Franklin's Focus 8/17/10



I figure the stay will be permanent. I have seven off-the-top of my
head reasons for believing so.

First, there is no hope of a complete military victory and a complete
turnover to a weak puppet civilian government. The opposition is by a
Taliban that is immense in size, and consists of extremely able
guerrilla forces that are well equipped and able to maintain supply
lines through the rugged mountains. As for the American supply lines,
they are over narrow, high mountain roads that can be attacked and
interrupted with tiny guerrilla groups. Keep Vietnam in mind and how
it was that Amerika lost that war.

Secondly, the resistance consists of men who are driven by fanatical
religious beliefs. This sustains their morale, their courage, and
their dedication no matter what the odds are or the size of the enemy.

Thirdly, new recruits to the cause will endlessly trickle into the
mountain camps. They will be muslims from all over the Middle East,
all of them prepared to die in the struggle against the 'great Satan'.
These men will submit to having bombs strapped to them and then to be
sent into key locations throughout the capital. For every explosion,
more people will be filled with hatred toward the Great Satan who has
triggered endless bloodshed upon their land.

Fourth, the corrupt puppet government will never be accepted by the
people as anything more than a mere puppet of the Great Satan.

Fifth, the decision by Obama to heavily rely on drone warfare, will
steadily increase hatred toward Amerika as more children, women, and
elders die for seemingly no rational reason.

Sixth, the discovery of vast mineral wealth in that forsaken land has
a whole array of capitalist big shots in Amerika licking their chops.
I'm sorry, but Amerika does not vacate lands they occupy when they are
rich in mineral resources.

Seventh, for many years Amerika has been manuevering and planning to
build an oil pipeline across Afghanistan. This plan was conceived by
U.S. big time oil boys and approved of a long time ago by
Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. What has blocked a
building of the pipeline has been the lack of a strong, cohesive
central government that could guarantee the integrity of the pipeline.
That integrity will never be guaranteed unless the U.S. has a large,
permanent military presence in that forsaken land.

These are merely reasons the occupation will be endless that have
popped into my mind at this moment. If I really put my mind to it,
maybe I would come up with several more reasons. Of course, the
biggest factor of all is the person sitting in the Oval Office. He is
not going to vacate Afghanistan. This is his war, and he will not
accept defeat. The Vietnam War was called McNamara's war. He never
wavered until many years later. This is Obama's war. Will he be as
stubborn as McNamara was? I think so.

I wonder when, if ever, liberals in this country are going to wake up
and come to understand they had better found a true liberal party and
work toward a future day when an authentic liberal running on a
liberal platform might be elected.

This has never actually happened, but there have been opportunities.
Such a party could have been formed and become a real power during the
Vietnam War. One of my greatest disappointments was the failure of
liberals to cohere and form a new party during those years. I often
thought about that missed opportunity, but I never was able to
formulate a clear answer. I guess all the answers way back then were
'blowing in the wind'.

Many Americans have become disillusioned with the Demopublican Party
and its endless militarism. There is a significant body of Americans
who would think seriously about signing on with a true liberal party
running on a peace platform. A growing number of Americans are
beginning to see that the ruling Demopublican Party needs to be
rejected.

Maybe that's merely a pipe dream, but it helps to have a few dreams,
even if they look like impossible dreams.

Warmest regards,
Richard