Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

Even Kissinger came out to see daylight the other day and blamed the fiasco on Trump...

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

I asked you some questions.  I couldn't care less what Kissinger thinks, and if he's of the mindset that this fiasco given to us by Biden is Trump's fault then he probably has a Giant dose of TDS, like you and the rest of the left. 

I'll ask my questions again. 

Didn't you criticize Trump for Killing Sulaimani and Baghdadi?

I think you did. 

Feel free to set the record straight.  

Joe Biden criticized him. He said that it would cause things to escalate in the region.

Then again this is Joe Biden we are talking about, one of the biggest morons to ever sit in gov't, and he voted AGAINST Killing Osama Bin Laden.

I notice now that he lies and says "we got Bin Laden".

No, he got nobody because he didn't want to go in and get Bin Laden.

Joe Biden is the biggest loser that has been in that office in centuries.  

"Didn't you criticize Trump for Killing Sulaimani and Baghdadi?
I think you did."
Wrong again...

Originally Posted by James Brown

Reasons - there are lots of them of course. 

You have read my posts over the years.  I am positive you will not find a post from 2020 where I state that I base my vote against Trump because of his Twitter use.  Twitter is just a lie you made up to have something easy to argue against.  

If you reread my posts from about November 2016, when I voted for Trump, and progress through to November 2020, when I voted against him, you will see my opinion of Trump's suitability as president change.  My 2020 vote was based upon many considerations, many of them documented here.  You will not make the effort to understand my actual motivations of course.  You never have, you never will.  This is another of your disagreeable characteristics.  You have no interest in other people's actual opinions or motivations.  You only argue against straw men like "orange man bad" and "nasty tweets"  presumably because in your view, this is the only rational reasons one would vote against Trump.   Makes you look like an idiot of course, but perhaps you don't care.

Another lie you are fond of, which you have repeated several times over the last couple of days, is that I am proud of Biden's handling of the Afghan exit.  This is not true, but here again, the truth is of no interest to you.

Jim

  

"Another lie you are fond of, which you have repeated several times over the last couple of days, is that I am proud of Biden's handling of the Afghan exit.  This is not true, but here again, the truth is of no interest to you."
My feeling is that it was going to be a cluster---- no matter who the president happened to be. In fact, I argued for a permanent US military presence in Afghanistan under a separate thread which anybody on the forum can read. That said, I would have preferred this departure to have occurred under Trump's watch, just before he lost the election when he and his aides were touting plans to leave immediately in an effort present to the American people an "early" end to the war in Afghanistan. The pentagon went apeshit when they heard that and it didn't happen.
What happens next remains to be seen. The Taliban's chief income at present remains the profits skimmed off the opium trade. China is highly interested in Afghanistan because it sits upon one trillion dollars worth of rare minerals. They definitely want to corner the market on that one. On the other hand, China has no love for the Muslim and the Taliban may very well start their chop chop shop if the Chinese starting showing up uninvited. Presumably, the Chinese will start up some sort of diplomatic effort followed by a "technological assistance" for extractions of rare earth elements.  It'll be interesting to see what Russia does about it. We pretty much screwed the pooch on Afghanistan and it would have happened in the same fashion no matter who the president happened to be...

Originally Posted by James Brown

Hi Mel:

I get it that Rod argues we were screwed no matter who was in charge.  I think he has a point, given the situation in 2021.  Arguably our Afghan strategy should have been much better going a long ways back.  

Some commentary I have been reading from the left side of the press is along the lines of Biden's defenders trying to deflect most or all of the blame to Trump.  That is not being received well.  The Afghanistan withdrawal is a big deal and Biden, not Trump owns it in the public's mind.  

Personally, I reckon that Eisenhower would have done better.  Trump, I doubt it.

Jim 

There's also the MAGA media lie machine on constant overdrive:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2021/08/31/joe-biden-twitter-lies-afghanistan-ingraham-patterson-dale-cupp-newday-ldn-vpx.cnn

Originally Posted by James Lacey

On loan? You are a moron and the epitome of the idiotic right. What good is to train an army if you don't equip them? Of course, we gave it to them, and the intent was they would stand up for their country. You really expected us to withdraw and leave the Afghan army essentially naked and powerless? And tell me, Mr. Foreign Policy and Military Strategy expert, exactly how do you withdraw or logistically remove $85Bn worth of military aid that took 20 years to build up? It would probably cost more to remove it than leave it there. You truly are a dumb-ass and an idiot and a fool and a right-wing whack-a-doodle. All I can say is if you and Trump had been in charge, it would have truly been a fluster-cluck of epic proportions.

"exactly how do you withdraw or logistically remove $85Bn worth of military aid that took 20 years to build up?"
Reminds of a story on CNN wherein Russia appeared not to have removed its battalions of tanks and artillery from a war game near the Ukrainian border at the behest of the US in order to reduce an escalation of the conflict in the region. Basically, the Russians stated they decided to leave in there because they simply didn't feel like dragging it all the way back home...   

Originally Posted by James Lacey

We have left tons of stuff behind in every foreign conflict we have been engaged in. On top of that, if Biden had removed all the military aid and equipment given to the Afghans over twenty years, and then they collapsed, then Rich would be complaining about that. I mean, seriously. Does anyone really think that a) it's easy to remove that kind of equipment overnight, and b) that leaving the Afghan army defenseless was an option? Well, apparently, our resident military strategy expert thinks it was. I'm sure if he and Trump had been in charge, things would have gone swimmingly well!

There's a very timely movie, based upon a true story, entitled "War Dogs" on Netflix:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2005151/
And the actual story:
https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/the-stoner-arms-dealers-how-two-american-kids-became-big-time-weapons-traders-176604/
If you haven't seen it, you don't know what your missing...

Originally Posted by James Brown

Hi Greg:

I don't think it was intentional, but it absolutely looks incompetent.  I know that you don't typically post links, but here are a news and opinion piece from the WaPo supporting the facts of your post, if not the "on purpose" part of it.  It is refreshing to see the press engage in their actual purpose.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/30/greenlighting-talibans-takeover-kabul-is-national-disgrace/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/28/taliban-takeover-kabul/

Jim

"I don't think it was intentional, but it absolutely looks incompetent."
Actually, it's neither. A closer look at the account of how in went down in the Washington Post and not the opinion piece about it reveals what occurred:
"The Taliban hadn’t intended to take Kabul that day. But Ghani’s exit gave the group no choice."
“The government has left all of their ministries; you have to enter the city to prevent further disorder and protect public property and services from chaos,” read a message that pinged on Muhammad Nasir Haqqani’s phone."
So, the Taliban entered the city even though they themselves had not expected to be there. As per the article, "On the spot, an understanding was reached, according to two other U.S. officials: The United States could have the airport until Aug. 31. But the Taliban would control the city."
So, with Taliban already there and in the city and in control of the ministry the point was mute. The Taliban were there and they weren't going to leave, so the "on the spot" call by the commanding US officer was the correct one: The US would retain control of the airport for the evacuation and the Taliban, who had already set up shop, would remain in Kabul. Do you honestly believe that the report from an unnamed source that the Taliban would cede control of Kabul to the US and leave after doing a victory photo op in the ministry?

Nailed another one!
https://thehill.com/policy/international/569899-us-strikes-suicide-bomber-in-vehicle-headed-to-kabul-airport-report
I liked this comment: "the cia likely intercepted a call between the gop and al qaeda / taliban / isis k"

The ISIS planner got an American Hellfire missile up his kazoo:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/27/politics/us-military-airstrike-isis-k-planner-afghanistan/

Like the anti-vaccer's like to say, "my body, my choice". 
Glad to know they're pro-choice.
Upon reflection, Rich is right afterall since I was mocking the anti-vaccer/anti maskers/ anti covids who have departed the planet when I really didn't have any business doing so since it's their body, their choice and they could have taken hydroxychloroquine, er ah I mean ivermectin, and they were right all along that the vaccine doesn't work, covid's no worse than the flu, er ah I mean the flu is worse, masks don't work and they're only a means of restricting one's freedoms and if they do die from covid, it's not really covid, it's some other disease and/or the hospital killed them.  I think that about covers it for my apology...