December 02 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Afghanistan... It's Going To Be A Remarkable Experiment In Decentralized Government And War

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." December 02 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: First We Need To Lose The Idea That Afghanistan Is Going To Be Anything Like America... It's Going To Be A Remarkable Experiment In Decentralized Government And War [Pop Out Player? Click Here] Prefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps VBR 14:36 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary

In The News: President Obama gave his speech yesterday outlining our new improved Afghanistan strategy and he gave a solid explanation... But will it work? See Juan Cole's: Top Ten things that Could Derail Obama's Afghanistan Plan. Notably, in Helmand province, we'll be dealing dollars and aid with the Opium growers... How... typical. Details, and more in the commentary.

From FireDog Lake, a "Line by Line Analysis of President Obama’s Afghanistan Escalation Speech"

(from page 4 of Obama’s speech as shown at the New York Times):

And going forward, we will be clear about what we expect from those who receive our assistance. We’ll support Afghan ministries, governors, and local leaders that combat corruption and deliver for the people. We expect those who are ineffective or corrupt to be held accountable. And we will also focus our assistance in areas — such as agriculture — that can make an immediate impact in the lives of the Afghan people.

Very vague mush. He says he’ll be clear when in fact he provides NO benchmarks. We have been concerned about corruption before; Kharzai is corrupt; we know that and yet we have done nothing. What will change? This is like the Diem regime (in Vietnam) all over again. "We expect those who are corrupt" does not mean THOSE WHO ARE CORRUPT WILL BE held accountable. There is a big difference between "we expect" and "these are our benchmarks". Obama provides NO DETAIL here whatsoever. The remark about agriculture is particularly odd since he has said the US will now focus on cities: how can we do anything for agriculture if we cede the countryside to the Taliban? [In Full]

More from the Washington Post: With narrower military goals, Obama ups the ante

The Guardian UK: Barack Obama's war: the final push in Afghanistan

...And CNN, with a pertinent question: Will Obama's war become his Vietnam?

The five British boaters detained for intruding in Iranian waters have been released.

In Pakistan, the naval Headquarters in Islamabad was hit by a suicide bomber this morning and the Pakistani army (with the help of U.S. UAVs and Special Operators no doubt) is making no discernible headway in Waziristan.

A climatologist for a British university is under investigation for gerrymandering details and data affecting the whole educational-industrial complex revolving around climate change.

The Iraqi shoe tossing journalist-in-exile has been touring the 'rubber chicken' talk circuit, and at a press conference in Paris, another Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at him...
-30-
Audio hosting courtesy of: [www.archive.org]

Travus T. Hipp's Commentary Archive Is [ Here]
Search the archive by topic [Here]

Cabale News RSS Feed Via Internet Archive


Creative Commons Copyright
Cabale New Service, KPIG Radio, and KVMR radio.
Listen to KPIG, Listen to KVMR

Recorded & transcribed by Da' Buffalo Amongst Wolves

---

Related @ IceRocket: Travus T. Hipp, Cabale News Service, KPIG, Politics, News, Alternative News, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Domestic Policy, Breaking Politics News, Realpolitik, Republican Family Values, Social Justice