Be Careful What You Wish for, Mr. Karzai

Hamid Karzai, confronted with an extremely embarassing story, angrily lashes out against the U.S.:

Mr. Karzai made his remarks during a rambling, sometimes incoherent appearance at a news conference during which he accused the United States of funding the “killing” of Afghans by paying thousands of gunmen at private security contractors to guard buildings and convoys here. It was the latest outburst in a bitter dispute with the United States and its NATO allies that has taken on an increasingly anti-Western tone….

The accusations followed a stormy meeting he had on Sunday night with the NATO commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, as well as other senior Afghan and western officials in which Mr. Karzai stormed out, saying that he did not need the West’s help, according to people knowledgeable about the confrontation.

First, Karzai is delusional if he thinks he doesn’t need our help, unless he plans to cut a deal with the Taliban that spares his life in return for tremendous political and territorial concessions to the Islamists. Otherwise, without a western military presence, the Afghan president is a goner–literally.

More to the point, the future of Afghanistan does look exactly look promising when the president likens Americans to the Taliban and, oh by the way, admits that his aides have been accepting huge sacks of cash from Iran.

Obama’s Persuasive Powers on Gay Marriage Manifest in Maryland

When President Obama endorsed gay marriage earlier this month, the media grappled with two basic political questions: Was his personal “evolution” a case of a politician transparently following a national trend toward accepting same-sex unions (accelerated, perhaps, by his chatty number two), and would it hurt his re-election chances by alienating socially conservative voters like black churchgoers? Sure, there was a recognition that it marked a gratifying moment for gay marriage advocates—as well as some grumbling about the President’s view that it remains a state issue, not a federal one. But by and large, there were few suggestions that one man, even the President, would shift public opinion on the issue or affect public policy. Based on a new Public Policy Polling survey out of Maryland, it seems this possibility was underestimated.

Cherokee Zero

Apparently, Massachusetts voters don’t mind that Elizabeth Warren foolishly identified herself as a Native American early in her academic career–it was, apparently, a case of family pride and wishful thinking about a Cherokee ancestor. That’s good. Warren may be the best public figure when it comes to explaining the depredations of the financial industry and [...]

nflfoghorn

“…the future of Afghanistan does look exactly look promising when the president likens Americans to the Taliban…[sic]”
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Throw a “not” or an “n’t” between “does” and “look” and I think that sentence’ll make more sense.
thalasseri

Typo: “does look exactly look” should presumably be “doesn’t exactly look”

Is the guy really mental? Isn’t he protected every single day by American soldiers?
nflfoghorn

Good catch. Shoulda looked twice
http://www.124monkeys.com Sean DeCoursey forgot his password

Ugh. Epic Karzaifail. Again. Can we ever get a report of who made the call to prop up this loser after he rigged the elections in 2008 when the locals tried to throw him out?

I know his original appointment is yet another credit to the Cheney/Rumsfeld neocon idiots, but I don’t know who decided keeping him around after literally mountains of evidence that he was and is our biggest obstacle in Afghanistan was a good idea.
pintortwo

unless (Karzai) plans to cut a deal with the Taliban that spares his life in return for tremendous political and territorial concessions to the Islamists.
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That’s exactly what he’s been trying to do for years:
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Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country’s bloody conflict — and are severing their ties with al Qaeda… -link, CNN Oct. 2008
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The administration (current and past) and Pentagon have been blocking any potential progress. Karzai is an embarrassment, but reconciliation between the Taliban and Karzai government would benefit the Afghani people and our national security– but the Afghanis and national security are not our prime motivation in Afghanistan.. so here we are, still.
http://forgottenlord.livejournal.com forgottenlord

Man, if only they could somehow let a Taliban assassination attempt to either succeed or get damn close. Might solve a few problems.
herby002

No, I don’t think it would. If the whole “administration” is corrupt, having rigged the last election(s) to lock out relatively honest candidates, any Karzai replacement who moved up would be as bad or worse.
Besides, a successful Taliban/al qaida assassination would throw the weak central government into chaos, and signal to the people in the provinces that they might as well give in to the Taliban.