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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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 Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:29 pm Post subject: |
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WASHINGTON: President Obama, apparently resigned to President Hamid Karzai’s refusal to sign a long-term security agreement with the United States before he leaves office, told him in a phone call on Tuesday that he had instructed the Pentagon to begin planning for a complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.
The United States did a lot of good in Afghanistan. Now they are heading out of the country. (Like South Korea, they want the U.S. to stay. But they're going to have to do it on their own now.) |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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| Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Died By Bear wrote: |
The last guy in this trailer says "America knows war. They are war masters". Good film, watched it last week. The old man interview was powerful, but they don't show it in this trailer. Good stuff.
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Just watched this. Wow. Powerful, convincing, & disturbing. Thats some intrepid reporting, well worth viewing. You can just click & view the whole thing here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYDEfobW43s |
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Hokie21
Joined: 01 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:50 am Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
| Hokie21 wrote: |
I think most people here will agree that the Taliban aren't very nice people? Yes? Well considering that Pakistan is a nuclear power with a stockpile of nuclear warheads I would imagine a lot of people would prefer if those didn't fall into the hands of some of these militant groups. This is a big reason why so many countries and political leaders feel that what is going on in Pakistan is "their business."
Now lets just hope you're above going on a George Bush WOMD rant. |
You know, one might look at the situation and say "Should we allow one of the largest stockpiles in the world of nuclear weapons fall into the hands of a regime that at the very least completely botched its causus belli for a pre-emtive invasion of another country and quite possibly lied and fabricated the evidence for it?" Wouldn't that be just cause for other countries to want to interfere in our domestic politics?
The nuclear weapons in Pakistan are incapable of reaching the United States. If we want to go after these people in a criminal international law enforcement context, fine. But we cannot become entangled into the internal politics of Pakistan. That is a situation that will ultimately prove disastrous, no matter what short-term gains in security are made. |
I wasn't talking about the United States, I was talking about the world as a whole (many countries & political leaders). Ask India how they would feel about these groups getting their hands on nuclear weapons in Pakistan.
My point was what is happening in Pakistan has the possibility to dramatically affect quite a few of the countries in that region, and why it's silly to compare it to something like the Atlanta Olympic bombing or the attacks in Boston. |
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Hokie21
Joined: 01 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 5:51 am Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
WASHINGTON: President Obama, apparently resigned to President Hamid Karzai’s refusal to sign a long-term security agreement with the United States before he leaves office, told him in a phone call on Tuesday that he had instructed the Pentagon to begin planning for a complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.
The United States did a lot of good in Afghanistan. Now they are heading out of the country. (Like South Korea, they want the U.S. to stay. But they're going to have to do it on their own now.) |
Karzai is a snake. |
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I'm With You
Joined: 01 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 3:34 am Post subject: |
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What do you think when you're back home and you hear someone say to a U.S. soldier, "Thank you for protecting our country."
I think, "protecting? It's not protecting. What the hell is going on here?"
That's how stupid people are. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 6:37 am Post subject: |
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| Hokie21 wrote: |
I wasn't talking about the United States, I was talking about the world as a whole (many countries & political leaders). Ask India how they would feel about these groups getting their hands on nuclear weapons in Pakistan.
My point was what is happening in Pakistan has the possibility to dramatically affect quite a few of the countries in that region, and why it's silly to compare it to something like the Atlanta Olympic bombing or the attacks in Boston. |
Well that certainly calls for safeguards and international cooperation. That shouldn't extend to us getting deeply entangled in an internal Pakistani civil war. We need to be able to accept inaction and not to fear the unknown in which we are not involved. |
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Threequalseven
Joined: 08 May 2012
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 8:50 am Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
| Millions of innocents killed is inaccurate. More like millions saved. (The U.S. does everything it can to minimize civilian casualties.) |
I realize this is from page 1, but I need to respond because I was just watching a documentary about this.
Civilian casualties as a percent of all casualties:
10% - World War I
50% - World War II
70% - Vietnam War
90% - Iraq War
So, either World Traveller is right, and despite all efforts, the U.S. military just can't help themselves from killing civilians. OR, World Traveller is dead wrong and severely misguided. |
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geldedgoat
Joined: 05 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:42 am Post subject: |
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| Threequalseven wrote: |
| World Traveler wrote: |
| Millions of innocents killed is inaccurate. More like millions saved. (The U.S. does everything it can to minimize civilian casualties.) |
I realize this is from page 1, but I need to respond because I was just watching a documentary about this.
Civilian casualties as a percent of all casualties:
10% - World War I
50% - World War II
70% - Vietnam War
90% - Iraq War |
These statistics beg two questions: 1) what group is responsible for the casualties?, and 2) by what metric is an individual considered a civilian? I saw upthread someone criticize the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings for the civilian deaths. That's more than a little ridiculous. |
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radcon
Joined: 23 May 2011
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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| geldedgoat wrote: |
| Threequalseven wrote: |
| World Traveler wrote: |
| Millions of innocents killed is inaccurate. More like millions saved. (The U.S. does everything it can to minimize civilian casualties.) |
I realize this is from page 1, but I need to respond because I was just watching a documentary about this.
Civilian casualties as a percent of all casualties:
10% - World War I
50% - World War II
70% - Vietnam War
90% - Iraq War |
These statistics beg two questions: 1) what group is responsible for the casualties?, and 2) by what metric is an individual considered a civilian? I saw upthread someone criticize the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings for the civilian deaths. That's more than a little ridiculous. |
Are you saying that the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were populated 100% by soldiers with no civilians living there? I don't follow your logic. |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Threequalseven wrote: |
90% - Iraq War
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What was the numbers of the civilians killed? Who killed most of the civilians? You don't have any sensibility at all.
Actually I wonder if you could come up with unbiased numbers for Vietnam as well. |
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Threequalseven
Joined: 08 May 2012
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| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 8:24 am Post subject: |
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| young_clinton wrote: |
| Threequalseven wrote: |
90% - Iraq War
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What was the numbers of the civilians killed? Who killed most of the civilians? You don't have any sensibility at all.
Actually I wonder if you could come up with unbiased numbers for Vietnam as well. |
Why is it your first reaction to that statistic to try discrediting it? Wtf is wrong with you? You guys are great operatives for your murdering governments.
Anyway, I believe the film is called The War You Don't See. It also highlights war crimes committed by the U.S. military if you care to learn something new. |
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Old Painless
Joined: 01 Jan 2014
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actionjackson
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Location: Any place I'm at
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| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 4:58 am Post subject: |
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| I'm With You wrote: |
What do you think when you're back home and you hear someone say to a U.S. soldier, "Thank you for protecting our country."
I think, "protecting? It's not protecting. What the hell is going on here?"
That's how stupid people are. |
I find it silly. |
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radcon
Joined: 23 May 2011
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| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 5:35 am Post subject: |
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| I feel sorry for US soldiers. They are mostly young and many of them think they are doing something really noble when that is far from the truth. And these days many return home really effed in the head. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 2:29 pm Post subject: |
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| No. Their actions are noble. They are protecting the world from scumbag religious zealots who think killing people will get them into heaven. Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations pose a real threat to the world. |
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