Ted Rall for November 21, 2009

No economies of scale? Say, if you sent in a gazillion troops, the unit cost would drop to mere pennies perhaps?

I wonder how many jobs those bailouts could have created ?

the surest sign of national insanity…………… we could easily keep our entire population fed and housed, but instead we choose to throw all that money away on pointless wars. The public gets the government it deserves! btw, I’m not Ted, my email just has his name in it.

We are in it and must deal with it. We must stop bullying the rest of the world, insisting that they have our forms of government and our standards of living. We cannot become isolationists and make that work, but we can keep our nose out of other countries. I long for the days when I could brag that the United States had only started one war and learned it’s lesson and wouldn’t do it again.

there are those who refuse to pay for the cost of wars, externally or internally– you noe, those who demand punishment, self serving chambermaids of commerence types, (loudly bemoaning “big government” all the while pimping the cost plus gov contracts)demanding mo helios, mo police, mo private prisons, mo piss tests, mo parole/probation , mo guards, mo bullets and mo bombs…

They also can’t count(see recent presidential election).. you will not see these figures on sir rudys foxnoose, they just will not ‘get-it’. the interest ALONE is pure government waste, to say nothing of the loss of life and limb….they can not count anything.

Our national ANNUAL “defense” budget, the posted one, not the real total from the “black box”, would fund a full DECADE of health care, for all. That defense budget is more than 10 times the amount of the second largest “military” budget in the world. Maybe we could invest more wisely?

Going to have a good time come 2012 when celebrity General Petraeus becomes dictator of the New Order of the United States.Glad tidings to you silly hopers and changers.Your worst nightmare is coming soon. Like every president since DDE, P.T. Obarnum is a lapdog of the Pentagon and bankers.

Right on Ted Rall!

Of course we could cut some cost’s by teaching troops agriculture, planting vegtable gardens and hunting food in the various locals. Turn a few of those rifles into shovels. Start building communities in these regions and promote peace. Dig some wells in Africa so that the people their can have an over abundance of water, and share some skills in growing their own food. None will go hungry. Protecting America isnt only about keeping the bad guys out, but also helping the countries prosper with plenty of resources that everybody needs.

Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

The comparison implies a choice between troops in Afghanistan and jobs in America. We have more choice than that:

The annual GDP in Afghanistan is under $500. We could be hiring scores of local police, teachers, nurses, street cleaners, school builders, etc. in Afghanistan for the cost of one of our soldiers there. - and giving the people there work would go along way toward reducing the number who pick up arms because there’s nothing much else to do, particularly for young men.

In Afghanistan (as was also true for Iraq when we invaded) more than half of the population are children (under 18).

personally, losing atlanta would be a good thing in my mind… :)

We need to pull out now, to stay (like it or not there is no chance for victory there, we don’t even know victory would be) is to waste lives and money and time that could be used elsewhere.

Some may cry “If we pull out then our soldiers die for nothing!” and the sad truth is Yes, but it will still be Yes even if we stay – there is no win there.

If that truth bothers you then take it up with Bush he is the one who put us there, and then, like Iraq, ran the war badly, and put the corrupt loser in charge.

One more thought - $1,000,000 divided by $500 per capita equals 2,000 people. So, for every million we spend on a soldier in Afghanistan, someone else can spend a million and hire at least 2,000 insurgents….hard to see a win, there…

Wow, Scott, you’re good! Have you thought of writing for The Onion?

@vhammon - why do you think eventually fewer and fewer “insurgents” in Iraq were shooting at the US troops? Quite a few people there benefitted from American largesse. US dollars bought quite a few local elders and important people - who pointed their retainer thugs the other way.

Frito – those that want to withdraw from Afghanistan are not proposing that we do nothing after that. Just because your empty head thinks that is what they want doesn’t make it true.

Learn to see in color, the world is not black and white.

You Amerinazi apologists never fail to amaze me. *. We have to send troops to suppress and kill people in foreign countries - OR ELSE they will come over and do it to us!

**. Ever heard of VIETNAM? You people sent an enormous force of soldiers, 58,000 of those were killed while you people killed at least 1,000,000 Vietnamese civilians.

Then you threw in the towel, ditched your choppers in the sea from the overloaded carriers and ran for home.

WHEN will the Vietnamese people strike back and hit their most hated enemy (the US of A) at home? Methinks they have had plenty time to prepare! All those Vietnamese ‘refugees’ that infiltrated the American mainland should be in position for some payback…

THE SOLUTION: Afghanize the war! Train Afghan puppet soldiers who can then fight the Afghan freedomfighters (insurgents, so sorry) and then you can still pack up, board the choppers and run for home.

That last panel is a masterpiece - thanks, Ted !…

Henri

List of countries that we have fought against or defended and are now our Allies: Germany Japan South Korea

List of countries that have rejected the “American way of life”: North Korea Vietnam Cuba Iran

Anyone see a pattern there? If Afghanistan is ‘lost’ does anyone honestly think it will improve in any way, shape or form once we are gone? The fact is that no matter how evil the posters here what to make us seem, we are fortunate and our allies are fortunate.