Can we just !/$$!?$?! leave now?

I put JTT on ignore; he's not worth the time nor effort to read the same garbage written a million different ways with the same tired message.

On whether we can leave now, it seems all a planned declination subject to bumps and interfilled with new plans.

Maybe, just maybe, "many Americans" got it wrong, JPB?

Why was such a "response" necessary, apart from appeasement of internal US sensitivities?
Reason enough for an invasion & a war on the people of Afghanistan?
I don't think so. I didn't think so at the time, either. I thought it was an extreme (politically-motivated ) overreaction to 9/11. With some other important considerations too, like what might benefit US, financially.

What exactly could the beleaguered people of Afghanistan do to appease US outrage to 9/11? Absolutely nothing.
Most were probably not even aware of 9/11. And may not even be aware of it now.

Yet it was the impoverished, invasion-weary, ordinary people who have suffered the most as a result of US retaliation to 9/11, not those who caused it.
You can't ignore that. Nor ask others to, in asking for suggestions for solutions for the future.

Can you even consider the notion that American sensibilities are not so much different to sensibilities of any citizens, in any other country on the planet when a serious injustice is done to them?

You simply cannot ask people to conveniently dismiss the injustice which has occurred in Afghanistan (as if it never happened) while considering the best way to go for here-on.

The injustice occurred. Any reparations have to take that into account.

No, I have never believed that.

MsO, have you ever thought about going into conflict resolution?

A littlek sighting!



No I haven't, k.

You think I should?

Actually, if most of the US posters here are serious in their posts, a bit of reality therapy might be called for!

Quite a bit of the rest of the planet is seeing things quite differently, at this point in time. Quite a bit earlier, for some of us.

The Afghanistan invasion & occupation is looking like a major mistake.

It might be a good retirement career for you some day.

Now there's a thought!

The "reality therapy" is needed in more areas than just Afghanistan. Our politics is so divisive and unreal (GOP's emphasis on women's health and viginas and $2.50/gallon gas), that they're spending tens of millions to destroy their own party members.

Most Americans want out of Afghanistan, but our government is still struggling with strategy even though our extended staying is worse for everybody. The sergeant that killed children and the burning of the Koran lit some heat under some seats, but they're still contemplating how and when.

But what are your thoughts on the predicament the US finds itself in in Afghanistan, k?

I'd be very interested in your perspective .

But you don't have to comment, just because I asked, if you'd rather not, OK?

Msolga posts with apparent opinions (which I tend to agree with her on if not in every case) and is very teacherly.

Why are you thinking she would be good at conflict resolution? Salveing the people disagreeing, arguing?

I'm a msolga fan. Why do you think she would be good at conflict resolution? Because she is nice? That can annoy anyone who disagrees.

I do agree that msolga is calm, a good feature.

I assure you my views on this subject have nothing to do with my means of making a living, osso.

It has much more to do with the country I live in being on the bum end of US foreign policy. In which (apparently) my government's compliance has little to do with measured judgment on its part.

Apparently being an "ally" of the US means following blindly in the direction in which we're led .... even if that direction seems downright wrong by many of the citizens of the country I live in. Afghanistan has nothing to do with Australia's "interests".

It has more to do with being a small country of relative insignificance, in an alliance with a far more powerful "leader".

Have you ever read me? I agree with you, generally (not looking immediately at past threads). Stop yelling at us. Yell at some of us.

I spend fifty years politically involved and I get lectures from you, Olga. I get tired of your flying assumptions about the u.s.

Don't feel too bad; look what happened to the Brits. We in the US are also slaves to our country's leaders who lead us into illegal wars. Many of us spoke out against the Iraq war, and I even wrote to my congress woman, Diane Feinstein, but she told me with the information they had, they had to approve GW Bush's request for war. I was right, and she was wrong; there never were WMD's.

Talk about frustrated at our government; I still write to President Obama, because I still receive emails from Barack and Michelle - asking for money.

Probably 95% of non-republicans/conservatives receive such emails. LOL

So, how would this all make you great at conflict resolution as a new career?

You are very heartfelt.
Dag, who does conflict resolution, works to be dispassionate, or so I've taken it. Maybe littlek knows otherwise.

I've spent quite a deal of my life involved in political activities, too, osso.

And I'm not "yelling", or lecturing you.
I am simply stating my own point of view, as others here have done, ok?
And compared to most of the posts on this thread, the impact of my small number of posts is minuscule. Most of the discussion here has been about the US.

Why does offering an alternative perspective, from another country, sound like yelling or lecturing?

What "flying assumptions" are you referring to, exactly?

are you thinking I disagree?

No, I'm wondering what your complaint is, exactly.

Ok, there's a flying assumption, that I disagree with you, and you are instructing me. I know this already.

You underestimate me. Ack, wrong link.