Peter Feaver in a blog for foreignpolicy.com says,
It makes me wonder about wars and timelines, boots on the ground, strategy and tactics. Still it has never been stated clearly what the objective in in this or the war in Iraq. What is the goal and where does it fit into the National Goals and even further what are our National Goals?
What do we really want from government? This country was created to throw off the oppression of the English Kind George. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." one of the best-known sentences in the English language.
A lesser quoted but just as valid statement was this grievance against King George. "He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power." The military is an honored, loved and respected part of our country but they do not set goals or strategy but they do participate in developing strategy and creating the tactics necessary to achieve our goals.
No one can or should criticize General McCrystal for expressing his passion and views about the execution of the war in Afghanistan. I would, in fact, expect him to fight for those views. The problem is that he is part of a team of informed people and public statements disparaging the team was reckless and regrettable. Bringing the public into the debate only brings uninformed opinion and well intentioned but uninformed support creating a very fractured front for our country.
Timetables - With the economy of the US in critical condition, job creation slowly moving forward, people losing their homes and their investment in those homes and other pressing issues just how long can we afford to stay in Afghanistan and even better question why. 2...3....5...10...20...50. years? If half the money spent in Iraq and Afghanistan had been invested in public/private investment in technology, housing, manufacturing we would be a much stronger country with a bright future.
Knowing when to quit is not a sign of loss when we understand the full reason this country exists and the responsibilities of our government to we the people. There is a time to say we cannot spend our future and our wealth to fight a war with a few thousand gangsters while people are losing homes and jobs and self respect in this country.
Believe it or not most people just want to do their job, run their business and live a good life with their families and friends. They want a hamburger or hot dog at the beach, mountains, lakes or backyard and a few laughs. They want to better themselves, do sports, shop, eat out, see good entertainment, create beautiful, abstract, impressionistic art, race cars and smile.
Of course it isn't so easy to forget 9/11 but we need to understand the horror and inhuman acts we the acts of individuals not Iraq or Afghanistan or the Muslim faith. Hunt down the terrorists but we don't need a "Nuclear Bomb to kill and Ant".
What we do need is to get our people back on their feet working and back in their homes smiling.
Timelines in this case Mr. Feaver are necessary for our country to find solid ground and the reason we are a great country "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness"
Timelines Do Make Sense in the "Big Picture" for our country.
"In short, the timeline made no military sense, no strategic sense, and little political sense -- except in partisan terms of enabling Obama to shift any blame from a potential failure from himself to the military. Clarifying who insisted on the timeline and who is merely accepting it is a useful function in an otherwise less-than-dramatic congressional hearing. "
It makes me wonder about wars and timelines, boots on the ground, strategy and tactics. Still it has never been stated clearly what the objective in in this or the war in Iraq. What is the goal and where does it fit into the National Goals and even further what are our National Goals?
What do we really want from government? This country was created to throw off the oppression of the English Kind George. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." one of the best-known sentences in the English language.
A lesser quoted but just as valid statement was this grievance against King George. "He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power." The military is an honored, loved and respected part of our country but they do not set goals or strategy but they do participate in developing strategy and creating the tactics necessary to achieve our goals.
No one can or should criticize General McCrystal for expressing his passion and views about the execution of the war in Afghanistan. I would, in fact, expect him to fight for those views. The problem is that he is part of a team of informed people and public statements disparaging the team was reckless and regrettable. Bringing the public into the debate only brings uninformed opinion and well intentioned but uninformed support creating a very fractured front for our country.
Timetables - With the economy of the US in critical condition, job creation slowly moving forward, people losing their homes and their investment in those homes and other pressing issues just how long can we afford to stay in Afghanistan and even better question why. 2...3....5...10...20...50. years? If half the money spent in Iraq and Afghanistan had been invested in public/private investment in technology, housing, manufacturing we would be a much stronger country with a bright future.
Knowing when to quit is not a sign of loss when we understand the full reason this country exists and the responsibilities of our government to we the people. There is a time to say we cannot spend our future and our wealth to fight a war with a few thousand gangsters while people are losing homes and jobs and self respect in this country.
Believe it or not most people just want to do their job, run their business and live a good life with their families and friends. They want a hamburger or hot dog at the beach, mountains, lakes or backyard and a few laughs. They want to better themselves, do sports, shop, eat out, see good entertainment, create beautiful, abstract, impressionistic art, race cars and smile.
Of course it isn't so easy to forget 9/11 but we need to understand the horror and inhuman acts we the acts of individuals not Iraq or Afghanistan or the Muslim faith. Hunt down the terrorists but we don't need a "Nuclear Bomb to kill and Ant".
What we do need is to get our people back on their feet working and back in their homes smiling.
Timelines in this case Mr. Feaver are necessary for our country to find solid ground and the reason we are a great country "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness"
Timelines Do Make Sense in the "Big Picture" for our country.
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