The Crumbling Empire: Wages of Dominion

Sometimes things are just as they seem which I believe is the case with McChrystal. That McChrystal had earlier received some of the troops he asked for evidently went to his head and led him to later shoot off his mouth seems to be the bottom line. Why he did this I really am not concerned with nor do I think McChrystal is important. What is important is that the war in Afghanistan continues even if no one knows why.

You might recall McChrystal said that Obama wasn’t engaged in the war and if that’s true why are we there? McChrystal also has said that he has seen no sign of al Qaida in Afghanistan. Obama tells us that we are in Afghanistan to fight al Qaida or to keep them from coming back. Yet the Taliban, who by the way are Afghans (remember that thought), really don’t want al Qaida in Afghanistan. Now I’m not a huge fan of the Taliban but they are the only form of government in Afghanistan at this point. Karzai is nothing but buffoon, a sock puppet for the U.S. whose military allows the Mayor of Kabul (he is called that because that’s as far as his authority extends so it’s a joke to say he is the leader of Afghanistan)to stay in “office” which no doubt allows him access to much American money as well.

So I’m looking at all this and what comes to mind is that the empire is truly beginning to crumble. The fact is the U.S. hasn’t really won a war where there was serious opposition since WWII. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and now Afghanistan, the use of the vaunted mighty U.S. military has failed again and again. The first so-called Gulf War under Bush’s pops was not a war it was technically a raid, and in fact that’s all it was. The surge in Iraq in the second Iraq invasion under general “It’s Hard to Talk With A Microphone Up My Nose” Petraeus was a fraud where Petraeus actually paid Iraqi fighters not to fight. Petraeus’ job was to make Iraq look better than it actually was until Bush could leave office. Exit Bush, enter The Obama.

While Obama has called Iraq the wrong war, he evidently had accepted that the surge in Iraq had “worked” and apparently thought it would “work” in Afghanistan. Obama’s huge mistake was making Afghanistan the center piece of his foreign policy during his campaign for president. Some had put it down to Obama’s need to appear tough which no doubt is true but what is difficult to understand is why Afghanistan was the chosen vehicle. Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires, will now add one more notch to its well notched belt.

There is little doubt in my mind that it was the downfall of the old Communist Russia that led American leaders at that time to begin to plan a campaign for acquiring much of the Middle East through invasion and occupation with the Caspian Basin and the riches in oil and natural gas that reside there being the main target. The quickest way to the Caspian Basin would have been through Iran yet Iraq provided the basis for its own demise when Saddam Hussein, believing it was okay with the Elder Bush, invaded Kuwait. This led to the vicious attack against Iraq, and later to sanctions that were as murderous as any war could be, and finally, rightly perceived as weak from the American assault and sanctions Iraq was chosen to be the first nation to fall to this over arching plan of dominion over the Middle East with 9/11 providing the convenient excuse to do begin this grandiose campaign of conquest.

Nine years later the American Empire is crumbling after wasting what can only be described as an astonishing amount of money and human life on all sides. The war in Afghanistan cannot be won if by winning you mean defeating the Taliban. The more Taliban you kill the more Taliban you create. Generally speaking people have never taken kindly to people invading their country and killing them, not even if the invaders are those ever loveable, gosh golly ma’am, Americans who jes came to hep out, gosh golly, and gee whiz. The war in Iraq is a total failure as well. Nobody in their right mind would ever consider the puppet government as something you could actually call legitimate. Made up of Iraq’s worst and most violent thugs the government is a joke. If the Americans had pulled out the present “government” would have soon disappeared, never to be heard from again.

At this point Iran and the Caspian Basin may be a pipe dream (pun intended) that can never materialize though it is too early to tell. America in its arrogance and hubris squandered American power in two wars that were not only ill-advised but were handled by completely incompetent civilian leadership and completely incompetent military leadership though it should be noted that American generals have never been something to write home about, not that I care for that sort of thing. Of course the crumbling could crumble along for quite some time, who knows. But I would certainly say we are well past the apex of empire and the mad scramble is about to commence. The economy is shot, and it will continue to be shot (you need manufacturing to have an economy, we don’t) which will erode our infrastructure and prevent us from any serious attempt of job creation and from there it’s a vicious cycle that will lead us to the has-been club where we can join the other has-been Caesars now languishing there.

All in all this a good thing, that the empire is crumbling I mean, and I hope it happens fast. It’s the only way we will ever be rid of the military-industrial-scientific-congressionial-presidential-complex because the government is way past where it can be overthrown or “fixed” in any Democratic manner. It is, in fact, completely out of control, yours, mine, not even theirs. American leadership is trapped in a destructive cycle that cannot be broken, even if that was wished for which it isn’t. Britain saw the writing on the walls and ended their empire before it ended them, will America be as smart? Don’t bet on it.