Seriously, read “Three Cups of Tea.”  Here’s a situation that has a foothold for a positive future in Afghanistan and needs all the help it can get—especially getting the message out that war makes everything there worse and that it’s possible to get cooperation there and fill great needs.
  Takes nerve.  Takes commitment.  Takes work.  Takes time.  Takes care.

As soon as I realized the US was mounting a surge in Afghanistan much like the
one in Iraq, I knew the civilian population was going to be the big loser. Those
glorious and courageous jet jockeys must be proud of themselves and their
pathetic record of innocent women and children killed. Like shooting ducks in a
pond and they don’t shoot back. Oh I know, they are just doing their job and
following orders.

For starters, I’d recommend Obama, McChrystal, Gates, Liebermann et al. to read Greg Mortenson’s experiences building schools for girls in Afghanistan, “Three Cups of Tea.”  There are better ways to do things that need to be done.  War is the wrong way.  Before we get inextricably lost, defeated, bankrupt and fascistisized, stop the wars, consider other alternatives, back off with the empire role, bring our kids home, and set about reclaiming our human decency.  That’s my New Years wish.

If this man has any decency left he must tell McChrystal: “get out!”.

Lovely, on the tube last week is my least favorite California politician, Jane Harmon and a cast from the Rand Group ostensibly to discuss why on earth so many Muslims and Arabs hate us.  It was a regular love fest as the gilded group could not seem to come up with any rational reason why anyone would hate the little ol’ US of A.  Not one person mentioned the fact that we kill children, we blow them to pieces and we say we don’t mind because they aren’t our children, “let’s fight them over there, instead of here,” is the battle cry heard all over town.  Kill their kids not ours, then when they complain, we’ll kill them too.  Now that’s a way to make friends isn’t it?