Mark on O’Reilly: Afghan Strategy
December 29th, 2009
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14 Responses to “Mark on O’Reilly: Afghan Strategy”
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October 15th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Hi Mark,
You were GREAT on Bill O’Reilly’s show!! You had good answers to his questions.
Enjoy the publicity!
Michael
October 16th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Hi Mark! It was nice to catch you on O’Reilly. Good job!
Personally I don’t think it is so clear that O’Reilly’s thesis about the results of our departure are correct. The Taliban came into power under quite different circumstances than today. I wish you would have at least challenged him a bit on his “oh it is so obvious” attitude on this.
But I know it is always difficult to make much of any point on such “sound bite” broadcasts.
October 16th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I’m really not sure what the mission is in Afghan anymore–we went there to get Osama–we drove the Taliban to the quasiland west of Pakistan–closer to the nukes of Pakistan that seem to be our only real national security problem of any possible imminence now
any possible mission of national security should be about cordoning off those Pakistani nukes from the Taliban
but if Afghan wants to be a power vacuum for the Taliban–U.S. presence can’t really stop that over time–probably better to have the Taliban in Afghan–than Pakistan anyway–ask Alexander the Great and Ghengis Khan about Afghan–it’s the graveyard of many an empire–ask the ghost of Ho Chi Minh, too
Final Say
Listen to the ghost of Ho Chi Minh,
that you don’t commit the same sin
over and over again,
where is true power
but in deep passion,
not in mercenary gun-fire
of many ill-missioned men,
beyond victory and/or defeat of military battle
remains the question of political survival,
as you become the one you kill
and part of the problem,
not the solution,
to a continuing version of hell,
soulful determination will always win
in the end,
flowing gracefully
with great momentum of moral authority,
past even the pain of death,
to the Tao’s final say.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Good job, Mark. You didnt take the bait, which is why he mostly ignored you.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I thought you did really well - and when you began to clarify Biden’s position Bill had to cut you off….you were making too much sense!
October 17th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
As usual, O’Reilly asks his guests questions and then usurps the time for the answer. He loves to hear himself talk!. Your intellect and controlled charm were wasted. It is as if you were not even there..almost rude indifference. I was so looking foward to hearing you on FOX Noise.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:34 am
Mark,
You are no Alan Colmes.
Looking dignifies too say the least. Great point of Giden’s smarter war. Fighting Gorilla.
Yet I would have suggested to BillO that America must take a strong look at the Afg-Gov’t of karzai. And note, thir isn’t a General in war that has not asked for more Boots…!
I liked the “Straw man’ argument you posed to BillO. Nice.
I hope Glen Beck’s show isn’t next on your agenda. Please promise me you will not promote the mindless frog boiling town crier by apearing on his show.
But if you absolutely are desperate for TV air time and find yourself losing control in the heat of the moment, Remember, use protection.
All in all, very good appearance mark. I would have been more enthused if your first big appearance might have been on the panel of “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos. I admit, while you are on Billo, Crazy Eyes Backman, Coulter-Giest, etc aren’t. So this is a good thing.
Now admit it, it is difficult to speak in two second sound bites ?
October 20th, 2009 at 9:54 am
It is. I had a lot more to say about our Afghan strategy, the corrupt Karzai Government, a more decentralized strategy, a comparison to counterinsurgency in Vietnam, and my personal conversations with Vice President Biden. As you saw, Bill O’Reilly only allowed me about 90 seconds or so to speak, and he was focused far more on Huffington than on overall U.S. strategy.
Still, in what very little time I had, I made some points, and if they’ll invite me back and give me some actual time to speak, I’d like to hear how he responds to my points about the complexities of a difficult war. Later on, Bill O’Reilly had Laura Ingraham on the show for more than twice as long as his two Democratic guests. He didn’t interrupt her either. So she had at least six times the amount of time I had to trash Biden and pretend that our Afghan strategy was simple. More troops, we win, says Laura. If it was so simple, why didn’t Bush have our troops win the war, create a stable Government, and go home to cheers and flowers?
To the Right, the war only became “simple” and “easy” when Obama inherited it from Bush.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:50 am
Mark,
Anyone paying attention can tell there is a push by the right recently. A push for the President to be GW Bush in regards to the Afghan war. What I mean is rush to judgement. In great hopes the President would not reaccess the Afghan involvement Bush, Cheney , Rummy et al dallied in. I do mean dallied.
For the moment forget the Afghan history of Alexander the Great and the U.S.S.R.’s goals and failures.
1-Why did America invade?
2-What was the mission Bush left our troops in the Afghan invasion when invading Iraq became prominent?
3-We know Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida were chased into Pakistan and we stopped there and Iraq’s invasion took this missions place. Where this mission ended at the Pakistan border. What troops were left behind had misc mission tasking and few goals with few troops and supplies.
Then candidate Obama pointed correctly the threat to America laid in Pakistan and at the southern Afghan border.
Bush committed “Mission Creep” with few troops in the Afghan war.
4-What was the existing mission when Obama became President?
5-There are many changes the military must adapt to during the Afghan battle. Al Qaida is in Pakistan. That is whom we invaded for, right?
6-Bush’s Adm made policies with pakistan regarding his lack to infringe on Pakistan’s soverenty. Remember the Kerry campaign where Bush accused Kerry of asking for “a permission slip”? Iraq made that go away.
6-You are aware of Karsai’s instability and possible questionable election. His governing influence barely excedes the capitals city limits. Corruption reigns and the people live within it.
There is no one to trust not even our installed puppet Karzai.
7-Obama may get it right if he reaccesses with sober reason minus Bush’s glory of War President.
Notel if there is a Afghan United tribal territories with a central Gov’t to bring the territories together (somewhat). America may be able to withdraw. We cannot apply Iraq’s lessons to Afghanistan.
Pakistan cannot be allowed to harbor Al Qaida. Give the Talaban a territory of Afghanistan to rule for their cooperation against Al Qaida and within Afghanistan.
But TV lives in sound bites and this would require appearing on NPR perhaps. It won’t happen on FOX. Next time BillO will bumble through with something else. Remember, Bill’s show is about Bill.
So how to sound bite the issues?
(with substance)?
Well Bill, what was GW’s objective(s), mission, accomplishments in Afghanistan?
(you then get Bill to answer you and wanting a reply)
Looking at Bush’s status. What will our presence accomplish when our objective is hunting 9/11 perps that found refuge in Pakistan for much of Bush’s Presidency.
To make short term mission accomplishments with troops in harms way while reaccessment of objectives is calculated seems the best action possible for the circumstances present.
You better pratice sound bites, Mark!
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:48 am
Our mission in Afghanistan has moved to Pakistan
moment’s over–remember Alexander the Great again–remember what arrogance will buy you in Afghanistan besides your dead weight in heroin–and/or a lot more GIs hooked on heroin pumping hot lead at shadows in the night
Fly Away Bullets
Whizzing bullets
find your way
by whistling away
through air
and not my flesh and bones,
tumbling, turning, tearing,
searing hot chaotic metal frenzied stings
of a bee,
through vital organs,
Leaving wonder in me
of exit wounds
I’ll never see,
left groaning on the ground,
writhing, twitching,
bemoaning my fate
to die so young,
And know the disappointment of life never lived,
but not the departure from life lived too long.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:19 am
Grave Markers
A grave question
marks the tombs of soldiers,
whose names are known,
but not the real purpose
for which they died,
can even crosses
make the sacrifices seem religious
to the survivors
who try to make sense
of the madness,
or console the soul
of love that cries
its grief of betrayal
in the exploits of man’s inhumanity to man,
in the identity of what is holy,
death in war
is just a vain pity,
for the bodies we bury
into the dark hole
of a black blood-stained history.
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Good job holding the line… O’Reilly always has his single, pre-established message, and attempts to use his guests to convey it. He never asks a real question, wanting to know the real answer. So it’s pretty much a waste of time talking to him, except for the name recognition for you. You did as well as any one could — given the agitprop purpose of the host.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Gen. McCrystal was the guy who signed-off on the cover-up of the friendly-fire death of Pat Tillman–I wouldn’t trust McCrystal farther than when his body recoils from three shots center-of-mass
November 7th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
God Damn Insanity
Maybe I’m bein’ bitter
and disrespectful,
but the dead have to count for somethun,
more than just gun-fire fodder
and political flag-waving pollywaddle,
they were sisters and brothers,
fathers and mothers,
that longed to love
and be loved,
they laughed and cried,
and then they died,
some would say
for nuthin’,
but that kinda pain
leaves a hard stain
in the long run,
that will taint the minds of men
with memories of dirty deeds done,
for them
there ain’t no forgettin’,
in due time,
in divine way,
may God damn the insanity
that made any war so.