The truth is I don't have a clue as to what's the right thing to do or not to do. Most of the people who walk around opining on the subject don't either. We don't know all there is to know about what's going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We know some stuff and almost all of what we know - "news" being what it is today - is filtered through the lens of opinion and political bias.
Under our previous President, we invaded two countries. As Colin Powell said at the time, "you break it you buy it," so much as I wish we hadn't invaded these countries, I don't think we can just drop bombs on them and then say... "oops, my bad, see ya."
I don't know if President Obama is making the right choice. I know he has at least thought about it. He has at least listened to many voices. What some call "dithering," I call taking seriously putting human lives in the path of danger. Whether he has made the right decision or the wrong one - and I don't envy him the choice - he has taken it seriously.
I've been reading his book "Dreams from My Father," which I highly recommend. Beautifully written and very honest.
I hope his strategy works and accomplishes the mission of helping the Afghan people to defend themselves. I wish people would stop killing each other. I wish people would stop using God's name to kill each other. I wish people didn't get murdered and raped for gold or diamonds or oil. I wish politicians had less power to cause mayhem wherever they tread. I wish children didn't go hungry or die of preventable diseases. I wish people didn't use Christianity and Islam and Judaism to justify killing one another. But alas, they do.
Most of all, I wish for Peace on Earth, for a world in which nobody goes hungry or homeless for any reason. I wish that people for whom the holy dollar is more important than the lives of their fellow citizens would stop talking about what would Jesus do and start doing what he would do. I wish that we lived in a world where we looked for the good and not the bad in our fellow beings, where we nurtured creativity and hope and joy and the natural gifts that every child is born with.
I wish we weren't adding to war. It may be the right decision, but I wish - right or wrong - that it was a decision no world leader will ever have to make again.
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7 comments:
A very thought provoking post Raven. I too wish for a world where no leader would have to make such decisions.
Yeah, I understand how you feel. As much as I like the man and am proud of his Presidency, I am very disappointed about the new troops being sent over. So many of them won't come back. I just want to slink out and leave that country to their own defenses. Of course, we can't do that. But as a mother, I want to cuddle up all those young soldiers and give them milk and cookies and tuck them into their own beds at night. I want them all home and safe.
Dear Raven,
I don't have a good answer either.
We are only allowed a certain amount of information, the rest will be revealed when we are dead and gone.
What wonders me,-I am naive, is why don't they use the opportunity to burn off all those poppy fields.
Both Afghanistan and Pakistan are flooding Europe with narcotics. Seems to me this would be a sensible way of waging war. Saving youth from drug addiction and in the same way stop the money financing Al Quaida and other terrorists.
So many lives might be saved.
An maybe a war against terror won..
I guess female logic don't work with men.
From Felisol
And all the wishing in the world won't change what is -- yet when someone tries to take action, people start yelling and taking sides.
I think the world may have actually been a better place before we were all instantly and intimately informed of the political maneuverings and posturings and one-uppings.
“To me, what was most concerning is that there was never any consultation with the Afghan shura, the tribal elders,” said Greg Mortenson, whose extraordinary work building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan was chronicled in “Three Cups of Tea” and his new book, “From Stones to Schools.” “It was all decided on the basis of congressmen and generals speaking up, with nobody consulting Afghan elders. One of the elders’ messages is we don’t need firepower, we need brainpowerFor the cost of deploying one soldier for one year, it is possible to build about 20 schools.
I heard Greg Mortenson today too. And the schools in Afghanistan only lasted as long as there were no Taliban or other thug to close them down and send the girls home, or punish their families for daring to try to educate them. And the people continue living in poverty subject to cruel and mercurial tribal leaders.
Burn off the poppy fields and what means of support do Afghans have for their families? Afghan has nothing to export, nothing to attract people (eco-tourism) and nothing to keep its young people from embracing a fanatacism that says the outside world owes them something.
The president is discovering what every president before him has discovered. It is really easy to make promises when you're trying to get elected. It's a lot harder to fulfill them once you understand the entire scope of the problem.
I don't know what I think anymore other than that Congress is pathetic and our media is dangerous
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