Afghanistan

So, we watched last night. The Prez made his case, convincing enough to those who are open to being convinced. The jackasses of course will never be convinced by anything he says. I noted several things.
1. He was, as always, brilliant at saying what had to be said. He was speaking to a tough audience, some of whom seemed actually to be dozing off—odd I thought.
2. I believe he is correct in asserting that both Afghanistan and Pakistan are places on our globe that are potentially dangerous to the United States. But then so is Somalia, and a few other places that are not really nations, more spots of dirt on the globe open to any thugs or robber gangs who have enough arms to grab some the territory for their own.
3. Fundamentally, I believe that nation-building is a chimera. It is likely never to happen in Afghanistan, Somalia, or western Pakistan in our lifetimes. These are places deeply rooted in the 14th century. Democracy isn’t as high on their agenda as getting enough rice or potatoes to eat for the next meal. Also, they are sufficiently befuddled by their views of their religion that they have no concept of an open society with democratic values. We are surely wasting our time, money and blood.
So, basically, I think the faster we can execute a quick march out of Afghanistan, the better. Having said that, however, I am still awaiting some pronouncement from the Prez on the subject of the aftermath. That is, what do we plan to do, perhaps what does the world plan to do about terrorism once we all leave the Afghans and the Pakistanis to themselves? If the Taliban regroup and come roaring back in Kabul and they allow Osama (remember him, that guy who Bush allowed to escape??)to begin organizing terror again, what will we do—begin viewing Afghanistan as a free fire zone, as we did in Vietnam (remember Vietnam?)? We had this brief period after 9/11 when the entire world, even for heaven’s sake Iran, was aligned with us. We could have organized a world-wide effort to eradicate Islamic terrorism, mainly because it was in everyone’s best interest, including most of the Islamic world, to get rid of thugs like bin Laden. But no, our Neo-Con ship of fools decided to attack one of the Islamic nations uninvolved in 9/11, just because they thought they could. And then they forgot about the guys who brought us 9/11, and they allowed the world-wide support to evaporate.
So, now of course, all the idiots in our nation who acted as cheerleaders for Shrub’s gang of thugs are now decrying Obama’s considered decision.
I continue to hope that he is correct in his latest decision. I know that, unlike Bush, he at least used his considerable brain in reaching that decision. But his decision is a high risk one. Of course, so would a quick march out of Afghanistan. Remember that last helicopter leaving Vietnam?