Afghanistan Myths debunked

I just read an interesting article in The Weekly Standard written by Tom Cotton, who was an Army infantry officer from 2005-2009. He returned from Afghanistan in July. He says there are myths believed by Congress and the media regarding Afghanistan which need to be debunked.

1. A counterterrorism campaign is an effective alternative to counterinsurgency. (answer)Without a simultaneous counterinsurgency, we cannot defeat al Qaeda with counterterrorism strikes alone.
2. The Afghan people don't want us there. (answer) The people would accept more troops in exchange for more security. He says we have the worst situation possible in Afghanistan. Enough troops to raise Afghans' expectations, but not enough to protect them.
3. America cannot win a war in Afghanistan, the "graveyard of empires." (answer) America has a counter-insurgency policy whereas the Soviet Union had a genocide policy. The Soviets, in particular, taught us how not to win in Afghanistan. They employed vicious massively destructive tactics that inflamed the Afghan people and still scar the country with depopulated valleys and adult amputees maimed as children by toy-shaped mines. Our present way of war couldn't be more different.
4. America needs a new political partner before committing more troops. (answer)A government battling insurgency is by definition weak, else the insurgency would never have gained strength. We must accept this and focus on helping improve President Karzai's government, not use it as an excuse to abandon his government.
5. We should not put troops in harm's way without thorough debate. (answer)True, but we already have 68,000 troops very much in harm's way and they need reinforcements.
6. The military will break if we send more troops to Afghanistan. (answer) To be sure our military needs to grow in both size and funding to reflect wartime priorities and alleviate the stress of repeated deployments, but the quickest way to break the military is to lose a war.

Here's a link to the Stratfor Global Intelligence video....Afghanistan to become Obama's War.

Happy Advent

The Manhattan Declaration

From Albert Mohler's blog: Why I signed the Manhattan Declaration

Last Friday, The Manhattan Declaration was released to the public at the National Press Club. It is a historic statement of conviction and courage that is both timely and urgent, dealing with issues of the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage, and religious liberty. As Dr. Mohler writes in his blog entry today, though Christians struggle to understand the extent to which our convictions should be incorporated in the law, we must now recognize that the very respect for these convictions -- and the freedom to follow these convictions in our own lives, families, and ministries is now at stake.

Read the details in Dr. Mohler’s blog,which is often updated several times a day.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2009—Today a group of prominent Christian clergy, ministry leaders and scholars will release the Manhattan Declaration, which addresses the sanctity of life, traditional marriage and religious liberty. The 4,700-word declaration issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not - under any circumstance - abandon their Christian consciences. Drafted by Dr. Robert George, Dr. Timothy George and Chuck Colson and signed by more than 125 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders, the Manhattan Declaration will be made public at a noon ET press conference held in the Lisagor Room at the National Press Club.

Among the signers of the Manhattan Declaration scheduled to appear at the press conference are:

• Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
• Donald William Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, Diocese of Washington, D.C.
• Harry Jackson Jr., Bishop, Hope Christian Church
• Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, Diocese of Philadelphia
• Timothy George, Professor, Beeson Divinity School at Samford University
• Chuck Colson, Founder, The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview
• Ron Sider, Professor, Palmer Theological Seminary and Director of the Seminary’s Sider Center on Ministry & Public Policy
• George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center and Founding President of the James Madison Foundation
• Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council
• Jim Daly, President and CEO, Focus on the Family

Excerpts from the declaration include:

• "We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right - and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation - to speak and act in defense of these truths. We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence."
• "We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral."
• ". . . We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriage or the equivalent or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family."

http://manhattandeclaration.org/