Afghanistan

Hunkered down in the White House this week, top US officials thrashed out options for Afghanistan in a dispute that has split the administration and could decide the future of the fight against al-Qaeda and President Barack Obama’s hopes of a second term.

Show me where you last saw an Afghan army artillery battery roll up near an American city anywhere and start shelling the town, trying to flush out American "terrorists".

Those Taliban fighters that are killing our troops are Afghanistan citizens. They are not Arab al Queda, imported by the thousands to make our life miserable, they are Afghan men and women who will fight us until we leave their country, no matter how many more troops Obama sends in.

Yes, no doubt there are some Arabs in there doing some training and stirring the pot, just like we did when the Russians were occupying Afghanistan. To their great credit, the Russians got smart and got out.

Today, we are the occupying force that is doing great damage and killing large numbers of Afghan citizens, all in the quest to capture Osama Bin Laden (or so we were told) and to keep America safe from terror (laughable). But, keep in mind that not one single Afghan citizen has attacked America... ever.

The conflict in Afghanistan is not a war against terror, never has been. It was a war waged against a government once run by the Taliban, a government that refused to go along with Bush and hand over Osama.

So, like American presidents are prone to do, Bush ordered the destruction of that government, of which the surviving elements are now killing us off every chance they get. The "new" government, a collection of opportunists getting rich off the American taxpayer, is not considered a legal entity by just about any Afghan alive today. They know that when the Americans finally leave, the Afghan Taliban will move in and re-establish control.

If you listen to the TV pundits, none of this has ever crossed your mind before, but its time it did.

If you listen to the generals, the retired generals playing "advisor" to some TV network, and the military/industrial complex spokesmen, you will think the "war" will be lost if we don't send in another 50 or 100 or 200 thousand troops for the next ten years. The Russians realized the folly of that sort of thinking and got out.

There is no "war" to lose, there is only an unjust occupation of a nation, opposed only by a few hundred Afghan citizens hiding in the hills.

So, is Obama smarter - or at least as smart - as the Russians?

We may not like the answer.