Afghanistan

As support for the war in Afghanistan diminishes rapidly, the desire and power to influence the White House's policy is held almost exclusively by fans of war in general.

Even assuming President Obama is a generally liberal guy, his track record so far in Afghanistan is troubling. He has been killing Afghanis with predator drones at record pace - a form of sanitized and deodorized warfare that is deeply saddening to all peace-loving people.

If "our" goal in this war is to democratize and stabilize this country, "our" only chance is to forcibly indoctrinate its citizens for generations upon generations. About the only shared history of this country of many nations is the fact that it is a grave yard for civilizations. It is an isolated place consisting of fiercely proud warriors who do not take kindly to strangers with guns. This is not a place with a shared culture or values system.

The very simple-mindedness that thinks war is a tool of peace, is the same mind set that believes democracy can be spread through the world as easily as carbon dioxide. Our own democracy was founded by, spread by, and held on to through violence and political cunning from a homogeneous class of rich white males. Only through a shared culture and indoctrination has our pseudo-democracy taken root; and quite recently. Our history is littered with dead Native Americans, dead Mexicans, dead African-Americans, dead Unionists, dead Socialists, and even presently tens-of-thousands of dead poor people lacking health care. This was easy compared to Afghanistan.

Goals of democratization were made even more difficult - by one or two orders of magnitude - by our strategy the last 8 years. Our strategy has been to prop up war lords who have traditionally been the enemies of the Taliban. This is why Hamid Karzai is in power. He is a corrupt person with ties to powerful war lords. Even as such, he carries little power outside of Kabul. Even as such, he blatantly stole the last election, further decaying the brittle democracy that was started. Even as such, Sharia Law was codified by the Afghan Parliament in the summer.

These war lords have no problems using violence to intimidate their fellow Afghanis, including fellow parliament members who dare try to work for the people. They also have no problems spreading the Poppy economy in Afghanistan, something the Taliban are also reportedly getting into.

If one of the main goals is to rid the country of the Taliban and al-Qaida, we have funny ways of showing it. Unquestionably, the motivations to join these organizations are hatred for Western culture, fear for family safety, and economic hardships. Our militarized strategy has caused much hatred for the West, and our lack of focus on creating an economy, infrastructure, and an educational system is hard to fathom.

Now President Obama is being convinced by General McCrystal - a man central in the PR strategy of lying about Pat Tillman's death - to send more troops to Afghanistan. We already outnumber the Taliban 4-1. I cannot see any reason to send more troops, except perhaps, for the war profiteers' benefits.

A soldier here in Colorado just shot himself in the shoulder in order to avoid going back to Afghanistan. We are doing irreparable damage to the minds and bodies of our fellow American soldiers with a terrible strategy, and misguided global mindset.

It is time to awake from our Obama-coma, and break through The Bubble, because we know The Bubble loves every war it is ever encountered.

We the People need to demand a focused strategy with a timetable that has education for girls, infrastructure for everyone, and a sustainable economy at its heart.

We the People need to demand getting out of Iraq now. We the People need to demand that our government stops funding Israel's war machine. We the People need to demand that our government stops funding OUR war machine. We the People need to demand that we remove ourselves from the IMF, the World Bank, and any other imperialist institution masked as an aide organizations.

We the People need to demand a media and a political culture that places peace, justice, Truth, respectful discourse, and wisdom on a pedestal.

Peace.