The White House on Monday defended Vice President Joe Biden for saying that the Taliban isn’t an enemy of the United States.
According to the Vice President, the U.S. is on a dual track in Afghanistan — keep the pressure on Al Qaeda and support a government that is strong enough to “negotiate with and not be overthrown by the Taliban.”
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So what you’re saying, Joe, is that the Taliban is the enemy of our ally, but not of us? [humming Twilight Zone theme]
Combat-disabled veteran and analyst Kerry Patton makes a case that the Vice President is kinda not wrong, since “talib” means “student” and, during his years serving in Afghanistan, he met many so-called “taliban” who fought on our side or didn’t fight at all.
He then castigates our “lazy American culture” that would rather label people than understand them.
Uhhhhhhhhh. Okay … except Biden was using the term “Taliban” in the same lazy, stupid American way the rest of us lazy, stupid Americans use it.
So the questions isn’t whether the “real” Taliban (whoever they might be) are our enemies, but whether the “people who are killing our allies and our troops” that lazy, stupid Americans like Joe Biden refer to as the Taliban should be considered our enemies.
I’m kinda thinking that when it comes to allies in a shootin’ war, the enemy of your ally is your enemy. But what do I know?
According to Mitt Romney:
“The Taliban harbored the terrorists who killed 3,000 Americans on Sept 11. The Taliban continues to wage war against us and our allies, a conflict in which we have lost over 1,800 troops. The Taliban receives arms and training from Iran. And the Taliban seeks to reinstate a tyrannical government that violently rejects basic notions of human rights and oppresses minorities. The Taliban is clearly a bitter enemy of the United States.”
Well, yeah.
According to the article linked below:
- When our troops entered Afghanistan just weeks after Sept. 11, 2001, the country was ruled with an iron fist by a Taliban government that had provided safe haven to Osama bin Laden and crew for years.
- Today, fewer than 200 Al Qaeda terrorists reportedly remain in the country and military officials say the primary attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan are being conducted by fighters loyal to the Taliban and the Taliban-tied Haqqani network, both of which are based out of neighboring Pakistan and freely cross the treacherous border.
- According to Reuters, U.S. officials are busy negotiating with Taliban insurgents to end their violence and international terrorism against the government headed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Since I’m a lazy, stupid American AND a dumber than dirt, bitter clinging Republican, let me just restate this whole thing in small words that I can understand.
- We’re negotiating with some group that most people seem to generally agree to call the Taliban.
- This group once controlled Afghanistan and let al Qaeda hang out there for years while they planned 9/11.
- This group isn’t the boss of Afghanistan any more, but wants to be, so they kill people, including our troops, some of whom are related to me personally.
- This group should not be allowed to become the boss of Afghanistan again, because they would do what they did before — i.e., use it as a safe harbor for anti-American terror attacks.
Well. Joe Biden and Obama’s PR mouth piece may agree that this group is somehow not our “enemy”, but they’re for damn sure MY enemy.
Harumph.
It seems to me that, what with this negotiating thing going on, that Obama wants this “Taliban” group to stop killing people so that our troops can come home.
That way, he could brag on how he ended BOTH of the “stupid” wars that Bush started and get re-elected … never mind that we won the Iraq war before he won the election.
BUT … somehow we’re not supposed to call this “Taliban” group our “enemy” because … what? It might make them feel bad and then they might not want to play nice enough for the troops to come home in time for Obama to brag about what a whiz bang world leader he is and get re-elected?
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SOURCES:
White House Stands by Biden Statement That Taliban Isn’t U.S. Enemy – December 19, 2011
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/19/white-house-stands-by-biden-statement-that-taliban-isnt-us-enemy/
Why Biden Isn’t Necessarily Wrong About the Taliban By Kerry Patton – December 20, 2011
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/12/20/why-biden-isnt-necessarily-wrong-about-taliban/
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