Afghanistan
Trump Repeated Kremlin Agitprop, And The Press Failed To Say A Damn Thing About It
You might recall how Donald Trump mentioned that the reason the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan was because terrorists were crossing the border into Russia. And so, in 1979, the Soviets retaliated by invading. While babbling incoherently, as he always does, Trump blurted, “The ...read more
More Than Anything, This Is The Trump Thing That Should Keep You Awake At Night
It's not often that Donald Trump's outrageousness literally takes my breath away, but I audibly gasped the other day when I heard a clip of Trump being interviewed for Fox News Sunday. In the sit-down with Chris Wallace, Trump blurted favorably about how his administration cut ...read more
Trump Broke His Promise to Pay a Grieving Father Because He is a Narcissistic Sociopath
The story broken today about Donald Trump's failure to make good on a promise to pay the father of a fallen soldier is a shocking illustration of just how sociopathic the president is. Reported the Washington Post:Â Â President Trump, in a personal phone call to a grieving ...read more
After 15 Years of War it's Time to Ask What Are We Doing in Afghanistan
If there’s one clear example of continuation from the Obama to Trump administrations, it’s that the war in Afghanistan has no end in sight. Fifteen years in, it remains the longest military conflict the United States has been involved in. The most recent evaluations from generals ...read more
Please Tell Me Jared Kushner Didn't Authorize The MOAB Strike In Afghanistan
Right off the bat, I hope I’m wrong. I hope that the first, one-step-shy-of-a-nuclear bomb that the United States just dropped on Afghanistan — not even a week after firing 50+ Tomahawk missiles at Syria , which is not an insignificant timing of events— is simply another example ...read more
Fox News Already Trying To Blame Obama For Pakistan School Attack
The Pakistani Taliban committed an unspeakable horror on Tuesday, attacking the Army Public School and Degree College in Peshawar, where they began slaughtering children by shooting them classroom by classroom. One teacher was reportedly set on fire as the students were forced ...read more
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Hillary Clinton Should Keep Quiet on Foreign Policy
Former Secretary of State and one time Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had some choice words for President Obama in regards to his foreign policy. In aninterview with Jeffrey Goldberg, Clinton slammed her former boss, saying his slogan of "Don’t do stupid stuff" was "not ...read more
President Obama Is Making Bush's Foreign Policy Mistakes All Over Again
According to Reuters, there have been up to 120 American soldiers in Somalia since 2007 to assist authorities there in their fight against the radical Islamist group Al Shabaab. Although U.S. officials say they are there in merely an advisory role, the fact that this is only ...read more
Listen To Dick Cheney Practically Salivate Over a "Far Deadlier" Attack Than 9/11
If your impression of the past 14 years of American foreign and security policy was, "Needs more Dick Cheney," then I have good news for you: You are getting more Dick Cheney. And he's practically salivating over the prospect of a terrorist attack "far deadlier" than 9/11 -- ...read more
Susan Rice Just Really Can't Catch a Break From the Media
The Hulk-like growth of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's release into a political attack against the White House has dominated the news this week, and has largely been fueled by rampant, one-sided speculation about Bergdahl's capture, combined with the false narrative that the White House's ...read more
THE MORNING BANTER: Afghanistan Exits, Gay Football Players, SNL Band Leaders, and Non-Alcoholic Beverages
Happy Tuesday. You have a whopping three days to find a date for Valentines Day! Here's what's happening on the interweb: 1. U.S. Shifting Afghanistan Exit Plans: Report Frustrated about prospects of getting Afghan President Hamid Karzai to sign a long-term security deal, ...read more
Robert Gates Confirms Obama's Real Middle East Motivations: Getting the Hell Out
We've come under fire at The Daily Banter for being a 'pro Obama' site in recent times, largely because we've refused to join the increasingly militant civil libertarians who insist Obama's sole purpose in office is to drone Arab babies and listen to your Facebook conversations. ...read more
THE MORNING BANTER: Corrupt Countries, Superhero Popes, Gender-Role Shakeups, and Citizenship Tests
It’s Wednesday, the day that separates the glass-half-fullers from the glass-half-empties. Here’s what’s happening on the interweb: 1. And The Award For Most Corrupt Nation Goes To ... Each year, Transparency International releases its Corruption Perception Index, and this ...read more
Quote of the Day: Everything Is Back To Normal in Afghanistan
"We are working on the draft of a Sharia penal code where the punishment for adultery, if there are four eyewitnesses, is stoning." -- Head of the Afghan Independent Bar Association Rohullah Qarizada, who's part of the Sharia Islamic law committee putting together the proposal ...read more
Bradley Manning Lives in a Nation of Laws, and, Hero or Not, He Broke 20 of Those Laws
While fleeing from the law in Hong Kong, Edward Snowden encouraged a return to "the rule of law rather than men." In spite of his politically incorrect usage of "men" instead of "men and women," he's right. Generally speaking, individual citizens shouldn't be held above the law ...read more
Four Years Ago Obama Promised to Investigate Afghan Massacre. Has Anything Happened Since?
By Cora Currier, ProPublica In his first year in office, President Barack Obama pledged to "collect the facts" on the death of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Taliban prisoners of war at the hands of U.S.-allied Afghan forces in late 2001. Almost four years later, there's no ...read more
8 Facts That Prove John McCain is an Unhinged Warmonger
Amazingly, Sen. John McCain wasn't always as gung ho about sending Americans off to fight in foreign lands as he is today. In September 1983, Senator McCain voted against President Reagan’s decision to put American troops in Lebanon as part of a multinational peacekeeping ...read more
On Victory Drive, Soldiers Defeated by Debt
By Paul Kiel, ProPublica, and Mitchell Hartman, Marketplace This story was co-produced with Marketplace. Listen to their coverage. Seven years after Congress banned payday-loan companies from charging exorbitant interest rates to service members, many of the nation's military ...read more
Hagel Struggles to Calm Afghan Dispute
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 10, 2013. (Defense Department photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo) By Gareth Porter Two weeks after Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded the withdrawal of all U.S. Special ...read more
Petraeus Scandal Widens, Snares U.S. Commander in Afghanistan
The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From AP: WASHINGTON (AP) — The sex scandal that felled CIA Director David Petraeus widened Tuesday to ensnare the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, in a suddenly public drama involving a Tampa socialite, a jealous rival, a twin ...read more
Second-Term Obama’s Foreign Policy
A supply helicopter approaches Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan’s Khowst province on Nov. 5, 2012. (Photo credit: U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Abram Pinnington) By Paul R. Pillar: After a campaign and election in which, at least as much as in most other election ...read more
Pay No Attention to the Neocons Behind 'Peacenik Mitt'
By Bob Cesca: Anyone who believed Mitt Romney's shape-shifting performance as "Peacenik Mitt" on Monday night is an amnesic, naive doofus. As we all know by now, Romney will do and say whatever is necessary to make it through the day. This is his strategy. By now, the ...read more
Afghanistan Withdrawal Could Happen Sooner Than Planned
The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From The Guardian: The retreat of western forces from Afghanistan could come sooner than expected, the head of Nato has said as he conceded that the recent Taliban strategy of "green on blue" killings had been successful in sapping morale. In ...read more
The Afghanistan Surge is Over, Last Troops Depart War Zone
The Daily Banter Headline Grab. From The AP: AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Nearly two years after President Barack Obama ordered 33,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to tamp down the escalating Taliban violence, the last of those surge troops have left the country, U.S. ...read more
Remembering The Victims of 9/11 on Both Sides
By Ben Cohen: I was taking a driving lesson in the UK when I first heard the news about the planes crashing into the twin towers. The lesson finished early and I went home to a stunned family sitting glued to the television. Like the rest of the world, I spent the next few ...read more
Idealism and Spiking the Bin Laden Football
By Bob Cesca: You might have noticed how the Democrats last week weren't afraid to ballyhoo the Obama administration's tenacious pursuit and killing of Osama Bin Laden. This pivotal event in the president's first term represented what could be the beginning of a major shift in ...read more
Walking Away from The Election Is Not An Option
By Bob Cesca: Over the weekend, actor and activist John Cusack posted an interview he conducted with George Washington University constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley. You might recall seeing Turley on Countdown with Keith Olbermann over the years, and you probably ...read more
NATO Seals Agreement to Hand Control Over Control of Afghanistan
NATO leaders sealed a landmark agreement on Monday to hand control of Afghanistan over to its own security forces by the middle of next year, putting the Western alliance on an "irreversible" path out of an unpopular, decade-long war. A NATO summit in Chicago formally ...read more
Obama Promises to End Afghan War
US President Barack Obama has pledged to "finish the job" and end the Afghan war, addressing the US public live from a military base in Afghanistan. Speaking a year after Osama Bin Laden's death, Mr Obama thanked US troops and hailed plans to end combat operations. He ...read more
US Troops Posed With Afghan Body Parts
The paratroopers had their assignment: Check out reports that Afghan police had recovered the mangled remains of an insurgent suicide bomber. Try to get iris scans and fingerprints for identification. The 82nd Airborne Division soldiers arrived at the police station in ...read more
The 1%’s Hand in the Afghan Murders
Exclusive: Sgt. Robert Bales stands accused of murdering 17 Afghan civilians, a crime that some trace to the financial pressures his family faced back home. However, to the rich financial swindlers, the ruining of Bales’s family – and many others – is just another day’s work, ...read more
Lawyer For Accused Afghan Massacre Suspect Sgt Bales: 'No Proof'
The lawyer representing a US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in their homes has said there is little proof of his client's guilt. John Henry Browne said there was "no forensic evidence" against Staff Sgt Robert Bales and "no confession". He also dismissed ...read more
Main Stream Media Ignoring the Victims of Afghan Massacre
By Ben Cohen: My friend Alyona Minkovski did a brilliant segment yesterday on her show discussing the main stream media's refusal to mention the names of the victims of Robert Bales, the American Staff Sergeant who went on a shooting rampage that killed 16 Afghan civilians, ...read more
Taliban Cancels Peace Talks, Accuse US of 'Changing Preconditions'
Prospects for an orderly withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan suffered two blows on Thursday as President Hamid Karzai demanded that the United States confine troops to major bases by next year, and the Talibanannounced that they were suspending peace talks with the ...read more
US on Alert for Afghan Massacre Reprisals
US troops in Afghanistan have been placed on alert following the killings of 16 Afghan civilians by a US soldier. US officials warned of reprisals after the soldier went on a rampage in villages near a base in Kandahar. Nine children were among those killed. Earlier, US ...read more
Photo/Quote of the Week: Occupy Wall St Movement Now For Real
The protests taking place on Wall St and around the country are snowballing into something far, far more serious than previously thought. Just take a look at the photo below: Chez Pazienza sums it up: It's more than just a bunch of "deluded kids" now. It's the ...read more
Quote of the Day: How Netanyahu Destroyed Obama's Foreign Policy Vision
Image via Wikipedia Andrew Sullivan on Netanyahu's relentless war against moderation and the Middle East peace process: The Obama goal was simple: win back global soft power in the war against Jihadist terrorism by demonstrating even-handedness again with the Israelis and ...read more
End is Nigh for Gaddafi
It appears that rebel groups in Libya have check mated the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi by taking key cities and advancing on the capital Tripoli. After some ferocious fighting, Gaddafi has nowhere to turn and the end is undeniably nigh. Reports the BBC: Heavy fighting is ...read more
Not the Obama We Were Promised
One of the reasons I supported Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton was because I believed he would exercise far more restraint when it came to US foreign policy. I was never sold on his domestic agenda. His hazy rhetoric indicated he wouldn't do much to remedy the serious ...read more
Time To Do The Damn Thing In Afghanistan
I have waited so long for this. So long. One of the things I'll never forgive Bush for is that he let Bin Laden get away. The man and the network responsible for the worst terror attack in our history still breathes, and its an insult to the dead and their loved ones every day ...read more
Iraq / Afghanistan Speech Coming From President Obama On Friday
I'm assuming so based on this: The White House today announced that President Barack Obama will deliver an address at Camp Lejeune on Friday, February 27. ...read more
Why Are We In Afghanistan?
I think that's the central question of the Obama administration's surge of troops to the region and what it all means. Are win in Afghanistan to keep the Taliban out of power and foster democracy? Or, are we there to kill and capture Al Qaeda and its supporters? My inclination ...read more
Losing Afghanistan
Hey look, it's the exact point Sen. Obama was making about how Bush and McCain's push for war in Iraq ended up screwing up the true fight versus Al Qaeda in Pakistan. The White House has launched an urgent review of Afghanistan policy, fast-tracked for completion in the next ...read more
Next Gen Veterans For Obama
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for a commander-in-chief with a clue. ...read more
McCain: Iraq Was First Major Conflict After 9/11
As Bush would say... You forgot Afghanistan. ...read more
They Should Serve
Army Specialist Monica Lin Brown has earned a silver star for her service in Afghanistan. Now look, if the excrement hit the fan I for one would much rather Specialist Brown be the one we rely on than someone like me who would be allowed front line duty simply because I'm a male. ...read more