Cheat Sheet

Tavallai: Selective memory is a wonderful thing, right?

Remember, Jay Leno's wife was on Larry King trying to drum up support against what the Taliban were doing to women in Afghanistan? She will tell you that everything she did fell on deaf ears.

There are 2 truths that Obama is going to learn about Afghanistan: One, NO country irregardless of their military might, will ever really "control" the Afghans. Two, the amount of corruption that the incredible Afghan opium trade supports (both in Afghanistan and the West) would make any real attempt to upset the apple cart a very dangerous prospect for him, indeed.

If I was a believer in the god thing I would say, "from your mouth to gods ears" as far as talking & making peace with those animals & get us the hell out... Maybe Clinton should take a page out of Reagan's play book & have the peace treaty set a few months before the 2010 election & announce a massive troop pull out from Afghanistan days before the election. Ronny the "B" actor did in Carter with that same type of policy when he promised to send arms to Iran behind Carters back.

When the choice is either try to negotiate or just let them win and unwinnable war that we probably should have never started anyway... Negotiate seems the best, if not very attractive, option.

Pakistan offerred the Taliban a truce in teh Northwest of their country, they withdrew thei military offensive and consigned a large terrotory and people to living under Sharia law, and the Taliban within 100 miles or so of Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

The result of this reach out?

Terrorists attacked a bus load of Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan for a test match, killing their police outriders, wounding several umpires and allowing the cricketers to escape with their lives by pure fluke rather than design.

The point?

You can't appease this hateful ideology that perverts an Islamic holy book in the way the Taliban do.

Even if you appease the Taliban, there are a myriad of other terrorist groups out there with their own particular version of a greviance, that will allow them to continue attacking.

No one likes it, but listen up folks..It's 2009 and the ole Wild West thinking of load your guns and nukes, invade and hope for the best method will NO longer work. Get over it.

This is a refreshing break from the former administrations stance. We should have been talking to all of our potential enemies all along.
The notion that it would lend credibility to the President of Iran if we were to have official talks with them is rediculous, absolutely the most arrogant position to hold on to.
It's nice to finally have someone in the white house that possesses intellect and isn't afraid to use it.

First and foremost, we have to eliminate RELIGION from any and all discussions. We SHOULD eliminate the Good and Evil framing from our thoughts. These ancient cultures should be understood for what they are, a real live history textbook. I feel resistance when someone tells me what to do. Compassion,Love and Understanding crumbles the walls of mistrust and self preservation. Bombs, Bullets and the heavy handed "My way or the Highway" mentality just builds the walls up. Keep your friends close and your future friends closer.

coloradokarl - Problem is, the Taliban is a religious group. How do you propose we remove religion from the equation when "negotiating" with one of the staunchest radical Islamic organizations on the planet? That's like negotiating a contract with the Yankees and not discussing baseball.

Obama has decided "we aren't winning?" What do you call invading a country, completely routing the armed elements that were controlling it, driving its leadership into the most remote regions of the country, replacing the government with one friendly to the United States, and allowing millions of women to be free from the tyranny of the Taliban? Once again, we get a dose of Obama's gloom and doom assessments of everything. Violence steps up, a little adversity, and he's throwing his hands up in the air and exclaiming we have "lost the war". Could we please get somebody with a little fortitude in the White House? Obama is frightened first by the economy and now by the Taliban.

And, for the record, didn't liberals wring their hands for ten years over the Taliban and their horrid treatment of women while they were in power? So much for that right?

Johnny-Boy - NEWSFLASH: The Taliban is not a "potential enemy" that we should be "talking to". They are a CONFIRMED enemy that harbored Bin Laden, and aided and even facilitated his planning of a major terrorist attack that killed 3000 people. Hundreds of American soldiers and civilians have given their lives to defeat the Taliban and try to capture Al Qaeda members (many, many successes in that regard by the way). Now, we get people with NO military experience, no strategic or tactical insight, declaring the war lost and asking our enemies to please talk with us. Bullshit. Instead of focusing on how to defeat this enemy, our White House spends the majority of its time on the phone trying to figure out how to defeat a radio host.

If only Obama and his douchebag chief of staff would dedicate the time and energy to defeating the Taliban that they have spent trying to defeat Rush Limbaugh, maybe we'd get this deal done.

wileysnakeskins,

Newsweek's cover story this week should calm you down a bit.
Or not. Many people are well aware of the dangers of the Fundamentalist incursions into politics and government all over the world, including our own country in its Christian form. Thank goodness they lost in this country -- for now.

The Taliban came from Reagan's fighting of the Russians. He armed Bin Laden and imported radical muslims from all over the world as if it was a good idea. Then he left them there with their weapons the way he armed Saddam.

It's time to think of the consequences of our actions.

Talking about negotiations with the Taliban is just a political gesture, they don't want peace and we know it. Every time we attack radicals, we risk hitting their human shields and radicalizing more people. Oppressive and radical elements thrive on grinding poverty, deprivation and terror.

Oppressive governments tend to arise out of the same things, if the situation in the country remains as bad as it is now, Afghanistan will sooner or later be ruled by another dictatorship. When you have large groups that believe in violent opposition to anything they don't like, it is impossible to maintain a Democracy.

A democracy relies on a population that is content to debate and vote in order to support their opposing agendas. We're not a very great example of this right now, given we have two parties who are often unable to rationally or civilly discuss our differences, and often resort to wishing for the whole nation to fail just to pull down those who disagree with us.

president obama's vietnam after all is'nt it why is it that we always split the countrys in half that we go to war in