Response to Those Pointless Wars Always Lost

(See: Just Above Sunset / Those Pointless Wars Always Lost)

Are others besides myself pleasantly surprised to see this alleged mumbling bumbler and over-the-hill old fart president actually doing the good things he promised he would do if elected?

One of the main reasons I backed Biden over the rest of the Democrats was his clear-headed thinking, ignored by everyone else back then, on what to do with Iraq (let it split into three separate nations, each representing one of the existing ethnic groups; Sunni, Shia, and Kurd) but also Afghanistan (pull troops completely out of the country, but keep enough forces parked somewhere nearby in the region to jump back in if a threat to us or our Western allies arises.)

This sounds like what he’s doing now, and I’m pleased to see him finally get his way.

And no, David Sanger (as much as I respect your work), America feeling the need to go back into Iraq does not mean Biden was “dead wrong about getting out of Iraq” in the first place. You do what’s needed when and if it’s needed, and don’t worry about the way it looks to the peanut gallery.

It makes us look bad to other countries? I figure, let them see common sense diplomacy being done often enough and they'll get used to it.

Likewise, I think, Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent are mostly wrong when they say our war in Afghanistan was “attempting the impossible, and inevitably failed”.

Our main objective in Afghanistan was not “nation building” or bringing democracy to a country that has survived centuries without ever becoming a functioning nation (although yes, our misguided attempt at that, once we were in country, did fail, as most of us knew from history was inevitable), our main objective has been, from the beginning, to prevent Afghanistan and whatever whacko terrorist group it happens to be harboring from attacking us again.

At that, we succeeded, and maybe need to remember to pat ourselves on the back for doing so.

I do wish, though, that we could find a way to help save those inside Afghanistan who supported us in our time there, and now might perish because of it — and that includes all the Afghan women, now left to fight their oppressors on their own.

A thought:

Wouldn’t it be nice if all the oppressed women of Afghanistan all picked a night known only to them and found a way to kill their oppressors in their sleep?

If they worked that just right — which would entail "disappearing" only 1,385,453 men, plus one — they might just make Afghanistan a female majority country!