On this Veterans Day we see what a sad state our beloved country is in.
Priviledged Penn State University students rioting because their football icon was fired for not doing what is expected from any citizen, protecting defenseless small children.
The recall of an Arizona senator who’s only crime was trying to protect the Arizona border from illegal aliens from Mexico who evade ports of entry to bring in 40lb backpacks full of marijuana, cocaine and heroin by initiating SB 1070.
Today, Veterans Day there are brave American military men and women going “outside the wire” into harm’s way to protect the borders of Afghanistan from the Taliban who are illegally coming in from Pakistan. Ironic isn’t it. Will the “powers-that-be” in Utah be recalling our American heroes from protecting an ally next ?
Leon Ceniceros
Mesa
Cerulean posted at 6:55 pm on Wed, Nov 16, 2011.
I applaud President Obama, on this Veterans Day for providing the Department of Veterans Affairs and increased budget to improve services to America's Veterans.
VofReason posted at 1:21 pm on Wed, Nov 16, 2011.
I think Dale should go and talk to the Taliban. He has such a way with words. Sometimes I almost believe his liberal hogwash. Almost. And the taliban hate us because of our success. Kind of like liberals and the Occupy nuts.
Dale Whiting posted at 10:05 pm on Tue, Nov 15, 2011.
samkat,
Reason with me! What motivates members of the Taliban? If you believe that "they hate us," recall that we are better served by understanding what motivates that hatred and addressing its cause or causes than my attacking those who you believe hate us. After all, it's their home terf, not ours.
And don't give me that "they attacked us on 9-11 first." They [i.e. the Taliban] did not. Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network did. And bin Laden was never a member of the Taliban. He just paid a couple of local tribal leaders for safe harboring his undergraduate school of terrorism. You need to ask your self why they acted as they did before 9-11. Those are separate and entirely unrelated matters. Desert Storm and Saudi Arabia allowing us to stage from the Arabian Penninsula lie at the heart of that hatred.
Often I hear or read the idiotic saying that "They hate us for our freedoms." No, those who are motivated by freedom hate us for denying them their freedom and right of self-determination. Remember those Buddhist Monks who burned themselves on the streets of Saigon in the late 60's? They just wanted us to go home and under the Buddhist system of behavior, their actions were the ultimate expression of distain. But we were far too culturally naive to recognize it for what it was. And you know how Vietnam ended, not with "peace with dignity" as Nixon promised us it would. I lost far too many family and friends in Vietnam to see us repeat those mistakes again and again.
No my friend, it's kite flying for the Taliban. That will signal their domination over the foreign powers which have attempted to have their way with Afghan domestic policy. Ever flown a kite? Try it in Kabul!
Have you ever lived and worked outside of the US? Have you counted as friends foreign born citizens from other cultures now living here in the US? Most love their homelands, value the standard of living we enjoy, but pitty us for our narrow-mindedness.
Once you come to understand the world about you, looking into the mirror you will know that you have met the enemy and he is US! For starters, try reading the Sermon on the Mount.
Mark my words. China will be the next foreign power to have problems with Afghanistan and the Taliban. China is interested in developing Afghan rare earth metal deposits in the far northeast. And China has had its problems with cultural awareness and sensitivity. Just ask the Tibetans and the Dali Lama!
samkat posted at 7:47 pm on Tue, Nov 15, 2011.
No Dale: They will take up where they left off subordinating through force. The terrorist training camps will be reestablished and in a few years we have to go in all over again because our pacifists are too weak to finish the job we started. Our major mistake was in trying to run a war on the cheap. This cost us in Iraq as well as this conflict.
Dale Whiting posted at 1:27 pm on Sun, Nov 13, 2011.
Leon,
The Taliban is attacking across the Afghan-Pakistan border because we drove them out of Afghanistan and into Pakistan. Taliban followers have as much "right" to champion what they believe in [i.e. tribal/home rule vs. rule established by foreign forces] as do you have your first amendment right to criticise them. But get some balance into your analysis, for Heaven's sake!
When we recall "our American heroes from protecting an ally" is that ally Pakistan or Afghanistan? We are protecting neither form the Taliban. Once we're gone, the Taliban will return to their ancestrial homes and take up kite flying once again!