The Afghan Diaries

I am in rare agreement with John Kerry:

Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement late Sunday that the documents raised “serious questions about the reality of America’s policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

Indeed, questions have been raised.  I understand that these leaks represent new intelligence to We, the Great Unwashed.  But is the information about probable Pakistani perfidy really news to Kerry?  One might have hoped that the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been raising these questions right along.  Or is Kerry preparing a segue to "Obama lied, soldiers died?"  Geez, one more war Kerry was for before he was against.

How, we assume Kerry is wondering, can we ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?  And why does no one in Massachusetts puzzle over the ethics of letting some poor voter be the last person to vote for a mistake?

THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IS AN ONCOMING RPG:  Here is a safe prediction - Admiral Mullen tells us Afghanistan will get worse before it gets better. 

Comments

[gmax]

Kerry is a master of perfidity, so he should recognize it immediately!

[Clarice]

He's also pushing for cap and trade. Hypocritical asshole.

I happen to know his big money guys are on the receiving end of big money which would be shoveled into their maws by the federal scam to "control carbon emissions".

I really cannot control my enmity to him.

[bunky]

Mullen is so inspiring.

[Captain Hate]

Does anybody take Lurch seriously? If I were a lefty I'd be as disenchanted with that pompous gasbag as I was with McCain.

[narciso the harpoon]

Yes, but Mike, can I call you Mike, the reason is both Kayani and Shuja's underlings
can't be trusted to not pick the right side

[matt]

First, the ISI is in this up to their eyeballs. This is still being pooh poohed by the Pentagon and Administration,who are using the Afghan governments antipathy towards Pakistan as an excuse for slanted intelligence. The LSE report coming from a completely different angle, interviewed Taliban commanders who confirmed extensive Pakistani involvement.

I know people who have taken covering fire from whom they were pretty certain were Pakistani military on the other side of the border when engaged with Taliban on the Afghan side.

The Taliban operates with impunity in Pakistan. They have hospitals, training camps, armories, etc. Nothing moves there without the explicit permission of the oligarchy.

In addition, Pakistan is the major corridor for war materials, and the graft is stupendous. That the Pakistanis and Taliban are also deeply involved in the heroin trade is beyond dispute as well.

Put it all together and it is a damning portrait of duplicity that is costing American lives every day. I updated the blog yesterday based upon some of the Wikileaks. It disgusts me that the clowns in Washington are still trying to cover this up with a fig leaf.

[MarkO]

Of course it will get worse. We are not destroying an enemy, we are "nation building." There was a time we did that after we destroyed the enemy. It seemed to work.

[gmax]

I thought Zero was going to bomb Pakistan? Isnt that what he said? Another broken promise? If not, get on with it.

[NK]

Let's see, John Kerry --skipper of the good ship tax avoidance-- thinks that Afghanistan may not be worth it because the local politics are too complicated, and we may not know who are friends are. Well, I agree - to the extent that our engagement in AfPak should be limited to killing AQ jihadis and insuring Afghanistan doesn't again become an AQ training center. JustOneMinute (TM), that was the Bush policy!!! The policy that Capt. Tax Avoider said was stupid. Capt. Tax Avoider in 2004 screamed for all to hear that AfPak was the REAL war that required full US involvement. Now according to Kerry AfPak is something we should just walk away from because it's complicated? There are no words to describe what kind of moron John Kerry is, and has been for 40 years.

[squaredance]

Kerry should have been hung for treason decades ago. If he would have tried that nonsense in the '40's or the 50's he would have been.

The fact that he is a senator tell us all we need to know about his state and section.

It does not speak well us as a nation that he is in the position that he is.

What sort of man carries on like this when he has the sure and certain knowledge that he his hated by the entire echelon of officers he served with, that he is held in the deepest contempt by the vast majority of those who served during that war?

I will tell you what sort: The lowest sort.

Truly, there is no bottom to the Democrat Party

BTW, the publishing of the data is also treason (or espionage, depending on the nationality of the perps.)

This civilization is clearly suicidal.

[anduril]

A good place to repost:

Does anyone here actually give a sh*t that Iran is helping Iraqi insurgents to target and kill US troops? Yes? How about the fact that another radical Islamist power--a far more populous one than Iran and one that really DOES have nuclear weapons and a delivery system--is helping the Taliban kill US soldiers, yet is considered by one and all to be our ally? Yeah, Pakistan. Here's Spengler today: Murder on the Khyber Pass express. And an excerpt:

The 92,000 American classified military documents released by WikiLeaks add to the evidence that Pakistan's intelligence service backs the Taliban, to the point of helping the Taliban plan assassinations of American and Afghan officials.

This raises the question: Who covered up a scandalous arrangement known to everyone with a casual acquaintance of the situation? The answer is the same as in Agatha Christie's 1934 mystery about murder on the Orient Express, that is, everybody: former United States president George W Bush and vice president Dick Cheney, current US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, India, China and Iran. They are all terrified of facing a failed state with nuclear weapons, and prefer a functioning but treacherous one.

[C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, show me.]

And Pakistan has Obama's visa application paperwork on file.
======================

[I know, why doesn't he visit there?]

It's all Obama's fault. He threatened to bomb Pakistan, and they're just pre-empting him. Sounds like a good justification for pre-emptive war on Pakistan's part.
===========

[Captain Hate]

I wish I could disagree with anything in squaredance's comment, particularly the last sentence; but I can't.

[Well, at least I found something with which to disagree.]

squaredance: Wrong, wrong, wrong. He should have been hanged.
=====================

[narciso the harpoon]

I've had a high disregard for Lurch, for years, even before I knew the Swift boat or
the Paris negotiating details, when he through
Jack Blum, helped set up the CIA Cocaine 'narrative' along with the Christics

[Captain Hate]

Dammit Kim!!!!

[narciso the harpoon]

And this portrayal of crusading Senator, made among others into Steven Segal's first film
'Above the Law" for which I curse Michael Ovitz for bringing him to our attention

[Danube of Thought]

It will be interesting to see if the US can find this guy Julian Assange, and if so whether it will prosecute him.

[anduril]

Imagine a white woman in America claiming she had been raped after having admittedly consensual sex with a man she thought was white, but who turned out to be a black passing as white. Or maybe this would be a better example. Imagine a Jewish woman in America claiming she had been raped after having admittedly consensual sex with a man she thought was Jewish, but who turned out to be a goy.

Now imagine this: Jurists say Arab's rape conviction sets dangerous precedent. "Sabbar Kashur, 30, had consensual sex with a woman after he posed as a Jewish bachelor interested in a long-term relationship."

Lawyers for the Arab man convicted of rape by deception and sentenced to 18 months in prison, say they are considering an appeal to the High Court of Justice.

Sabbar Kashur, 30, had consensual sex with a woman after he posed as a Jewish bachelor interested in a long-term relationship.

When the woman found Kashur was not a Jew but an Arab, she filed a police complaint that led to charges of rape and indecent assault.

"If she hadn't thought the accused was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have cooperated," Judge Zvi Segal wrote in his verdict. Segal said the court had to protect the public from sophisticated criminals who could mislead innocent victims.

Kashur, married and the father of two small children, has been under house arrest for almost two years since the incident occured.

According to Kashur, he was exiting a grocery store in downtown Jerusalem around midday when a woman in her late 20s began to talk to him. "I would say she set upon me. She was interested in my motorcycle and so we talked. I didn't pretend. I said my name is Dudu because that's how everybody knows me. My wife even calls me that."

Kashur said the verdict is racist.

"For two years I've been under house arrest for nothing," he said. "If I were Jewish they wouldn't have even questioned me. That's not called rape. I didn't rape her in the forest and throw her away naked. She agreed to everything that happened."

In 2008, the High Court of Justice set a precedent on rape by deception, rejecting an appeal of the rape conviction by Zvi Sleiman, who impersonated a senior official in the Housing Ministry whose wife worked in the National Insurance Institute. Sleiman told women he would get them an apartment and increased NII payments if they would sleep with him.

High Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein said a conviction of rape should be imposed any time a "person does not tell the truth regarding critical matters to a reasonable woman, and as a result of misrepresentation she has sexual relations with him."

Rubinstein said the question was also whether an ordinary person would expect such a woman to have sex with a man without the false identity he created.

Now I, of course, oppose all extra-marital sex, understood as involving only a man and a woman--including sex with someone who's not your spouse. However, consider that bolded section. What's being said there? That no ordinary person would expect a Jewish woman to have sex with an Arab man voluntarily? Or would that be not just an Arab but any non-Jewish man in general? The fact of the occurrence is ipso facto conclusive evidence of rape--she wouldn't have done it absent deception? Smacks of the old miscegenation laws, doesn't it?

[narciso the harpoon]

He gave an interview to Channel 4 in Britain, he looks like a Morlock, or one of the paler
non Volturi from Twilight

[BB Key]

NPR ,among others, refer to Wikileaks as a whistleblower website. Is this accurate or convient ?

[narciso the harpoon]

Some people are never satisfied, no matter how hard you try, in the LUN

[Rob Crawford]

NPR ,among others, refer to Wikileaks as a whistleblower website. Is this accurate or convient ?

Ask yourself: would Wikileaks publish leaked memos showing Obama ordering the end of the Black Panthers case?

[Sue]

Via topsecretk9 tweet:

Daily Caller: DECLAWED - DOJ refuses 2 allow attorney [Christopher Coates } 2 testify in Black Panther case

[Jane]

Oh that will all change when we get subpoena power - well I hope.

[Danube of Thought]

would Wikileaks publish leaked memos showing Obama ordering the end of the Black Panthers case?

My guess is that he would, and that if he wouldn't it would only be because it doesn't have the effect of damaging US national security and the war effort, which seems to be his principal goal.

[matt]

he's speaking troof to power, DoT....

[lyle]

Great!

Yet another opportunity to state how much I fucking loathe Kerry.

Thanks!

[Duck, goose, duck, goose......]

I'm loth to loathe, but for him I'll make the sacrifice.
================

[lyle]

It appears you've lost an 'a'.

Good thing I'm around to find one for you, as in: Asshole = J. F'n Kerry.

[It's archaic by now.]

For a variation on the theme, I am eternally grateful to John, did you know he earned a chestful of medals in VietNam, Kerry for bringing that war back into the public discourse, because I was able to rationalize why I opposed the war then, but support it now. We lost because we thought the opposing Vietnamese were anticolonial, but we should have won because they were viciously authoritarian Stalinists.
================

[John Down]

Some one got a job. It's the leaving by CIA standards. It was always CIA and Pakistan, always a goal.

[Captain Hate]

O/T This thread is pretty barren so this would be a good place to vent my spleen. I've been reading, among other things, "Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire by Victor Sebestyen, a journalist (the real kind; not the garbage poseurs we're shackled with today) originally from Budapest but works in the UK. The book is broken down into bite sized chapters that go from country to country. Sebestyen seems to be reporting factually on what went on. That said, George HW Bush really comes off as a worthless eunuch from when he went to Poland and Hungary and seemed to be more in support of the commies holding on by their fingernails than he was for the freedom fighters. I guess I can understand that he still didn't trust Gorbachev (who was kind of surprised about how timid GHWB was about everything having dealt with Reagan) and if he *really* meant staying hands off (which assholes like Honecker and Ceausescu were always bitching about) but the dissidents felt like they were getting kicked in the nads after doing so much at great danger to their personal well being.

I'm starting to think that both domestic parties are made up of "men" that have to go through a ritual involving gelding shears before being able go attain a high political level. Maybe it's only done once per family so GWB was spared, but the more I read about Poppy the more I think the Iron Curtain fell *despite* his best efforts. Maybe I should only vote for Repub women.

[matt]

It's the ruling class, Captain. The parting on the left is now the parting on the right. Reagan was an anomaly who didn't fit into the round hole of country club/gentlemen's club Republicanism. Not a lot of principle in that crowd, mainly just self interest.

The go along to get along ethic has always been at the fore of polite society. It was those nasty ethnics and God forbid, actors, who actually did some of the thinking at times. A little common sense still goes a long way.

When Walesa and the Hungarians and the Czechs began to agitate for greater autonomy, these were homegrown political insurgencies with deep roots.

As a former CIA director and President, GHWB was taken completely by surprise, as most of us were, by the total collapse and the suddenness of it all. If anyone should have seen it coming, he should have.

Reagan was the one who set it in motion, after all, when he began spending the Rooshians into the ground. I would have hoped Bush was at least taking notes when he was invited in.

[Captain Hate]

Matt the CIA comes off as particularly clueless in every facet of the changes; easily as witless as Plame and that obese slob she's married to. One person who comes off very well is Mark Palmer, ambassador to Hungary, who built up very good relations with the dissidents before Poppy tried to leave them hanging,

[narciso the harpoon]

He really is a remarkable individual, Captain, guess where he got start before State Department, SNCC, which seems kind of
proper, in the LUN

[jimmyk]

I saw an interview of GHWB a while back--I guess it was the 20th anniversary of bringing down the Berlin Wall--where he explains why he was so cautious. He said he didn't want to be too active for fear it would provoke a response by the Soviet military. I'm not sure I buy it, especially if he repeated the pattern again and again, but that was his argument.

[narciso the harpoon]

The concern was always that the Soviets would stream across the Fulda Gap, and ultimately NATO would not be able to hold them back and nuclear escalation would ensue; that was the
premise behind the "Day After"

[lyle]

"that was the premise behind the "Day After"

Really?

Huh.

I'd always placed Nov. 2008, first Wednesday, as the premise.

[Neo]

“I’m John Kerry, and I’m Reporting for Duty Free!”

[Captain Hate]

Interesting career he's had narc; obviously a cut above the standard State Dept dreck. LOL Neo.

[Pagar]

" We lost because we thought the opposing Vietnamese were anticolonial,"

We lost because of people like John Kerry, Walter Cronkite, Jane Fonda and many other Americans aiding the enemy.

[Parental Control Software]

Hello, and sorry guy's i have no clue to say anything about this,
Parental Control Software

[NK]

Disagree with Pagar--

Ho Chi Minh, the North Vietnamese communist cadres, Mao and the Soviets were willing to pay a much higher price in Vietnamese blood than the US and South Vietnamese were. John Kerry and his fellow surrenderists took control of the Congress and cut off the South Vietnamese and left them to their fate of being invaded by the North without any US support. That wasn't a coup, it was US politics. What the Congress did to the South Vietnamese in 1974-1975 was craven and a disgrace, but it was a reflection of the reality that the communists convinced the north vietnamese people to pay a price in blood that the American people would not pay.

[Ignatz]

--but it was a reflection of the reality that the communists convinced the north vietnamese people to pay a price in blood that the American people would not pay--

I suspect for most north vietnamese 'forced' or 'coerced' would be a better verb than 'convinced'.

[boris]

"the American people would not pay"

B u l l S h i t ! ! !

More than enough was paid to win. Did win. Could have won much sooner at a lower cost even.