Comments for River Running Backward: Looking Back on Afghanistan at http://www.pacificfreepress.com , comment 1 to 2 out of 2 comments http://www.pacificfreepress.com Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:47:52 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/2414-river-running-backward-looking-back-on-afghanistan.html#comment-1821 How would "victory" be determined? Is there a number of dead Afghani's that must first be reached before V-Day? How close are we to that number today? Who will claim that "victory"? Will it be you, Noel, or me? Why must Afghanistan be crushed and rolled into ruin? When will it stop; with "victory"? Where will it end; in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Pakistan...? Does it take "balls" to kill women and children; is that the measure of "our" civilization; is that the limit of "our" humanity? Perhaps these questions, and many others, should first be answered before the cannon balls fly? lex - cook Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:01:46 +0100 http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/2414-river-running-backward-looking-back-on-afghanistan.html#comment-1820 Do the UN and NATO really want to win the Afghanistan war? I personally don't think so. Why? Because the political will does not exist. Our politicians - our governments - do not have the balls to do what it takes to win wars anymore. Even the citizens of the countries of the free world don't have the balls either. I am not a military expert. I have never served in the armed forces. And I highly respect the military. But, the reason I say I personally don't think the UN and NATO don't really want to win the Afghanistan war is that if they wanted to, they would have already. This also applies to the old Soviet Union when they were in Afghanistan or the US in Vietnam. I don't think they wanted to win those wars either. If a country, or a group of countries as allies such as those under the UN or NATO umbrellas really wanted to win this war, the politicians would have backed off from running the war, put it all in the hands of the military putting in charge their most competent Generals, give the Generals all the resources they need, instructing them to win the war and use the biggest sticks they have against the enemy while making sure the biggest sticks in existence are available to the military; and if necessary, to take a no prisoner approach to the war. If any country or groups of countries can't think in those terms going to war they have no business being at war. No one can make me believe that between all the member countries under the UN and NATO that they cannot come up with one or two million sets of boots on the ground, at sea and in the air with all the armament required to neutralize the enemy. Noël St-Laurent - Noël St-Laurent Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:57:32 +0100