In recent weeks, the Obama administration has been floating trial balloons about possible resolutions to the fighting in Afghanistan. (This administration sends up more balloons than the National Weather Service.) Among the ideas have been ways that might peel the Taliban away from Al Qaeda, including such plans as including them in a coalition government, ceding the countryside to them while holding the cities, and bribing them to stop fighting us.
This is the Taliban, remember. These are the hard-core Islamic militants who governed Afghanistan in a theocratic reign of terror, enslaving their citizens (especially women) under an iron fist. Routine punishments included flogging, stoning, dismemberment, hanging, burning, scourging, crushing, beheading, and other fun activities.
At the same time, the Obama administration is flirting with the idea of criminally prosecuting CIA interrogators who questioned the most committed terrorists we caught. They engaged in what is euphemistically called "enhanced interrogation techniques" that were exceptionally unpleasant -- but always with the review and approval of Justice Department officials, who were experts on the letter of the law regarding torture.
Obviously, what these CIA officials need to do to protect themselves is to declare themselves a committed faction determined to overthrow the US government, then begin negotiations for their surrender. With luck, they might even end up not only keeping their jobs, but granted concessions and control of certain aspects of the government.
Hey, if the Obama administration is willing to consider granting that to the Taliban, then they certainly can't deny equal treatment for American citizens, can they?
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Comments (6)
Gotta love General Biden. ... (Below threshold)1. Posted by GarandFan | October 31, 2009 12:20 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Gotta love General Biden. Maybe someone can clarify for me. Is it the countryside that FEEDS the city, or the city that FEEDS the countryside?
1. Posted by GarandFan | October 31, 2009 12:20 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on October 31, 2009 12:20
2. Posted by epador | October 31, 2009 12:25 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Good grief, your trolls vote you down but are too cowardly to post anything. Or maybe they haven't gotten the latest tripe to spew from the Obamatron.
JT, obviously you haven't read the memo - Americans BAD (unless they are "minority liberal/communists") and foreigners GOOD, especially if they hate Americans (even if they are "minority liberal/communists").
2. Posted by epador | October 31, 2009 12:25 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 31, 2009 12:25
3. Posted by Gmac | October 31, 2009 12:30 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Its had to have confidence in an administration that fights hardest against the Fox news network.
3. Posted by Gmac | October 31, 2009 12:30 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on October 31, 2009 12:30
4. Posted by Oyster | October 31, 2009 12:32 PM | Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
I like the way you think, Jay :)
It's not only that the Taliban terrorized the Afghan population for as long as they did, but they "aided and abetted the very group that committed the largest act of terror on US soil."
Man. Obama's got a lot of huevos criticizing Bush about taking his eye off the ball in regard to al Qaeda when he's so myopically focused on al Qaeda he can't see what a farce it would be to give anyone in the Taliban a job as dog catcher.
How 'bout, oh, I don't know .... letting the Afghan's decide?
4. Posted by Oyster | October 31, 2009 12:32 PM |
Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Posted on October 31, 2009 12:32
5. Posted by Staylor | October 31, 2009 12:50 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
IIRC it was the Taliban, acting as the goverenment of Afganistan, that gave Al Qaeda refuge from which they could attack us which is why we went into that country in the first place and why we have been fighting the Taliban ever since.
The idea that the Taliban are not really the bad guys is just crazy, they are no different from Al Qaeda. Making peace with the Taliban would be like WWII Britain making peace with the Wehrmacht while staying at war with the Luftwaffa and the basis that it was only the Luftwaffa that were attacking them during the battle of Britain.
Al Qaeda and the Taliban are to intimiatly connected elements of the Radical Islamic Fundamentalist network that is at war with us, and with these people there can be no peace, only victory.
5. Posted by Staylor | October 31, 2009 12:50 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on October 31, 2009 12:50
6. Posted by Les Nessman | October 31, 2009 4:43 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
" Hey, if the Obama administration is willing to consider granting that to the Taliban, then they certainly can't deny equal treatment for American citizens, can they?"
-
As has been noted on other places in the blogosphere, most Western gov'ts and Western societies are more than willing to cave in to groups that they fear and are intimidated by (i.e. terrorism, riots, charges of 'racism!', etc..).
Cultural Suicide.
Maybe it's time for Western Jews, Buddhists, agnostics and Christians to start sawing off a few heads. Then they can claim 'poor widdle minority' status and get deferential treatment.
6. Posted by Les Nessman | October 31, 2009 4:43 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on October 31, 2009 16:43