Afghanistan & My House
Image via Wikipedia
I was a bit remiss in my blogging today-normally I have a post ready to pop in before 6:00 am. However, I have been engaged in “home improvement.” While doing some indoor work, I happened to catch a bit about Afghanistan and began to see the parallels between home improvement and that war.
Just like Afghanistan, my home improvement project began with a provocation that could not be ignored (‘wow, the 1980s called and want this house back”). Initially, the goals were limited and sensible (repaint some rooms and replace some fixtures). However, they soon expanded (replace the chewed up linoleum, rehang the gutters, clear out the attic and all closets, and so on) and money began being poured into the endeavor at an alarming rate. Like Afghanistan, no end seems to be in sight. While the main painting was completed Saturday, I spent today doing even more tasks. There will be more tomorrow, more the next day and presumably more and more. In fact, owning a home creates an ongoing cycle: as one project is finished, it makes something else look bad and that must be fixed. Then some problem arises that must be fixed. Once those things are dealt with, it is probably time to go back to the original thing that started the cycle and deal with that again.
Fortunately, there have been no fatalities (yet) involving my house.
A Philosopher's Blog 
The difference, Mike, is that you fix your home, or you at least pay or recruit someone else to do some work on it. In Afghanistan, we keep coming in to try to stop the Afghans from destroying their own place.
It would be like you taking a sledge to your front door and your neighbors running over and repeatedly paying for a new door, only to have you smash it again the next day. At some point the people paying for your door must be considered as loony as you are for smashing it.
Leave Afghanistan, now.
One would think that what we did to the Russians with Afghanistan would have taught us a lesson.
History teaches many lessons. One is stay the f@ck out of Afghanistan.
Magus71…Do you know anything about the heroin situation in Afghanistan?
I have heard reports about increased production of heroin since we have been there. It seems that with the profits involved, this would be plenty of reason for us to be there.
If you cannot talk about it, that is cool.
chamblee54
They are cranking out some major heroin. They cannot really compete or make a viable living raising legitimate crops, at least under current conditions. Perhaps the CIA should roll in and pay top dollar for the crops. That would buy some allies and give the CIA something to sell to fund our war in Libya.
“CIA should roll in and pay top dollar for the crops”…”and give the CIA something to sell to fund our war in Libya”
That’s a joke, right?
One man’s joke is a another man’s foreign policy.
Think about this: the United States is a leader in drug consumption and we are, I believe, a net importer of drugs. We need to step up an expand into the global drug market to be a serious player. Also, consider a deficit reduction policy in which the state sells legal weed to people, with all proceeds going to pay off the deficit. It could be called “tokes, not taxes.” I can see the libertarians rolling behind this one.
I was questioning your business sense, not your morality, Capisce Esutbo?
Couple of things here.
First, the Taliban outlawed growing heroin, and the people for the most part obeyed the Taliban. However, the Taliban kept huge stocks of opium in storage for sale at a later date. Opium can be stored for decades if kept dry.
Secondly, like everything the sad giant, America, does nowadays; we half-assed our fight to rid Afghanistan of opium. We only do “hand” eradication. With that method we’re only able to clear about 10% of the crops. With aerial spraying, we’d be able to get about 80%, that combined with active targeting of insurgent drug lords by Special Forces would essentially make the drug trade a non-profit organization here.
Why don’t we want to spray? Because Karzai ordered us not to, claiming that the people would think we were poisoning them. Complete bullshit and our child-like leaders swallow every tasty drop of our enemy’s poison. In reality, his brother is one of the biggest drug lords in the world. Both men rake in huge dollars from drugs, and both will safely escape the coming chaos when civil war arrives around 2015. They are both nearly billionaires–and you and I paid for it.
The Taliban is on eof the only entities capable of controlling Afghanistan. The country is a den of thieves, and the Taliban is ruthless; ruthlessness is the only thing that works here. As Alexander the great knew.
As for us being there; our politicians refuse to fight any war as it needs to be fought. None of them can even see clearly what a necessary war looks like. I’ll give them a clue: Libya doesn’t look like a necessary war. McCain has no clue as to who deserves a pummeling and who doesn’t and neither does the current President. I’ve given up on these creeps. The politicos sent our troops over here for votes and to make others look stupid. Then they came on with the whole hearts and minds thing that few real soldiers thought would work.
US Soldier= Pop-Up target for presidential votes.
We need to roll it hard on the world and let them know the game has changed.
I meant: Taliban outlawed growing *Poppy*