Why we couldn’t simply replicate the Afghanistan/Taliban approach in democratizing Iraq:
"It is not enough to persuade a Muslim population to reject al Qaeda’s ideology and practice. Someone must also be willing and able to protect that population against the terrorists they had been harboring, something that special forces and long-range missiles alone can’t do."
Read it all.
Comments Off on Military lessons of Iraq
Posted in Afghanistan, Iraq, The War, Troops
Tagged Afghanistan, al Queda, Iraq, Kagan, Taliban
This is one of the most balanced reports I’ve seen from the BBC, and it’s a reasonable take on the continuing problems of the Afghanistan campaign.
Comments Off on Winning hearts and minds
Posted in Afghanistan, The War
Tagged Afghanistan, NATO, Taleban, Taliban
I’m sure progressives everywhere will find it oh, so comforting, to know that even the Taliban bars smoking among its troops. But they’d certainly be discomfited by the nineteenth of the terrorist group’s recently disclosed thirty rules of conduct, which include requirements to kill teachers, and burn schools and clinics.
"…fighters may not take young boys without facial hair into their private quarters — a public acknowledgment, NATO officials say, that the sexual abuse of young boys is a problem within the Taliban’s ranks," according to the Associated Press.
There’s a limit, it seems, even to pedophilia among the religiously pure. Well, not much of a limit, according to Jamie Glazov in his "Boys of the Taliban," and Pat Santy of Dr. Sanity demonstrates how the perversion proceeds naturally from a religion and a culture that represses women.
Via Fresh Bilge
Deborah at The Thought Mill sums up one aspect of it very impressively–the rights of women.
"Miss America’s father is an engineer. Her mother is a teacher. Miss Afghanistan’s father was shot by a gang of Taliban militants. Her mother begs for bread scraps since she cannot work or remarry."
Read it all.
Comments Off on What are we fighting for?
Posted in The War
Tagged Afghanistan, Islamic facist, Miss America, Taliban, The Thought Mill, women's rights
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 