Billmon. Go.
John Cole started Balloon Juice early in 2002. Those who have followed along know that this has been quite the journey.
Things That Should Take Less Than Five Years to Figure Out
We’ll start with this:
It was as if the five years of almost ceaseless firefights and ambushes had been a misunderstanding — a tragic, bloody misunderstanding.
More than 40 U.S. troops have been killed, and scores more wounded, in helicopter crashes, machine-gun attacks and grenade blasts in the Korengal Valley, a jagged sliver just six miles long and a half-mile wide. The Afghan death toll has been far higher, making the Korengal some of the bloodiest ground in all of Afghanistan, according to American and Afghan officials.
In the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday, the U.S. presence here came to an abrupt end.
***For U.S. commanders, the Korengal Valley offers a hard lesson in the limits of American power and goodwill in Afghanistan. The valley’s extreme isolation, its axle-breaking terrain and its inhabitants’ suspicion of outsiders made it a perfect spot to wage an insurgency against a Western army.
U.S. troops arrived here in 2005 to flush out al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. They stayed on the theory that their presence drew insurgents away from areas where the U.S. role is more tolerated and there is a greater desire for development. The troops were, in essence, bullet magnets.
In 2010, a new set of commanders concluded that the United States had blundered into a blood feud with fierce and clannish villagers who wanted, above all, to be left alone. By this logic, subduing the Korengal wasn’t worth the cost in American blood.
It took five years to figure that out? And we’re dumping more blood and treasure in Afghanistan?
Things That Should Take Less Than Five Years to Figure OutPost + Comments (55)
Ending One Myth
Great catch by Digby in the Tea Partier poll I talked about last night:
Here’s an interesting factoid that tracks with my intuition about these people: they blame George W. Bush and Wall Street far less for the economic situation than the rest of the country does. They hold Obama and congress mostly responsible. But then, if you listen to wingnut gasbags and FOX news crazies all day, that’s what you would think.
Any illusions that these people are angry at Wall Street or big business needs to be dispensed with ASAP. They don’t blame the money people at all.
88% of them think the government’s stimulus program has either had no impact on the economy or made it worse.
Of course they don’t. This is just a Republican operation, plain and simple, and you’ll watch the tea partiers go to bat for their Republican and Wall Street masters the next couple of months as we try to pass Financial reform.
For chrissakes- the tea party idea came from Rick Santelli- a broker. Anyone who thought these guys were mad at Wall Street was engaging in magical firebagger thinking, and some of us told you that from the get-go.
Wednesday Night Open Thread
Not the night for the Pens.
Just got a call from Tammy, and I will be dogsitting Sam from Friday through Monday, so I should have lots of pictures and videos of the four dogs going nuts.
Also, don’t forget Radio Kaos streamed live at 9 central/10 eastern.
And tomorrow is tax day. So get your stuff mailed in if you already have not.
Great White Dopes
No one could have predicted this:
Tea party supporters are wealthier and more well-educated than the general public, tend to be Republican, white, male, and married, and their strong opposition to the Obama administration is more rooted in political ideology than anxiety about their personal economic situation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters look like Republicans in many ways, but they hold more conservative views on a range of issues and tend to be older than Republicans generally. They are also more likely than Republicans as a whole to describe themselves as “very conservative” and President Obama as “very liberal.”
And while most Republicans say they are “dissatisfied” with Washington, Tea Party supporters are more likely to classify themselves as “angry.”
I’m sure you are all as surprised as I was to learn that the tea partiers were largely rich old white men who were angry. That sure is a revelation. I mean, with Dick Armey, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Laurence Istook, Mike Pence and company cheering them on, this is just a real revelation. Also kind of explains why they are so enamored with Sarah Palin.
I’m starting to think if we could just get most of the Republican party laid (and I mean sans wetsuit, diapers, and methamphetamines and with members of the opposite sex), they’d be a whole lot less crazy.
Pens Open Thread
Hockey game tonight. And I’m all out of hooch.
Site Maintenance
If you have noticed, I got rid of the Project Wonderful ads- they just didn’t make any money, and I got sick of answering emails from you delicate flowers who were offended by a cartoon or something else. I’m currently looking into another revenue stream, so I just canned project wonderful for now. I really liked them, though- very easy company to work with.