Hammes: Why Is This A Good War?

89 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

• 

  thomg57 on February 12 at 10:06 a.m.

  What is it with “journalists’” inability to not ask a misleading question? “Good War”? ? Porkulus”?

• 

  KevinTaylor on February 12 at 10:14 a.m.

  Intensive special training, ThomG. (Pssst. down here, ThomG: don’t let it get out that I told you, but it involves large flat rocks. And foreheads.) /ends whisper. SO, HOW’S THE WEATHER OVER THERE, HUH?

• 

  Joker on February 12 at 10:16 a.m.

  A good war? There’s a flawed concept.

  You have to feel sorry for little old Afghanistan. They’ve been the playing field for wars for a long long time. That country is a wreck. The U.S. hasn’t exactly “helped” over the years. It’s like hiring a bad contractor over to remodel your bathroom and they managed to tear down the entire place, and then they hand you a $50,000 bill.

• 

  toadman on February 12 at 10:20 a.m.

  There’s no such thing as a “good” war. A just war, yes, but a “good” war? No.

  Also, I’m with Thom on this one. Saying “porkulus” instead of “stimulus” belies much slant on the part of the reporter using it.. imo.

• 

  DFO on February 12 at 10:28 a.m.

  Thom & Toad; I don’t know if I should ap-hollow-gize re: “porkulus” b/c I believe this stimulus package is short on stimulus and long on pork. I support the concept of stimulus — as it applies to infrastructure, schools, etc. — but I think this so-called stimulus package is nothing but a glorified free-for-all spending bill. Also, I’d remind you guys that this is a blog that tries to be newsy but remains steeped in opinion (which I really don’t let show much … unless I think something really stinks. See: headline on Bob Nonini’s antics, for example)

• 

  Cabbage Boy on February 12 at 10:30 a.m.

  But Dave, you know that it is okay to be “report” in their direction, but it is considered evil to be “slanted or biased” in the other direction.

• 

  Me on February 12 at 10:35 a.m.

  I was quite shocked last night when Bryan Williams used the words “so called stimulus package”. Am I just reading that wrong? Was that ‘reporting’ or ‘opinion’?

• 

  JohnA on February 12 at 10:40 a.m.

  War is hell, pure and simple.

  However, at least we have a reason to be in Afganistan. The roots of 9/11 are there and in the bordering ‘safe’ areas of Pakistan. If Bush 43 had only worked with our allies and sent the 150,000 troops there instead of Iraq, we would have dealt a huge blow to the war on terror. That blunder will haunt us for years, or at least until we can focus all of our attention on this area, at this place in time.

  As a sidenote, our Air Force son-in-law told me last night that his detail returning from Afganistan reported a lot of new construction on the bases there, likely signalling the start of a huge push in the region. Seven years late but finally on target.

• 

  thomg57 on February 12 at 10:44 a.m.

  I believe this stimulus package is short on stimulus and long on pork.—dfo,

  Dave, I understand that this is an opinion blog and that’s why you pump up the IVA and World Nut Daily, that’s cool, but I’m sharing my opinion, too.
  CB, find me some of the times when dfo reported in our direction, I must have missed them.

  Btw, Dave, have you read the Recovery Act legislation, or are you just reacting to the talking heads opinions and the lies of wing nut radio? Read what Frank Henderson has to say about it in the CDA Press article about the budget. he says it will create lots of jobs!!

• 

  Sisyphus on February 12 at 10:45 a.m.

  Gah, please show me an economist that says spending isn’t stimulus. I guess its not surprising given the paucity of informing that cable news wants to accomplish.

  http://mediamatters.org/items/200902110027

  Geez oh Drudge master, hook line and sinker on that Republican talking point. I’m thinking that the subject matter of the spending is nothing more than sour grapes from last November. ZOMG, money for law enforcement, education, unemployment, transportation, energy conservation and reducing dependency on foreign oil. Evil evil Democrats.

  http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/02/highlights_of_compromise_economic_stimulus_plan.php

  As far as the question, where the frick was he when this was debated ad nauseum last year. Hello, Taliban. Gave aid and assistance to al Qaeda. Hello, anyone, remember 9/11? There’s this guy named bin Laden see…. Nothing to do with Iraq. Before that, when we had the sympathy, respect and assistance of the world?

• 

  DFO on February 12 at 10:50 a.m.

  Thom; I slap at Idaho Republicans. All. The. Time. When’s the last time you heard me say something good about Butch Otter? Ditto for Bill Sali when he was in Congress. Ditto for Nonini’s attempts to castrate education. I don’t come right out and say that things guys are bums. But the way I set the posts up, you can deduce that. You. Guys. Simply. Don’t notice. It. When. I agree. With you. However, the reaction of the local Repub muckety-mucks in labeling this blog as liberal dominated should say something to you. Mebbe Cabbage is right. Unless someone agrees with liberals 99.99% of the time, you believe he disagrees with them all the time. P’haps you enjoyed Huckleberries Online as it originally played out?

• 

  toadman on February 12 at 10:50 a.m.

  Dave, you don’t have to apologize. You have editorial license here. However, if you were simply reporting the news here, not editorializing, I’d have a real issue. It wasn’t you I was accusing of bias. We all know how you lean, man. Most of us are accepting of your opinions….whether we like them or not, because you’re not *to* offensive about it…

  ;-)

  Also.. Cabbage is just being silly. Everyone knows dissent is unpatriotic, right? At least it used to be, if memory serves..

  heh…

  again.. ;-)

• 

  Cabbage Boy on February 12 at 10:55 a.m.

  Thom,
  If one were to take a balanced look (does that exist in politics?) at the blog, you would see lots of shots taken at conservatives. Sali was roundly beaten about the head on this blog. But as a liberal, you take that as FACT, not as opinion.

  To a liberal, opinions are what the other side thinks, facts are what you think.

• 

  thomg57 on February 12 at 10:57 a.m.

  P’haps you enjoyed Huckleberries Online as it originally played out?

  If you mean the freewheeling, elbow-throwing, blood -splattered days HBO After Dark Days , yeah I did enjoy that! ;-)

  Chill Dave, I give you credit for taking fair handed shots at the extremes of both sides, I notice, but I’ve also learned that in the permanently skewed to the right state of Idaho, the left must maintain constant pressure to keep things from veering wildly out of control—as Nonini seems to be doing now.

• 

  thomg57 on February 12 at 10:57 a.m.

  “To a liberal, opinions are what the other side thinks, facts are what you think.” cabbage Boy

  Yeah. Your point? ;-)

• 

  Cindy_H on February 12 at 10:59 a.m.

  “find me some of the times when dfo reported in our direction”

  What is “our” direction? Sounds pretty divisive.Yer either with me or agin me?
  I think it must be very difficult to have an accurate view of the world when you’re wearing glasses that only have the left lens or the right lens, but never both.
  Things must seem blurry and out of focus.

• 

  toadman on February 12 at 11:02 a.m.

  Now fellas, I can respect Dave for not liking the whole spending thing. Honestly, it’s a huge amount of money, you know? It’s scary.

  Thing is, he and I have fundamental differences in how we view things, and that’s ok. The other thing is, someone who’s ideas are closer to my own, is currently calling the shots in DC. A lot of people like Dave are going to be uncomfortable, and are going to express their discomfort in ways like Dave is, even though some of us might think it a little bit passive aggressive in it’s nature.

  But we can’t lie to ourselves. We all on this side did the same thing when Bush was king, right? I know I did. The tables have turned now, and we’re on the receiving end of harsh and deserved criticism in most cases, and inane Hannity and Limbaugh-like insanity. Maybe we should just ball-up and take it….maybe we should just counter with facts and figures, instead of gettin’ all up in dey face and chit, ya know?

  ;-)

  One thing I think most people on either side of the issue can credit Obama for, is for totally owning the package. He’s said that if it doesn’t work, it’s his fault, and you can vote him out of office if four years. That’s guts, man. I like him for that. To me, it’s refreshingly honest and forthcoming. And.. if it screws up, and he owns it, I’m sure he’ll get the reaction he predicts…but you can’t fault the guy for trying. We’re in uncharted water here, nobody knows what’s gonna work, and what’s not…but we can’t sit on our hands and do nothing. That’s my opinion.

• 

  DFO on February 12 at 11:03 a.m.

  ThomG; I was chill until I read about Nonini’s latest gambit. Then, my blood pressure started working northward. I know you Dems can’t do anything about him b/c he lives in Bright Red Post Falls. But still … I can dream can’t I?

• 

  Me on February 12 at 11:03 a.m.

  ARgggggghhhh - I do not get why if my opinion is that spending 650 MILLION dollars for people to get their $%@#$%@#%^#$ dtv boxes is a waste of money and will not stimulate the economy is then equal to being a drudge follower, a zombie Rush listener. I have a personal opinion on some of the things in the bill that I don’t believe are going to stimulate the economy, but are pure spending and paybacks. That is MY personal opinion and YES I have read the bill. I didn’t read it on a right-wing wacko site either. I can think for myself. I don’t need others to sway me or push me or drag me. I am a thinking person and can form my OWN opinions.

• 

  Cabbage Boy on February 12 at 11:04 a.m.

  Yeah Cindy, but to the extremist, THEIR FACTS are extremely in focus.

  For Thom
  “in the permanently skewed to the left state of our nation, the right must maintain constant pressure to keep things from veering wildly out of control”

• 

  thomg57 on February 12 at 11:06 a.m.

  Cindy H, agreed. I was merely responding in kind to CB’s comment that “you know that it is okay to be “report” in their direction”

• 

  Cabbage Boy on February 12 at 11:06 a.m.

  Well said Toad.

• 

  thomg57 on February 12 at 11:11 a.m.

  “in the permanently skewed to the left state of our nation, the right must maintain constant pressure to keep things from veering wildly out of control”

  That’s true. Someone should have told good ol’ Sarah Palin about the “permanently skewed to the left state of our nation,” before she went off and made those ridiculous comments about the “real America”.

• 

  toadman on February 12 at 11:12 a.m.

  Thanks Cabbage.. it was a bipartisan effort, to be sure.. heh…

• 

  Sisyphus on February 12 at 11:19 a.m.

  My my, Cindy, venturing forth into the turbid political waters, are ye lassie? Just cause he’s a Democrat doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

  And Dave, you know I love ya. But don’t get torqued when we point out the obvious. None of our griping on yer editorializing is meant to be taken personally. Au contraire, its a salute to your authority.

• 

  thawtfulreader on February 12 at 11:26 a.m.

  “That is, nobody seems to ask whether the United States should continue fighting in Afghanistan. Nobody asks what our strategy there might be. Nobody asks how we will know when we have won.”

  Nobody?

  There are plenty of people asking questions and challenging the status quo as to the strategy. Important people that perhaps Mr. Hammes chooses to ignore, like the top Foreign Officer of our stalwart ally in Afghanistan, British Foreign Secretary David Miliban:

  “Feb 10, 2009
  Britain and her Nato allies in Afghanistan are stuck in a stalemate with the Taleban, David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, admitted yesterday.

  His pessimistic view of military progress in Afghanistan coincided with a new poll of Afghans which reveals that confidence in the future is significantly lower than it was three years ago.
  …
  With President Barak Obama considering sending up to 30,000 more American troops to Afghanistan in an Iraq-style surge, Mr Miliband said the international coalition needed to be clear about its strategic objectives, adding that any additional US forces had to be “properly engaged with the rest of the international effort”.
  …
  A senior American military source told The Times: “The focus now seems to be on counter-terrorism and fixing an exit strategy but no one is asking the Afghans what they want.””

  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article5695658.ece

  It remains to be seen whether a comprehensive plan for Afghanistan can defy its long history of being the place where empires go to die.

  I see it as a hopeful sign, that Britain’s Foreign Secretary is finally admitting the obvious, now we’ll see if any positive change will ensue.

  Now returning to your regularly scheduled sniping and carping…

• 

  DFO on February 12 at 11:51 a.m.

  Thanx, Sis; the frustrating thing re: blogging the way I do … is that you guys get to see what I’m about warts & all — even on those days when my normally rhino-thick skin is thin in some spots. I’d miss the old days when we could get readers at arm’s length, with telephone trees, receptionists, letters to the editor, and other useful devices, except — life in the dead-tree media is boring by comparison to this tight-rope act without a safety net.

• 

  Bob on February 12 at 11:59 a.m.

  I think the more interesting question is how did Dan Hammes ever get to write editorials? This would be a weak C- paper in a high school current events class.

  There are no good wars. There are no just wars. There are sometimes necessary wars. Afghanistan isn’t. It’s one more example of the reverse Midas touch of Chimpy and his Uncle Dead in which everything they touched turned to crap.

  Get out and get out fast. And bonus points to anyone who knows the oil connection to our presence in Afghanistan.

  Put on your geopolitical tinfoil thinking caps!

• 

  Bob on February 12 at 12:04 p.m.

  DFO, you were way edgy yesterday, bordering on disregulated. Next time you get that way just try what I do and have found to work almost instantaneously to relax me and help me find my *peace-happy-place-unicorn-center” and that is to imagine a quiet peaceful forest place, with a tinkling waterfall and a crystal clear river and you find yourself standing in the crystal clear river water and you close your eyes and you can visualize the person who is bothering you the most and they are standing in the river directly in front of you and you slowly open your eyes and see that your hands are around their throat and you smile softly and shove their head under the water.

  It’s awesome, man.

• 

  keithincda on February 12 at 12:07 p.m.

  Bob, so un like you to use a description like that that made the email rounds about THREE years ago…sheesh…

• 

  Bob on February 12 at 12:11 p.m.

  Keith thanks for your helpful comment on my post, but remember DFO is the guy I taught “jumping the shark” to, a phrase from the 90s, he’s not always up on current internet and pop culture trends like a cool hip dude like you.

  I first heard a variant of it at a conference about six (6) years ago.

• 

  keithincda on February 12 at 12:17 p.m.

  point taken Bob, especially that part about me being a “cool hip dude”..;)

  Now edumacate me…what the hell does the “z” represent on zomg?

  Thanks in advance for the lesson.

• 

  Sisyphus on February 12 at 12:20 p.m.

  “This would be a weak C- paper in a high school current events class.”—agreed Bob. Hold them under till the bubbles stop coming up.

• 

  DFO on February 12 at 12:24 p.m.

  >you slowly open your eyes and see that your hands are around their throat and you smile softly and shove their head under the water — Bob<

  Bob, any chance you could join me down at the Post Falls Dam after Blogfest ‘09 Feb. 28? ;-)

• 

  Bob on February 12 at 12:24 p.m.

  Keith, dude. As much as I’d like to teach you “the way of the Z” you are much too much a neophyte of the Holy Internets to be overwhelmed with that lesson now.

  That is a lesson you learn in the Ninth Ring of the Holy Internet and again, no offense, you seem to be doing your best just to stay afloat in the Second Ring. But you have promise, grasshopper. Just don’t ruin it all by rushing into complex esoterica too rich and deep for you to understand. Yet.

  HBO = First Ring of the Holy Internet.
  TUBOB = Fourth Ring

• 

  Bob on February 12 at 12:25 p.m.

  DFO I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU WANT TO DROWN ME.

  ZOMGAH

• 

  Escapee on February 12 at 12:26 p.m.

  So we’re sending troops to Afghanistan? Really? And Obama will be sending ‘em? I don’t know, I don’t know anymore. So now we’re settling in with a New Administration. Domestically, Republicans are going to war, over the Stimulus Package. Politix as usual. Of course I still have hope that things will get better. We have a new President. And we have the same ol’ Congress. And will the Stimulus package really improve things? I hope so. Do I have confidence in our new President? So far, yes. I think we all vote in the hopes that things will improve. So we hope.

• 

  Cindy_H on February 12 at 12:28 p.m.

  Um. Keith, Bob told me what the “z” means in ZOMG. But I forgot. I’m not one of his brightest students. I know it has something to do with LOL cats and er…something.
  Sigh.

• 

  Cindy_H on February 12 at 12:31 p.m.

  Bob, I’m pretty sure DFO was just inviting you to a baptismal service at the Falls, that’s all.
  There’s a potluck and stuff afterward.

• 

  Bob on February 12 at 12:36 p.m.

  STUFF LIKE A MEDIVAC CHOPPER RIDE AND RINGERS LACTATE AND DEFIB SET TO MAXIMUM JOULES AND EPI SHOT RIGHT INTO MY HEART FOLLOWED BY A LONG INTERMINABLE WAIT TO SEE ST. PETER WHO HAS ODDLY GONE AWAY FOR A LONG LUNCH BREAK LEAVING ME IN THE WAITING ROOM WITH OLD GOLFING MAGAZINES FROM 1977.

  I THINK NOT.

• 

  thawtfulreader on February 12 at 12:48 p.m.

  “As a sidenote, our Air Force son-in-law told me last night that his detail returning from Afganistan reported a lot of new construction on the bases there”

  -JohnA

  See, there’s your infrastructure stimulus right there!

  I’m sure it will employ hundreds if not thousands of Filipinos, just like in the building of the US Embassy in Iraq.

  Spreading Democracy the world over!

• 

  keithincda on February 12 at 12:58 p.m.

  fine dude, I’ll just google it. Shoulda done that anyway.

• 

  Arch_Druid on February 12 at 2:44 p.m.

  To answer the question as to how it is that Afghanistan became the good war, because of Al Qaeda being based in that country? Because of the number of known training camps found there? Because the west hating Taliban were willing to harbor bin Laden?

  The good war because GW did not end the war in Afghanistan before starting the invasion of Iraq? Because GW never bothered considering that the Taliban would regroup? I don’t know that there is an exit strategy for Afghanistan at this point, I do know that we can’t afford two wars.

• 

  hhuseland on February 12 at 10:24 p.m.

  If I had to guess, and I am, I would assume that the people that choose up sides on these issues, are more about partisanship and issues, war, or not.

• 

  hhuseland on February 12 at 10:37 p.m.

  “Than issues.” There I go not making sense again …

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