Tag Archives: Taliban

Liar, Liar — Facts On Fire

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Citizens registered as an Independent, Democra...

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

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In this political season, especially as the election draws near and the races knot tighter, we can count on some Texas style tales. FactCheck.org lets us know all about the serious ones on both sides of the aisle, in-between, above and beyond.  Below you’ll find information from their latest summary,  followed by more detail than you can poke a lie-detector toward.  They call the wind Whoppers of Campaign 2010:

Midterm elections are an embarrassment of riches for fact-checkers — this year more than others. With Democrats fighting desperately to keep control of the House and Senate, and a torrent of money from corporations and other undisclosed, unaccountable sources adding fuel to the Republican attack, the amount of deceit in political advertising is at least as high as we’ve ever seen.

While we generally agree with the above, we feel it important to point out the Demos have their own largess  from their union, Soros, and other supporters — so not much ado there, except in the minds of some, that is.

Some candidates slung whatever mud they thought would stick, regardless of the facts. One falsely claimed his opponent had been a Vietnam draft dodger who “doesn’t love his country” — and then compared his opponent to the Taliban.

Republicans accused Democrats of favoring cuts in Medicare benefits, while Democrats claimed their opponents would cut Social Security benefits. Republicans accused Democrats of planning to unleash a huge tax increase on ordinary families and on small-business owners, while many Democrats accused Republicans of wanting to slap a 23 percent national sales tax on everything from groceries to medicine, as though that would come on top of all existing taxes. We found fault with all those claims, on both sides.

We at gadabout-blogalot, do not always get it right, that is why we are pleased to have FactCheck and other sources to help us … and you our readers, come to some semblance of truth.

FactCheck will certainly take some of your time as you examine what they present from the links below.  We hope you’ll let us know through comments if you find a fact presented that turns out less.  Less than a full fact that is.

FactCheck: For our round-up of the campaign year’s most widely repeated misstatements — and the wildest — read on to the Analysis section.

Note: This is a summary only. The full article with analysis, images and citations may be viewed on our Web site:

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Thanks and a flap of the cap to the folks at FactCheck

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Will Wonders Never Cease

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Taliban bounty flyer

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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009 – 2010)

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The phrase above has always had a sarcastic connotation for me.  That is why I use it in connection with the mess in Afghanistan that prevents our troops from fighting a winning war.  We should have learned in Viet Nam that politicians do not fight wars well at all, but especially when they do not understand the ways of the enemy.  In the Taliban style of fighting, no allowance is made for time-out.  As they hide among the general populace in battle areas, our troops and our allies troops are placed in the role of soldiers that have to wait and see.  That is, wait and see, if  and when the enemy leaves their sanctuary.  For if they do not reappear in the open our (collective our) troops will be hamstrung and left to wait for another day.

The Washington Examiner through their National Security Correspondent, Sara Carter, paints a particularly dismal image of what our troops go through to arrive at permission to kill the enemy in  Afghanistan:

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — To the U.S. Army soldiers and Marines serving here, some things seem so obviously true that they are beyond debate. Among those perceived truths: Tthe (sic) restrictive rules of engagement that they have to fight under have made serving in combat far more dangerous for them, while allowing the Taliban to return to a position of strength.

“If they use rockets to hit the [forward operating base] we can’t shoot back because they were within 500 meters of the village. If they shoot at us and drop their weapon in the process we can’t shoot back,” said Spc. Charles Brooks, 26, a U.S. Army medic with 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, in Zabul province.

It isn’t only the known enemy that makes the troops’  job difficult.  Often, it is a village elder, or other Afghan leaders who act to create senseless rules which work to the detriment of the troops:

Word had come down the morning (sic) Brooks spoke to this reporter that watch towers surrounding the base were going to be dismantled because Afghan village elders, some sympathetic to the Taliban, complained they were invading their village privacy. “We have to take down our towers because it offends them and now the Taliban can set up mortars and we can’t see them,” Brooks added, with disgust.

Although General David Petreaus has said that he was (is) looking at changes in the way the troops engage the enemy,  nothing of the sort seems to have happened and the troops are  still saddled by restrictive rules of engagement:

“I don’t think the military leaders, president or anybody really cares about what we’re going through,” said Spc. Matthew “Silver” Fuhrken, 25, from Watertown, N.Y. “I’m sick of people trying to cover up what’s really going on over here. They won’t let us do our job. I don’t care if they try to kick me out for what I’m saying — war is war and this is no war. I don’t know what this is.”

To the soldiers and Marines risking their lives in Afghanistan, restrictions on their ability to aggressively attack the Taliban have led to another enormous frustration stalking morale: the fear that the Karzai government, with the prodding of the administration of President Obama, will negotiate a peace with the Taliban that wastes all the sacrifices by the U.S. here. Those fears intensified when news reached the enlisted ranks that the Karzai government, with the backing of senior Obama officials, was entering a new round of negotiations with the Taliban.

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Down That Road We Go

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Aftermath of the September 11 attacks
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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009).

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When the military leaders start expressing that they are fearful that the American public is growing less supportive of the war in Afghanistan, it is time for those who believe that it is important to defeat Al-Queda and their sisters, the Taliban, to start turning the political screws. Remember, it was the Taliban that refused to force Osama bin Laden out of Pakistan after September 11, 2001.

Those of us who are old enough to remember that the politicians snatched “defeat from the jaws of victory” in Viet Nam will not want to see the same ugly picture show its face in Afghanistan. We, as a nation and a people, are not in a position to drop our guard and our commitment to defeat Al-Queda and anyone who stands in our way or by Al-Queda’s side.

We have paid a price beyond the wildest imagination of any perceived by thinking Americans and it is time to up the ante and increase troop and equipment levels to that needed to lay to rest as many terrorist operatives as is humanly, not necessarily humanely, possible . No that’s right, war itself is not humane, but it is justified and will be so until the animals are caged or annihilated.

We should all pray that our politicians and military leaders will have the courage to finish this war and others we enter with a defeat of the enemy and a victory which would cause the enemy to “study war no more.” We have to remember, that we didn’t “study” this war into existance, but we do have to pass the test of it. Otherwise, we will be fighting it and others until all of our resolve is wasted.

Some are asking if Afghanistan will be Obama’s Viet Nam.  It can, but only if he is too weak to bring solid victory without flim-flam and bull butter.

Real Victory and real soon.

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Chuck I Am — Conflicted I Be

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Taliban bounty flyer
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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009)

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Conflicted, but a happy confliction if there is such a thing. I have written, in the recent past, regarding our propensity to forgive and forget when it comes to fighting and winning the battle against worldwide terrorism. Silly stuff, such as no placing of names on the evil that derives from the zealots that claim divine calling to kill the infidels. Infidels that happen to be you and me in their chopped up brains.

Satisfaction comes now after reading an article about death decrees for the drug lords in Afghanistan. Death decrees that our military leaders have placed on the heads of the drug lords. These people can not be separated from the terrorists because the dollars derived from the sale of opium are the same dollars that help to finance the Taliban, and possibly Al-Queda. The havoc wreaked on the battlefield is just one part of the total destruction created by the terrorists in their drug trafficking. In the case of the opium, which is eventually processed into heroin. for the most part, the ravages are on  backs and souls of the people in the United States when their fix or fixes for the day are consumed.

It remains to be seen whether our civilian leaders will try to trump our military and prevent them from carrying out their duties. In the meantime, read this story or this story and hope that Congress and Obama will keep their noses out of anything to do with this planned effort.

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Cheer Them On

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Taliban in Herat.
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By Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009)

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Reports seem to indicate that Pakistani Taliban and probably Taliban in Afghanistan are fighting amongst themselves. The reason, if we can believe the report, is to determine who will be the next leader of the bastard band of destruction.

I would like to see a plan formulated to assist them in continuing their fight against their brothers, so that we can stand back and watch. Maybe they’ll eventually grow so tired, weary and cash poor that the ordinary folk will not have to fear them. The foregoing result would seem to be a far better solution than to try to treat peace with them and watch them turn their weapons toward us in so many ways.

Our senior diplomats and those of other countries seem to believe all you have to do is to offer to place them inside the government and they come home waggin’ their tails and their AK47s behind them.

We have only so many opportunities to get it right. We may have squandered more than we could afford … but, I seem to remember that those so critical of the last administration had the answers to winning in Afghanistan. Now would seem to be a good time to pull the plans out of the flat files and get on with winning.

Click here for a discussion on the rift between the terrorist Taliban factions.

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An Envoy And A Foreign Secretary — Some Commentary

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by Chuck Ring (GadaboutBlogalot ©2009)

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According to this story, the United States envoy to Afghanistan and the British Foreign Secretary believe it is a wise idea to bring some Taliban fighters into the mainstream of Afghan society. This homecoming, or perhaps re-infiltration, is agreed to, in principal, by the current president of that country.

This idea seems to include options for the terrorists to denounce their former actions and to pledge not to indulge in such for the future. Open to consideration would be to allow  some to serve as elected officials and Afghan armed forces members. The possibility for this program’s implementation seems to be far in advance of intelligent (perhaps, dumb) and comes just after thousands of new British and American troops have  entered into the fray.

While it is likely true, that many of the Taliban terrorists are simply fighting for the money and come from poor illiterate stock, the leadership and tacticians are well entrenched and educated in the ways of extreme terrorism and will not take the bait of the deal. Or, they will take the bait and infiltrate the government, so that eventually, the government will be another oppressive Islamic regime that punishes harshly for the smallest of infractions. The plight of the weakest, in terms of political power and physical strength … in other words, the women and children, will again be increased after some strides have been made to equalize their rights and abilities to allow them to be participatory members of Afghan society.

While it is a portion of the current military mission of the United States in Afghanistan to quietly convince ordinary citizens to resist the Taliban, we should be ever thoughtful of the muck and mire diplomats and other civilians made of our Viet Nam efforts. I am in favor of fighting the Taliban, until they are no longer able to resist, but if our joint allied military initiatives and actions are to be hamstrung by another McNamara like deceiver, then we should get out of Afghanistan and “gird our loins” closer to home.

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