be used to strengthen the US economy.
President Obama was sombre, almost melancholy during his remarks and once again expressed his belief in the basic decency of Americans and the need for the nation to come together.
It was a very low-key speech, not his usual rousing oratory at all. Several times, he addressed the watching TV audience directly, staring straight into the camera. After speaking for approximately 30 minutes, Obama spent some time shaking hands with Cadets.
The US will be sending another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, sometime in early 2010. Obama wants to start bringing troops home as early as July 2011, the same year that Canada’s UN commitment ends. He has drawn up a time-line because, as he said, an open-ended policy does not denote the sense of urgency needed at this time. An open-ended strategy would also “set goals that cannot be achieved beyond a reasonable cost.”
He took on critics who have called the Afghan War – Obama’s Viet Nam. Refuting this claim, he spoke of the basic differences between the two wars. Unlike the Viet Nam engagement, in Afghanistan the US is joined by UN sanctioned troops from nations all over the world. Also unlike Viet Nam where the US faced by a broad-based insurgency, in Afghanistan they are fighting small pockets of insurgents. Finally, the reason for the US being in Afghanistan in the first place and why the UN sanctioned the war, is that a group of insane murderous nutcase freaking TERRORISTS living/hiding in Afghanistan murdered thousands of innocent people in the US – Canadians among them, and then struck in Britain and Bali. I am glad there is a time-line and that it is much sooner that many were expecting.
In speaking of the new strategy, the President outlined measures such as the importance of training the Afghan citizens, the need to eradicate fraud from the current Afghan government with real policies in place to deal with the problem. He also talked of helping Afghans improve their agricultural practices.
The latter caught my attention since I believe the US could immediately help not only the Afghan people but also themselves simply by buying the heroin/opium from the growers, paying them a fair price and using the product to help ease the world-wide shortage of medicinal heroin/opium. In the process, they would deal a blow to the Taliban who now buy the opium, sell it on the black market, and use the money to buy arms. This idea is not my own. It has been floating around for a few years now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6287975.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article2288585.ece
Instead of adopting this policy, the US appears to have other thoughts as is evident the headline below.
US May Pay Afghan Farmers To Stop Growing Heroin Poppies
Anne Gearan 07/21/09
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/21/us-may-pay-afghan-farmers_n_242448.html
I consider this a backward policy for a couple of reasons. Just giving people money never solves anything – it is no different from setting up a Welfare state. Another reason is that Afghan farmers make far more profit from growing poppies than they do from other agricultural crops, so why would they even bother.
A wise old friend taught me the acronym KISS, a long time ago and it is so true. KISS, for those who don’t know, stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. In other words, sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution. Buy the opium/heroin. Bolster the quantity of medicinal heroin/opium. The Taliban no longer has a ready source of cash. The Afghan growers are happy. The pressure on UN troops eases, a lot.
Then, what do I know.
The President also addressed the issue of the US debt and the need to reign in military spending. He mentioned that the Iraq war cost around a Trillion dollars, and that next year alone military spending will cost about 30 billion. I remember reading in the NY Times that is costs around 1 million dollars a year for each soldier in Afghanistan. He discussed the need to cut down military spending, as the money could be used to strengthen the US economy.
President Obama was sombre, almost melancholy during his remarks and once again expressed his belief in the basic decency of Americans and the need for the nation to come together.
It was a very low-key speech, not his usual rousing oratory at all. Several times, he addressed the watching TV audience directly, staring straight into the camera. After speaking for approximately 30 minutes, Obama spent some time shaking hands with Cadets.
