Article

2005-12-15 Afghanistan

UK Army chiefs warn: 'We're not ready for Afghanistan'

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Posted by Elmeash Flaiter6401 2005-12-15 09:52|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 EF6401: Aside from Oz, probably the UK, maybe Japan and India, we're alone. I don't think the average American has any conception of how effectively isolated we have become.

I think the misconception is that our alliances are some kind of "we're all in this together Band of Brothers-type" gatherings. They're not, and they've never been. India and Japan are not our friends, and may never be. As allies, they are, in a word, untested. India has sent no troops to Iraq or Afghanistan. Japan has sent non-combat troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

WWI and WWII were instances where, with the exception of Canada, Australia and New Zealand (all in it to defend the mother country and the Queen, their official head of state), every other Allied power was trying to save its own skin. We waded in even though significant chunks of American territory were never truly in danger of being occupied. During the Korean War, the war-weakened Euros were afraid the Soviet bear was going to roll across their borders, and sent forces to demonstrate their resolve. By the time of the Vietnam War, they thought Europe was just the center of a struggle for dominance between the two superpowers, and wanted no part of it.

However, Buchanan is nuts about the economy, and he's nuts about foreign bases. Buchanan's protectionism will get us a lot more companies like GM and Ford, loss-making albatrosses that cannot do anything right despite being in perhaps the most protected industry in America. (GM's workers get paid for not working, and some non-workers have been on the payroll for 10 years). Foreign bases are useful because they give us the capability to inflict big time damage upon anyone who does things like 9/11. At the same time, Uncle Sam has been too indiscriminate about signing up military "allies" who get bennies paid for by American taxpayers without shouldering any load in return.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2005-12-15 10:39|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-12-15 10:39|| Front Page Top

#2 Caveat emptor: its the Scotsman. Hard left, maximum spin, zero credibility.

Posted by Grunter 2005-12-15 11:18|| 2005-12-15 11:18|| Front Page Top

#3 Doom. Doom! DOOM! DOOOOOOOOO[deepbreath]OOOOOOOM!

Posted by Mitch H.">Mitch H. 2005-12-15 13:18|| http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]">[http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/] 2005-12-15 13:18|| Front Page Top

#4 Elmeash Flaiter6401, I am a Soccer Mom. I'm not sure I'm typical, but all the SMs I know have been voting consistently Republican post-9/11.

I read this article as saying that Western Europe is refusing to step up to the few responsibilities they verbally accepted. But Eastern Europe is participating to the best of their ability, because they understand the importance of fighting a fascism not so different from the one whose rule they just escaped. And they are using American bennies, as you so succinctly put it, to upgrade their armed forces in the direction of the American standard so that they'll be able to do more in the future.

Is there an awful lot of anti-Americanism out there? Certainly. There has been for centuries amongst European elites. Will Western European governments do everything they can to keep from doing anything at all? Of course -- look at how they handled, in fact are still handling, the problems in post-Tito Yugoslavia. And Sudan. Zimbabwe. Iran. etc, etc, etc. And do let us not forget that Afghanistan, despite being a named country since the British Raj, has never been anything more than Pakistan's hinterland, populated by a motly collection of bickering tribes, sub-tribes, clans, cousins and brothers, all scraping a living from the earth and whatever they could steal from others. That they have made such progress as they have toward what the rest of us consider to be a normal society is, in my humble opinion, close to miraculous. That they have ambitions to go further is, honestly, practically unbelievable.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-12-15 13:57|| 2005-12-15 13:57|| Front Page Top

#5 My apologies. It was Zhang Fe who wrote of Ami bennies.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-12-15 13:58|| 2005-12-15 13:58|| Front Page Top

#6 It may be the "Scotsman", but there's a lot of truth in what this article says. The only nation that has learned from Iraq and Afghanistan is the United States. It's about time everyone else in the free world gets on board and starts both learning and helping out - if for no other reason than they'll have trained, experienced troops to handle the situation when it rears its ugly head in THEIR country, a la France.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2005-12-15 15:22|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2005-12-15 15:22|| Front Page Top

#7 OP, I would suggest that Oz, India and Japan have also learned from A&I Beyond that, ostriches.

Posted by Elmeash Flaiter6401 2005-12-15 16:44|| 2005-12-15 16:44|| Front Page Top

#8 And the point of my comment in the post is that it's time to stop thinking in terms of the "free world". The concept is obsolete. In what way might a dhimmi be said to be free?

Posted by Elmeash Flaiter6401 2005-12-15 16:46|| 2005-12-15 16:46|| Front Page Top

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