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If we had learned anything in the last eight years, it should be that we cannot defeat terrorism with conventional military forces. Every time American troops kick in a door, we have made more enemies and potential terrorists. Every time a missile from one of our pilotless drones kills a "suspected terrorist (along with a few innocent neighbors), we have created more people who want to kill Americans. Sending more troops will only make things worse.
"A UN report now estimates that up to 500 Afghan civilians are dying monthly from US cluster bombs, most of them children and teenage boys. Finally, a UN study shows that civilian deaths have not only increased Afghan resentment of foreign forces but also motivated many of the suicide bombings. As an Afghan vegetable stand owner told the Washington Post, ˜I never heard of a suicide bomber in Afghanistan until the Americans and this government came.' --The Nation, 1/8/09
During recent hearings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican ranking member Richard Lugar asked about General McChrystal's request to send tens of thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan. "Who would we be surging against [in Afghanistan]? The answer:
"Let me answer that with an old Middle Eastern proverb, ˜It's me and my brother against my cousin. But it's me and my cousin against a foreigner.' So if we send 40,000 Americans...that will coalesce every local rivalry; they will put their local rivalry aside to actually shoot the foreigners and then they'll resume their own internecine fight.... Sending troops with weapons just will unify everybody against those troops, unfortunately. --Dr. Marc Sageman, Senior Fellow at theForeign Policy Research Institute and former member of the CIA's Afghan Task Force, 10/7/09
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"As soon as possible, the US/NATO troops must vacate our country. We want liberation, not occupation. With the withdrawal of occupation forces, we will only have to face one enemy instead of two. --Malalai Joya, former Afghan parliament member and current director of the Organization for Promoting Afghan Women's Capabilities, World Pulse Magazine, 12/2/08
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