Another Interesting Day.....

Al Gore endorsed Barack Obama today. The only major force that is right now missing are the Clintons. I would be very interested in finding out how they come out and in what fashion in they come out.

Now, on another note, the Iraqi Foreign Minister claims that negotiations over the Iraqi-US Status of Force agreement is a sovereign Iraqi decision. Sorry, Mr. Foreign Minister, that is as big a joke as I have ever heard. I don't know who to believe. For the sake of Iraqis, I do hope that the insurgency has been defeated.

As for Afghanistan, the so-called good war, Karzai the puppet spoke up yet again. He threatened to send his forces into Pakistan. He can't even fix his own country, yet he wants to attack Pakistan. Now, Al Jazeera is reporting that the Taliban are threatening to take over Kandahar, Afghanistan's Second City and Karzai's home town. Of course, the coalition will probably destroy the city in order to save it (remember falluja). The British are also sending more troops to fight the "good war". The wars seem never to end.

Afghanistan

Throughout my writings here, I have shared my frustruation about Karzai and what is going on in Afghanistan. My misgivings were reinforced by Tariq Ali's comments on Afghanistan. Here is the link: http://www.newleftreview.org/?page=article&view=2713 (retrieved June 9, 2008). The eloquence of Tariq Ali is disheartening in many respects. I wonder where the truth will truly come out......

A Sad Event.....

The BBC reported that a reporter for the BBC Pasthu Service was killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was only 25 years old. Why does one want to kill the messenger? What drives the Taliban to kill in the name of Islam?

What is sad is that the west continues to invest in Hamid Karzai, the so-called President of Afghanistan. Karzai is quite the sales guy. But, Afghanistan will have another record opium harvest and NATO troops continue to die. The BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk) also reported today that 3 British soldiers lost their lives. We have heard about the Taliban retreating. If they are retreating, why is there so much death and suffering? What is the answer?

I am also worried about our soft under belly. There is a genuine war going on in Mexico. The Drug Cartels are winning. Yet, we seem to stay ambivalent and non-committal to it. I hope I am wrong.

Pakistan, The War on Terror, Our President and the Challenges....

Pervez Musharraf declared an emergency over the week-end. Pakistan has been going down the path of anarchy for quite some time, now. What this fake democrat did was to further damage the virtually non-existent credibility that the Bush Administration's so-called war on terror had. The Taliban have come back with a vengeance, the cities of Pakistan are becoming unsafe--and yet we think that Musharraf will ride in on a white horse and save the day....How naive we are as a nation to think that all is well in that part of the world....

The so-called War on Terror continues on. But, so far, we seem to be losing. Iraq is not front and center in the news anymore. I have to dig through it. Of course, there is Juan Cole and his daily commentary that is as insightful as ever. The killings, the kidnappings and the displacements do continue on though. Despite the drop, 2007 is still the deadliest in Iraq. At some stage, the draft will have to be introduced to maintain this sustained level of commitment. We cannot sustain this level of commitment and request sacrifices as we have. The political will to implement this is another matter, though. Mr. Bush tried to mollify the Kurds. But, it is tough to ask a country to stay silent when your territory is attacked and your people are killed. When an Israeli soldier was kidnapped by Hezbollah, the Israelis launched a war that destroyed Southern Lebanon with the approval of the United States. The Soldier is yet to be released and Lebanon continues to limp along from crisis to crisis.

As for where it all began, Afghanistan: A suicide bomber attacked in the North of the country, killing a number of Afghan members of Parliament. The tragedy of it is that a number of school children were also killed. As such news comes out of Afghanistan, I think about the comments that Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan (or as Time Magazine once called him The "Mayor of Kabul") made about how great everything is in the country. I wonder how he would explain this tragedy away. The war continues, yet opium production is exceeding expectations. The Taliban have come back with a vengeance. We seem not to have a strategy in place....only more of the same.....

I am just a face in the crowd and at times, a hopeless one. I still believe that we can overcome. I pray that my optimism is justified. The struggle will continue.