As most of you know, there is a long running debate between regular-reader Bill and me regarding the usefulness and wisdom of our military misadventures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. I've known Bill for 30 years. We served in the USAF together and admittedly his excellent debate points have moderated my positions on US invading foreign countries. That said, today I'll try to drag him a little bit back toward the dark side. Here's my latest debate point....
From the Toledo Blade -- WASHINGTON — After examining hundreds of combat support and reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan, the U.S military estimates $360 million in U.S. tax dollars has ended up in the hands of people the American-led coalition has spent nearly a decade battling: the Taliban, criminals and power brokers with ties to both.
If I've said it once I've said it dozens of times, we cannot and should not afford to go around the world destroying countries(or in the case of Afghanistan, the country where we believe our enemies are hiding) and then burden taxpayers for the money to rebuild it, better than it was before. Worse, the money we're hemorrhaging in Afghanistan is not even going to nation building. It's being funneled into the hands of our enemies, but the political class in the US won't lift a finger to stop it. Such a colossal waste of resources and men I've never seen.
You cannot nation build in a God-forsaken desert where 13th century nomadic tribes rule, corruption is rampant, and drugs are the single source of revenue for the entire country. It can't be done. Why we're attempting to believably apply the Bush doctrine of preemption to Afghanistan is a complete mystery to me.
1 comment:
You'll never catch me arguing that we've handled everything well in either country.
Libya is a special case, IMO.
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