NATO meeting in Chicago
Today ends the two day NATO summit confab in Chicago on the war in Afghanistan. Some 60 world leaders met yesterday as President Obama told reporters, "We still have a lot of work to do and there will be great challenges ahead. The loss of life continues in Afghanistan and there will be hard days ahead".
Meanwhile thousands of demonstrators marched in the streets chanting, "No NATO, no way. Hey, hey, ho ho, NATO has got to go".
Separately, White House officials said on Sunday, "The goal in Afghanistan is defeating al Qaeda and preventing the network from taking root again". Apparently, it doesn't matter that al Qaeda no longer resides in Afghanistan as American intelligence reported over two years ago that less than a 100 al Qaeda operatives remained in the country; dissembling still rules the day.
Somehow the idea of declaring victory after more than 10 years of war, engaged in a hopeless quagmire and withdrawing as soon as possible isn't acceptable or appropriate in this day and age.
The take from here is all the other members of NATO, save the U.S., are chomping at the bit wanting to get out of this unnecessary war "yesterday", but not wanting to invite the wrath of the U.S., maintain their minimal military contingents and come to Chicago to present what can be best described as a NATO "faà §ade of unity".
It's all so politically calculated and contrived. The American president, ever fearful of being cast as "weak on defense" by the ultra right wing Republican wacko's, must give the appearance that his announced plan for withdrawal of all troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 is responsible and can not be described as "cut and run".
It doesn't matter that ever more troops will be sacrificed needlessly, more Afghan innocents will be killed and maimed or that billions more dollars will be thrown down the sinkhole of unnecessary war so long as ending it will give the appearance of being politically "responsible."
The real hypocrisy is putting American troops in harm's way unnecessarily as IF they're fighting and dying in defense of their country. That's the hoax and propaganda myth which too many Americans continue to believe and accept.
The troops are just pawns of the real perpetrators; the war criminals that authorize these unnecessary wars in the name of the American people.
