The hammers see nothing but nails
Trump gave an awesome speech on Afghanistan yesterday, in which he laid out his bold new plan: he intends to win. He said that in a very firm emphatic voice, so we know it will happen.
The Times reports that what he actually wanted was to get the hell out, but that didn’t work out because he’d hired all those military guys to run his administration. Oops! Big laughs all around.
Trump went so far as to embrace Mr. Obama in his decision to pull out American troops.
“I agree with Pres. Obama on Afghanistan,” Mr. Trump wrote on Jan. 14, 2013. “We should have a speedy withdrawal. Why should we keep wasting our money — rebuild the U.S.!”
But once in the White House, Mr. Trump populated his cabinet with people who had a long history in Afghanistan. His defense secretary, Jim Mattis, is a retired Marine Corps general who lost troops in fierce combat there early in the war. His national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, ran an anti-corruption task force that worked with the Afghan government.
Oh darn, he didn’t think of that.
On Monday, a few hours before Mr. Trump was to speak, Breitbart published an interview with Mr. Prince, in which he criticized the president for not being more receptive to his proposal for mercenaries. “The presidency by its nature lives in a bubble,” Mr. Prince said. “When you fill it with former general officers, you’re going to get that stream of advice.”
Never mind. He said the goal now is to win, and that changes everything.
Going to win in Afghanistan – I presume that means he isn’t aware of the history of regimes undertaking wars in Afghanistan? It usually goes badly…oh, wait, none of those had Trump running things. All those countries were run by LOSERS!
(Should I say here that I am well aware that Trump isn’t aware of the history of Afghanistan? Or the United States? Or anything else – except Trump Tower? I wouldn’t want people to think that was a serious question…)
No nation-building – no timetables – fighting til unnamed conditions are met at an unnamed date in unknown fashion – oh, and we’re going to get India and Pakistan to bleed for it, because $$$.
Essentially, “winning” is killing brown people til he decides to declare victory, with everything being done to be certain that no benefit to Afghanistan or regional peace is possibly achieved as some sort of accident.
Strange how Bannon, who thinks the US is in an economic war with China, gives a platform to Erik Prince to promote his Chinese-backed mercenary force as a US foreign policy solution.
Seriously, when the man practically embodying the military-industrial complex says you’re full of shit, then well… Well, a normal person would know they fucked up, but Trump is so far beyond fucked up and ignorant of that fact that we’re way past the “I can’t even…” territory.
‘…an anti-corruption task force that worked with the Afghan government…’
WITH?
Isn’t that like a diversity committee working with the Klan?
I wonder if we will be as bored of all the Afghan winning as with the domestic winning? The future looks promising – he said so!2!