Glad things were going so swimmingly that we had time for War #2.
QuoteThe Taliban gunmen who murdered two teachers in eastern Afghanistan early Saturday were only following their rules: Teachers receive a warning, then a beating, and if they continue to teach must be killed.
. . .
Taliban militants early Saturday broke into a house in the eastern province of Kunar, killing a family of five, including two sisters who were teachers.
The women had been warned in a letter to quit teaching, said Gulam Ullah Wekar, the provincial education director. Their mother, grandmother and a male relative were also slain in the attack.
The two sisters brought to 20 the number of teachers killed in Taliban attacks this year, said Education Ministry spokesman Zuhur Afghan. He said 198 schools have been burned down this year, up from about 150 last year.
The 30 Taliban rules also spell out opposition to development projects from aid organizations, including clinics, roads and schools.
I guess this efficiency is why we can talk about invading Iran too?
Tell me again why we even give a fuck about these sub-human scum?
I mean really. Live and let live and all that - but killing people for teaching? Stoning rape victims? Dropping walls on homosexuals? Beheading Christians?
I think we've had about enough. Well, *I* have anyway.
Quote from: WerekoalaTell me again why we even give a fuck about these sub-human scum?
Uhm... just to clarify, you may want to clear up exactly which people you're referring to as "sub-human scum"?
RPGPundit
The people who I described immediately AFTER that - the wall dropping, victim stoning, teacher killing scum. Did you miss that part?
Afghanistan is one country that deserves full support. The situation is far from perfect, but the its people are much better now than under the Taliban.
Now, if only that mess in Iraq didn't distract people's attention...
Quote from: JongWKAfghanistan is one country that deserves full support. The situation is far from perfect, but the its people are much better now than under the Taliban...
Quite right. Abandoning Afghanistan to the Taliban would be horrific. Women shouldn't be killed for being educated. The international community needs to do whatever is necessary to prevent the Taliban from ever controlling that country again.
Er, guys, we invaded afganistan to show the world you don't fly airliners in to our buildings and get away with it.
It's in Iraq that you are supposed to care about the locals.
Quote from: Erik BoielleEr, guys, we invaded afganistan to show the world you don't fly airliners in to our buildings and get away with it...
Well, ensuring that the country isn't controlled by the Taliban is one way to prevent future airplanes from flying into buildings.
Apart from pure pragamatic reasons, invading a country makes you kinda responsible for it. Just blasting away the baddies and then leaving might be considered impolite. ;)
So chocolate and nylon pantyhose for everyone!
Quote from: SosthenesApart from pure pragamatic reasons, invading a country makes you kinda responsible for it. Just blasting away the baddies and then leaving might be considered impolite. ;)
So chocolate and nylon pantyhose for everyone!
Well, we coulda left, but we keep missing a few of the fuckers.
Well, that and Karzai desperately wants us to stay... all that aid money doncha know....;)
Quote from: SosthenesApart from pure pragamatic reasons, invading a country makes you kinda responsible for it. Just blasting away the baddies and then leaving might be considered impolite. ;)
So chocolate and nylon pantyhose for everyone!
I don't know. We've shown that we're very good at blowing shit up, but we absolutely suck at nation-building. In the future, if some petty dictator or theocratic regime gets uppity and starts threatening the neighbors or committing gross human rights violations, maybe we'd be better off sending the tanks and planes to remove them and their ability to threaten others, then get the heck out of dodge with a stern "don't do it again or we'll be back".
Quote from: TechnomancerI don't know. We've shown that we're very good at blowing shit up, but we absolutely suck at nation-building. In the future, if some petty dictator or theocratic regime gets uppity and starts threatening the neighbors or committing gross human rights violations, maybe we'd be better off sending the tanks and planes to remove them and their ability to threaten others, then get the heck out of dodge with a stern "don't do it again or we'll be back".
And you'd probably have to be back pretty soon. If it would be as simple as that, some trained snipers would be all you needed.
Everybody sucks at nation building. Yes, it would probably be better if some other states would pitch in. While I don't agree with the way things were handled by the US, I generally agree that we just can't let things run their way. Post-modernist moral ambivalence won't get this worl much further, borders aren't that significant anymore.
But it would be pretty hard to establish some ground rules for civilized countries, as long as Russia and China are sitting at the table laying them out...
Thing about millitary action to prevent terrorist action (or what have you) is that you have to be really really careful about what you do. You also have to understand why people do this shit (mostly, people kill because they hate... they hate you for some specific reasons, not all of which are ideological). You also must realize that just killing the people in power will do nothing but to create a power vacuum. Which is bad. Very very bad.
QuoteThe Taliban gunmen who murdered two teachers in eastern Afghanistan early Saturday were only following their rules: Teachers receive a warning, then a beating, and if they continue to teach must be killed.
That sounds fair. They gave them every chance to stop.
I hope (and if I believed in God, I'd pray) that you are kidding. Please be kidding.
Quote from: SosthenesEverybody sucks at nation building.
I dunno ... WalMart and McDonalds seem to have a lot of the basic skills down pat.
I seriously wish I were more sure that I'm kidding here. :(
Quote from: TonyLBI dunno ... WalMart and McDonalds seem to have a lot of the basic skills down pat.
I seriously wish I were more sure that I'm kidding here. :(
You're not much off-track. Walmart isn't that good actually, they're just closing most of their European operations.
McDonalds does it right: Franchising. The only way to build nations, too ;)