Now Trump is pulling out of Afghanistan

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 8:21pm

Trump just made himself a better presidential candidate than most mainstream Democrats.
He did this by acknowledging our total and abject failure in Afghanistan, and that after 17 years nothing was going to change, so we should withdraw.

The Trump administration is withdrawing roughly 7,000 troops from Afghanistan in the coming months, two defense officials said Thursday, around half of what the American military has there now.
Mr. Trump made the decision at the same time he decided he was pulling American forces out of Syria, one official said. The move is likely one of the first steps to end the United States’ involvement in the 17-year-old war.

Expect liberals to have yet another meltdown over the potential of an end to our Forever War.
Mad Dog Mattis quit in protest.

I'll update this later.

Tags:

afghanistan

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Comments

Submitted by The Aspie Corner on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 8:36pm

Meh. Dipshit's looking to cause trouble elsewhere.

Besides, it's not like there's anything else to be done that the pigs haven't already done to Afghanistan.

—

Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Submitted by Bollox Ref on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 8:38pm

Daily Napoleon is going to have a Sad

If we're giving away the keys to a house we don't own in Syria, who will get the keys to the house we don't own in Afghanistan. (In high-pitched, weasely voice.)

Or something...

—

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Submitted by Pricknick on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 8:47pm

What would really be good

is trump closing Guantanamo.
Good blue haze should work nicely.

—

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 9:29pm

Ha!

@Pricknick

Wouldn't that just be the cat's meow?

Moon of Alabama has more info about this.

—

Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 12:12pm

Ha! I linked the same article

@snoopydawg in the essay on Syria. Interesting food for thought.

Great minds!

—

Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Submitted by Big Al on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 9:05pm

They're possibly removing some of the regular troops,

which has been anticipated, as reported by the oligarchy media, which if it happens is simple an overall strategy shift possibly preparing for a war with Iran or to shift resources elsewhere. No where does it say Trump is "pulling out of Afghanistan" and no where does it say Trump is ending U.S. imperialism and the drive to rule the world.

Submitted by Pricknick on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 9:46pm

Ahhhhh

@Big Al
but wouldn't it be fun if it proves true.

—

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 10:30pm

Update - Cable TV pundits/Dem lawmakers and Dem

@Big Al @Big Al @Big Al

Party shills/talking heads have been all over cable news since late afternoon--that is, CNN & MSNBC--declaring that DT's going to pull out the troops (from both countries).

(Update: MSNBC has just trotted out John Kerry via phone on 11th Hour program, to join in the hysterics over the Mattis resignation. Prepare for an onslaught of propaganda--like the McCain & Bush funerals!)

IOW, all the neocons/war hawks are coming undone/unglued--in both legacy/corporatist parties.

So, it will 'sound like' that is what's happening. Personally, I can't imagine 'why' Dems would want to do this, and shoot themselves in their own foot. Go figure.

Blue Onyx

—

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Submitted by eyo on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 2:04am

"people are jumping around on this blog"

@Big Al heh, that made me laugh. I can't complain about troops coming home, hope they get jobs not in law enforcement.

I didn't comment about Syria, but what a monster Trump is for giving the nod to Turkey to continue the slaughter as U.S.troops retreat. Mattis' policy was "kill them all", I don't expect his replacement to be any different. 4 out of 5 duopoly voters choose war criminals. good luck

Submitted by dkmich on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 9:05am

My husband often says....

@Big Al @Big Al

If some people receive ten dollars, they would bitch because is was two fives instead of a ten dollar bill. If Trumps pull outs and tweets change the narrative, I will be glad for that. Not one media outlet, not one so called liberal and/or Democrat is anti-war. They come, they take, people die.

One thing I do give Trump credit for is his unpredictability. I hope he doesn't cave, but he probably will. I would love to see Trump outflank the ##$%@#$ Dems from the left and win re-election. I hope we end up with stalemate for four years, and if we don't, I hope it exposes the Democratic Party to the country and they go the way of the dinosaurs. If it doesn't, we will all be homeless, starving, sick and dying from climate change anyway, and all I can say is it serves people right.

Sorry to be such a grump. But I am beginning to understand why so many people don't listen/read the news or vote. Not much point except to piss yourself off.

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 10:35am

@Big AlNo where does it say Trump

@Big Al

No where does it say Trump is "pulling out of Afghanistan"

I read somewhere that he's ordered plans be made ready for this.

and no where does it say Trump is ending U.S. imperialism and the drive to rule the world.

Well, yeh. I didn't say he was a good president.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 9:21pm

Oh for gawd's sake

The rumors of an imminent Afghan drawdown come shortly after General Joseph F. Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned that another 9/11-scale attack on American people is possible if the US forces leave Afghanistan.

The general said that US troops are essential to contain Taliban, that are estimated to control or have a presence in 44 percent of the country’s territory.

I don't remember that it was the Taliban that was involved in 9/11 or that we went into Afghanistan to fight them. Wasn't the excuse for that war that it was where ObL was hiding and where his training camps were? Pretty sure that was what we were told.

The conditions in Afghanistan – at the present moment – make American troop withdrawals a high risk strategy.

If we continue on our present course we are setting in motion the loss of all our gains and paving the way toward a second 9/11.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 20, 2018

Rewriting history again.

surely it won't be done responsibly, but a drawdown of the 14,000 troops in Afghanistan –– where an 18-year war has yielded little progress –– is a lot less stupid than withdrawing the 2,000 troops in Syria who helped crush ISIS's caliphate & are still serving an essential role.

— Jesse Lehrich (@JesseLehrich) December 20, 2018

—

Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by dervish on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 11:19pm

Dunford's probably right

@snoopydawg but it has nothing to do with the Taliban. What he's saying is that if the billions of dollars in contracts for Afghanistan operations dry up, that the same people who made 9/11 happen the first time will likely do it again. What could stop them? They're still in power.

—

"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 11:25pm

Yeah

@dervish

Then there's all those poppy fields that the troops guard so that the CIA can continue to flood the country with drugs. Can't let the Taliban destroy them again now can they?

And what about the trillions of rare earth minerals that are waiting to be extracted? And the oil pipelines, and the ...?

—

Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by dervish on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 2:40am

The ever-lasting legacy

@snoopydawg of the Afghan war will be that 17 years of conflict accomplished record low prices for heroin.

Apparently, that's what we fought for.

—

"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Submitted by WaterLily on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 2:29pm

Given what's happening across the country

@dervish I'd say that's by design.

Submitted by WindDancer13 on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 9:22pm

"Lo, like a Cheshire cat our court will grin."

--John Wolcot's pseudonymous Peter Pindar's Pair of Lyric Epistles (1792)

Also see:

Each eye sees two different views of the world, sends those images to the visual cortex where they are combined, and creates a three-dimensional image. The Cheshire Cat effect occurs when one eye is fixated on a stationary object, while the other notices something moving. Since one eye is seeing a moving object, the brain will focus on it, causing parts of the stationary object to fade away from vision entirely

—

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

Submitted by Pricknick on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 9:44pm

Thanks

@WindDancer13
for the good giggle.

—

Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Submitted by FreeSociety on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 9:38pm

Trump will continue to get bolder

Trump was always in favor of withdrawing from Afghanistan, but his military advisors kept feeding him Neocon nonsense. He has fired some of these bad actors already (Stanley McChrystal, Rex Tillerson, McMaster, Mattis) and is wising up.

Trump will get us out of Afghanistan, and all those who howl about it will reveal themselves.

So whose side are we on here?

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzOhnd9sBsM]

It's not a hard choice with me.

Submitted by UntimelyRippd on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 9:47pm

I am not on anybody's side, because nobody is on mine.

@FreeSociety

—

The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

Submitted by lotlizard on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 1:27am

Your word in the God-Emperor’s ear. n/t

@FreeSociety

Submitted by k9disc on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 9:29pm

My Liberal Friends Are Now Upset That "America's

most amazing soldier has quit.

WTF is happening? 2 years ago he had the reputation of a rabid dog for Dems.

People will ape and parrot whatever the corporate media tells them to. We're fucked. #magic

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 10:18pm

Thanks, k9disc--Establishment Dems have become

@k9disc

Republicans, in so many aspects. I'm both dumbfounded and confounded by it.

But, what can anyone expect, when Bill Kristol, Max Boot, George Will, and their ilk, have become the new face of the corporatist neocon Dem Party?

It blows me away. I could be wrong, but, after the November midterms--and the election of additional scores of Dem Party military/national security/state dept/CIA conservatives--I 'suspect' that things will only get worse, not better.

And, I fully expect that the 2020 Dem Party Nominee will be one of the most conservative/centrist/corporatist ones that we've seen in years. I imagine that the Dem Leadership will 'welcome' progressives as candidates--if for no other reason, than to bring the rank-and-file sheep into the fold--but, they'll (bipartisan DS/PtB) never lose control of the election process, again. Especially, since they're still fighting the results of 2016--the only time (in my lifetime) that the DS failed to "arrange" the results of the Presidential election.

Blue Onyx

—

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Submitted by k9disc on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 10:35pm

I Wonder If It Is Possible That the Democrats Are Being Played

in nearly identical fashion as the Religious Right was played in the 80s?

Seems to me that the Other is fairly similar. What are the operative concepts and methodologies present in both situations?

I'd be willing to bet that similar strategies and techniques were employed. It certainly does look and feel like the same kind of departure from reality.

Anyone got some strategic and tactical history on creating the Religious Right?

@Unabashed Liberal

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 11:02pm

That question--

@k9disc

Anyone got some strategic and tactical history on creating the Religious Right?

is beyond my pay scale.

But, I'd be interested in hearing the answer, too.

Blue Onyx

—

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Submitted by karl pearson on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 11:19pm

Short history of the Religious Right

@k9disc .Here's a short history on creating the Religious Right.

Submitted by k9disc on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 12:01am

Heh... From the Tools of the People Who Created the Religious

Right, no doubt...

I'd like to find someone either in charge of it, or observational stuff from people like us.

I'll check out the link, but don't hold too much hope that it will yield the kind of results I'm looking for. Aldous Huxley on YT isn't a bad start, I think. He's all over YT. Aleister Crowley and the Orwell types are probably a good bet. Might have to dig out my copy of Public Opinion too by Lippman.

And it is definitely not above your paygrade Unabashed Liberal.

@karl pearson

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by Lookout on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 9:02am

I find this hypothisis of the religious right interesting

@k9disc

"The 2016 annual meeting for the Organization of American Historians (OAH) will feature a session focusing upon the provocative book One Nation Under God by Princeton history professor Keven M. Kruse. In One Nation Under God, Kruse argues that the idea of the United States as a Christian nation does not find its origins with the founding of the United States or the writing of the Constitution. Rather, the notion of America as specifically consecrated by God to be a beacon for liberty was the work of corporate and religious figures opposed to New Deal statism and interference with free enterprise."

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/162368

There are a number of interviews with Kruse about his hypothesis. I found it interesting and thought you might too.
http://kevinmkruse.com/interviews/

Many others chime in with their view in several other books

https://newrepublic.com/article/121564/gods-and-profits-how-capitalism-a...

https://www.dukeupress.edu/Capitalism-and-Christianity-American-Style/

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by snoopydawg on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 9:57pm

Comments from our friends on ToP

It’s getting real. As in really dangerous. This is not a drill.

Note that he very specifically cites the national security necessity of working with traditional allies, and just as specifically cites the danger as China and Russia try to impose authoritarian rule over other nations at our nation’s expense. And it is only directly after those paragraphs that he explicitly states that he and Trump have differing views on those and other subjects.

To be clear: The Secretary of Defense is explicitly, publicly warning the nation and the world that Trump is operating in service to China’s and Russia’s authoritarian agendas. I used to say it was hiding in plain sight. That no longer applies. It’s not even pretending to hide anymore.

Mattis is upset because Trump is abandoning our 'special interests', but he agrees with Donald that we shouldn't be the 'policemen of the world.'

The comments are interesting.

This is an interesting Twitter thread and I'm not sure what it means. Little help?

So to expand on this complex issue - my colleagues and sources in the Senate have told me that Mattis has asked/told Strategic Command that he wants to be informed of any issue that might evolve into a nuclear "event" well before an alert is generated and sent to the President.

— Jon B. “Globalist” Wolfsthal (@JBWolfsthal) December 21, 2018

—

Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by WindDancer13 on Thu, 12/20/2018 - 10:17pm

He had the red phone rewired to his

@snoopydawg

house/office/cell? He gave Trump a fake launch code and Mattis has the real one? Or, uh-oh, he has the military in his hand and on stand-by for a coup.

He is by-passing the president's authority. Treason?

—

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

Submitted by lotlizard on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 1:45am

My generation has seen this movie before

@WindDancer13
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Days_in_May

Possibly inspired by a theatrical work of the period, staged with live actors, called “One Day in November” . . .

Submitted by Hetrose on Fri, 12/21/2018 - 11:44am

The Thousandth Try

Every 1,000 tries, or so, Trump manages to poop out a pearl. So seldom I can approve of his actions. We should Never have gone to Afghanistan. Bring our people home.