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Showing posts from December 24, 2009

Stop the war in Afghanistan

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A critique of President Obama's acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. America should not be fighting a war in Afghanistan. In partial defense of this view, the following are my comments on U.S. President Obama's acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. In brief: The U.S. cannot win the war in Afghanistan. Indeed it is very hard to imagine a military strategy that would prevail. The nature of the terrain, the heroic pertinacity of its people, and the absence of a legitimate central government in Kabul all contribute to the futility of fighting another day there. In addition the U.S. has undermined its reputation in the region to such an extent during the past eight years by bombing, imprisoning, and torturing civilians, as well as propping up dubious governments, that it has no firm hold on the hearts and minds of the average Afghan as to the purpose, sincerity and integrity of its mission. Furthermore, I don't see how it is going to gar