[lbo-talk] Another defeat, thank Allah

[Chuck Grimes]

``We are dealing here with peoples whose historical trajectory has dealt out 
repeated defeats to the world's greatest empires. You cannot make war 
successfully in such places as an afterthought to the crises of economy and 
democracy in the West.

The conflict in Afghanistan is at a decisive juncture, and the West is 
facing defeat on a scale not seen since Vietnam. Few want to face facts, and 
the result is a gap between rhetoric and reality of a kind that only wars 
gone badly wrong produce.

Lost in the rolling crisis that began with the Quran burning is an important 
upcoming date. At the end of this month, the Karzai regime will see through 
its threat to force out the private security companies who guard the 
contractors that carry out development projects across Afghanistan.''

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/03/201231593938401477.html