Obama gets peace prize for not being Bush!

[Arraya]

http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2009/09/tribal-militias-and-open-source-counterinsurgency.html

Back in April, I provided some testimony on the future of warfare to the House Armed Services committee. One of the questions I got from a Congressman was: what should our strategy be in Afghanistan? I responded with something that made everyone, particularly the Congressmen in the room, uncomfortable. Essentially, what I proposed was this:

Aghanistan is a hollow state — it has international recognition (and the trappings of a nation-state including five star hotels in the capital for journalists and diplomats), but it retains little control over the countryside. Further, the state lacks legitimacy. All legitimacy is local/tribal/gang. So, let’s skip to the end game in Afghanistan and run this war through “nominally loyalist” tribal militias (loyal to US money and support rather than to the Afghan government). Let’s not waste time on building up the Afghan military, trying to make the Afghan government legitimate, or on reconstruction efforts.

This wasn’t a strategy for “victory” (in the sense of the maximal goals required: a legitimate democracy that is integrated into the global economy), it was a strategy of “good enough” (a defensive delay). The strategy above allows the US to maintain a level of controlled chaos in Afghanistan, enough to allow an exit. It doesn’t waste the lives of US soldiers and our increasingly scarce financial resources on a maximal effort that can’t be won. It’s also a strategy that comes straight out of Brave New War (the strategy, re: Sons of Iraq, that was eventually used in Iraq to create controlled chaos sufficient for an exit, is too).

[briansd1]

[quote=Arraya]

Haha…. No it sounded SOOO stupid. At least in the respect that we would let it drive our foreign policy. But alas we were baited into an un-winnable war because the child president and his band of merry henchmen didn’t want to get called pussies. Boy did we show them.

There will be cheering in the streets of Islamabad when we leave because we can’t fund the war anymore. The right will howl in righteous indignation and the 2012 campaign slogan for the GOP will be “blame the black guy”.

We’re fucking nuts.[/quote]

Arraya, I feel that you’re the only one here that sees the light.

But I hope that someone Obama can stretch it long long enough to get reelected in 2012.

Perhaps the real estate market would have recovered enough that voters will be distracted. Of course, the war and the economy will come crashing afterward but at least it won’t bet the Black guy’s responsibility no more.

—–

Thanks for the link to John Robb. That guy knows what he’s talking about. I gives me hope that there are still some critical thinkers in the military.

[briansd1]

[quote=Arraya]

Haha…. No it sounded SOOO stupid. At least in the respect that we would let it drive our foreign policy. But alas we were baited into an un-winnable war because the child president and his band of merry henchmen didn’t want to get called pussies. Boy did we show them.

There will be cheering in the streets of Islamabad when we leave because we can’t fund the war anymore. The right will howl in righteous indignation and the 2012 campaign slogan for the GOP will be “blame the black guy”.

We’re fucking nuts.[/quote]

Arraya, I feel that you’re the only one here that sees the light.

But I hope that someone Obama can stretch it long long enough to get reelected in 2012.

Perhaps the real estate market would have recovered enough that voters will be distracted. Of course, the war and the economy will come crashing afterward but at least it won’t bet the Black guy’s responsibility no more.

—–

Thanks for the link to John Robb. That guy knows what he’s talking about. I gives me hope that there are still some critical thinkers in the military.

[briansd1]

[quote=Arraya]

Haha…. No it sounded SOOO stupid. At least in the respect that we would let it drive our foreign policy. But alas we were baited into an un-winnable war because the child president and his band of merry henchmen didn’t want to get called pussies. Boy did we show them.

There will be cheering in the streets of Islamabad when we leave because we can’t fund the war anymore. The right will howl in righteous indignation and the 2012 campaign slogan for the GOP will be “blame the black guy”.

We’re fucking nuts.[/quote]

Arraya, I feel that you’re the only one here that sees the light.

But I hope that someone Obama can stretch it long long enough to get reelected in 2012.

Perhaps the real estate market would have recovered enough that voters will be distracted. Of course, the war and the economy will come crashing afterward but at least it won’t bet the Black guy’s responsibility no more.

—–

Thanks for the link to John Robb. That guy knows what he’s talking about. I gives me hope that there are still some critical thinkers in the military.

[briansd1]

[quote=Arraya]

Haha…. No it sounded SOOO stupid. At least in the respect that we would let it drive our foreign policy. But alas we were baited into an un-winnable war because the child president and his band of merry henchmen didn’t want to get called pussies. Boy did we show them.

There will be cheering in the streets of Islamabad when we leave because we can’t fund the war anymore. The right will howl in righteous indignation and the 2012 campaign slogan for the GOP will be “blame the black guy”.

We’re fucking nuts.[/quote]

Arraya, I feel that you’re the only one here that sees the light.

But I hope that someone Obama can stretch it long long enough to get reelected in 2012.

Perhaps the real estate market would have recovered enough that voters will be distracted. Of course, the war and the economy will come crashing afterward but at least it won’t bet the Black guy’s responsibility no more.

—–

Thanks for the link to John Robb. That guy knows what he’s talking about. I gives me hope that there are still some critical thinkers in the military.

[briansd1]

[quote=Arraya]

Haha…. No it sounded SOOO stupid. At least in the respect that we would let it drive our foreign policy. But alas we were baited into an un-winnable war because the child president and his band of merry henchmen didn’t want to get called pussies. Boy did we show them.

There will be cheering in the streets of Islamabad when we leave because we can’t fund the war anymore. The right will howl in righteous indignation and the 2012 campaign slogan for the GOP will be “blame the black guy”.

We’re fucking nuts.[/quote]

Arraya, I feel that you’re the only one here that sees the light.

But I hope that someone Obama can stretch it long long enough to get reelected in 2012.

Perhaps the real estate market would have recovered enough that voters will be distracted. Of course, the war and the economy will come crashing afterward but at least it won’t bet the Black guy’s responsibility no more.

—–

Thanks for the link to John Robb. That guy knows what he’s talking about. I gives me hope that there are still some critical thinkers in the military.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=briansd1]

All you have to do is talk to the real estate contractors who live in San Diego. They are Republicans and all hope for more government action to save them from failure. …
…
When it comes to money, ideology goes out the window real quick.[/quote]

I am a liberal but still would like to have free money.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=briansd1]

All you have to do is talk to the real estate contractors who live in San Diego. They are Republicans and all hope for more government action to save them from failure. …
…
When it comes to money, ideology goes out the window real quick.[/quote]

I am a liberal but still would like to have free money.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=briansd1]

All you have to do is talk to the real estate contractors who live in San Diego. They are Republicans and all hope for more government action to save them from failure. …
…
When it comes to money, ideology goes out the window real quick.[/quote]

I am a liberal but still would like to have free money.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=briansd1]

All you have to do is talk to the real estate contractors who live in San Diego. They are Republicans and all hope for more government action to save them from failure. …
…
When it comes to money, ideology goes out the window real quick.[/quote]

I am a liberal but still would like to have free money.

[urbanrealtor]

[quote=briansd1]

All you have to do is talk to the real estate contractors who live in San Diego. They are Republicans and all hope for more government action to save them from failure. …
…
When it comes to money, ideology goes out the window real quick.[/quote]

I am a liberal but still would like to have free money.

[Arraya]

Bri- I’m a lefty that did not vote for Obama because I was so disgusted with politics. I hate to say it because of the political implications. But Obama is going to get killed when TSHTF, and it’s starting. I understand he had to say unrealistic things to get into office, that’s just politics, but it will be the political death of him. Rush is giddy like a school girl with excitement.

[Arraya]

Bri- I’m a lefty that did not vote for Obama because I was so disgusted with politics. I hate to say it because of the political implications. But Obama is going to get killed when TSHTF, and it’s starting. I understand he had to say unrealistic things to get into office, that’s just politics, but it will be the political death of him. Rush is giddy like a school girl with excitement.

[Arraya]

Bri- I’m a lefty that did not vote for Obama because I was so disgusted with politics. I hate to say it because of the political implications. But Obama is going to get killed when TSHTF, and it’s starting. I understand he had to say unrealistic things to get into office, that’s just politics, but it will be the political death of him. Rush is giddy like a school girl with excitement.

[Arraya]

Bri- I’m a lefty that did not vote for Obama because I was so disgusted with politics. I hate to say it because of the political implications. But Obama is going to get killed when TSHTF, and it’s starting. I understand he had to say unrealistic things to get into office, that’s just politics, but it will be the political death of him. Rush is giddy like a school girl with excitement.

[Author]

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