Afutilestan X

Hostile occupation is like a coiled spring– the greater the force applied, the greater the force generated when the spring is finally sprung. For instance, triple the amount of occupation forces in Afghanistan, as President Obama has done and voila!– a proportional number of new resistance forces are added to the equation. That’s just the nature of the beast. People …

Afutilestan IX (Update)

US taxpayers funding the killing of its own troops [Note: The arguments of my previous eight Afutilestan diaries explaining why the continuing and escalating presence of US troops in Afghanistan is doomed to fail are incorporated herein.] So what’s new since my last quagmire update? Last night the House approved another $30 billion in military spending in Afghanistan, on top …

Afutilestan VIII

Rep. Alan Grayson introducing his War Is Making You Poor Act on the House floor As we look back to honor the fallen on Memorial Day, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan grind on. Afghanistan, in its ninth year, is already the longest war in US History and Iraq, at seven years, is not far behind. On May 21, …

Afutilestan (VI): Obama’s Decision

Back to the future in Afghanistan Irony often has the most exquisite timing. Today President Obama announces a massive escalation of the war in Afghanistan, doubling the number of troops that Bush left behind. And next week he travels to Oslo to pick up his Nobel War Peace Prize. So, what did those three months of careful deliberation net us? …