Why do we keep getting sold on wars by different faces with the same words? Is it more believable when it comes from a Nobel peace prize winner or a respected military general rather than an unempathetic war monger & a bafooned failed businessman who would become president as a chosen heir to a legacy? Does Harvard trump Yale when it comes to intelligence & believability?

I am really having a hard time trying to see how Obama’s Afghan troop surge sale is so different from George Bush selling America & our allies on war in Afgahnistan & Iraq 9 years ago. According to Obama we are there to avenge 9/11 by finding Osama Bin Laden & shutting down al Qaeda & the troop surge is necessary in order to attain victory – George Bush said the same things. According to President Obama’s own secretary of defense, there has been no good intelligence on the whereabouts of Bin Laden for years in Afghanistan or any where else for that matter so once again this so called troop surge to attain victory has no real clear picture of what that victory is or how it can be attained.

Obama was against the Iraq war because of what he saw as faulty intelligence & lack of intelligence connecting Iraq with Osama Bin Laden & al Qaeda. Now Obama is trying to connect the Taliban directly with al Qaeda with very little intelligence & a known history of the two not getting along because of their fundamental beliefs & ideology, very much like George Bush’s connection between Bin Laden , al Qaeda & Saddam Hussein, with very little if any intelligence to prove any connection along with a known history of the two not getting along because of fundamental beliefs & ideology. The only connection between all these nations & people is America because at one time or another in our history we supported & collaborated with all those who we now call enemies.

When the theory of viable intelligence based on real facts & imminent threat of Iraq was revealed to be non-existence, all of a sudden our purpose in Iran went to nation building (saving the Iraqis from Saddam Hussein & bringing them democracy) while empowering a nation who actually has WMD’s & nuclear capabilities, called Iran- another war which we will eventually end up fighting & being sold with the same words of being a war of “Vital National Interest”.

We are now being sold the same type of troop surge in Afghanistan that Obama was against in Iraq with the same talking points of al Qaeda safe havens now on the boarder of Afghanistan & Pakistan & al Qaeda seeking nuclear weapons in Pakistan- based on intelligence that can not be unequivocally proven, while in the same breath linking the Taliban with al Qaeda & fighting them in Afghanistan in efforts toward once again avenging 9/11 segued into nation building ( saving the Afghan people from the Taliban), who are allegedly in cahoots with al Qaeda, who according to our own intelligence is no longer in Afghanistan in significant numbers, while empowering Pakistan- a nation which has nuclear weapons, who we have already started taking yet another “war/non war” to under the guise of vital national interest with the same questions in legality as it was posed in Iraq.

The double talk is overwhelming & as much as I like President Obama this entire speech sounded very much like the voices of George Bush, Colin Powell, Condeleeza Rice & Dick Cheney all over again, as we continue the American policy of preemptive war- where we act now & answer questions & pay the high price later with the only difference being a new cast of characters: President Obama, Robert Gates, Hillary Clinton & Joe Biden. Afghanistan may have already started under Bush’s watch, but continuing it with a troop surge in hopes of some sort of unclear victory just in case al Qaeda tries to return & bombing Pakistanis with drones to preempt al Qaeda, Bin Laden, the Taliban or whomever the enemy of the moment is just doesn’t make much sense to me. America is in the worse shape it has been in since the years of the depression, financially broken from unabashed capitalism, over 15 million Americans unemployed & a nation spiritually bankrupt thru selective democracy as we continue nation building & the selling of our selective democracy. Obama maybe likeable & well spoken, but the same words coming from different faces doesn’t change the words or situation for me. We need to stop the partisan group think mentality & become a nation of truly independent thinkers looking toward the best interest of our nation as a collective of individual Americans, who often pay the ultimate price for partisan group think that is not always in the best interest of our nation as a collective. Republicans were punch drunk & stuck on stupid during the Bush years where if anyone questioned the actions of President Bush’s administration they were seen as being anti-American, anti-Bush & unpatriotic, now it is the Democrats turn to be punch drunk & stuck on stupid where if anyone question the actions of President Obama’s administration, they are being pro-Bush, anti-American, anti-Obama, unpatriotic & in some instances even racist.

If we are so hell bent on avenging 9/11 & finding al Qaeda, we will be fighting wars forever because al Qaeda operatives & sympathizers are being found in our own military, in our own cities & many other countries & continents, so when will enough be enough when vengeance on all sides has no end?

Nation-building refers to the process of constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. This process aims at the unification of the people or peoples within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run. Nation-building can involve the use of propaganda or major infrastructure development to foster social harmony and economic growth- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation-building

I was watching the Bloomberg channel’s coverage on Dubai’s rise from a mud village to a global powerhouse. The commentator said something that I felt was very profound in this day & age when America is pushing our desire to spread democracy globally as we end up in the dangerous realm of nation building without us wanting to call it nation building.

The commentator said: “Dubai has had the ruling family for over 20 years in a fairly stable government with no over throws or coups, with leaders living to die in their beds of natural causes in order for the next leader to take over thru the time, where America has had 4 presidents assassinated in a democracy while Dubai is not at all a democracy, but offers a sense of freedom for westerners & most people in the world.”

I guess freedom can be found without democracy, but does democracy always find one freedom?

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KL08Df01.html

Charlie rose

What went down within the past 9 years ago- have we learned from our mistakes?

Another president who said he wanted a change in tone in washington –has the tone changed yet?

democracy is not something that can be imposed –really?

2009 just insert Afghanistan with new players in the same game.

We need more soldiers of Love