Vote wisely
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
2 of 3 free articles.
Editor,
Do you actually feel safer these days? Are you feeling pinched for funds these days? Are you concerned about how much our federal government is putting into rebuilding America’s infrastructure and giving the much needed aid to our states, cities, towns and rural communities in keeping with the fair distribution of the taxation heaped upon us?
One place our hard-earned money is going instead of staying here in America is Pakistan. The whole scenario is so ludicrous and fraught with corruption, deceit, and doubt that if it were not so serious it would be laughable. Since 2005 we have given $1 billion each year to Pakistan. Last year we gave $2 billion. And on Oct. 22, as reported by CNN, we have pledged another $2 billion in a military aid package coming out of the latest Washington-Islamabad strategic talks. This, of course, still needs congressional approval. And this speaks nothing about our stupendous military expenditures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Winning hearts and minds is a strange goal in light of drones killing innocent women and children. Can war ever win hearts and minds? What a ludicrous idea. Have any of you read “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson? Or his latest book, “Stones Into Schools?” Does our nation really know how to win hearts and minds? Greg Mortenson does.
Who are the Taliban anyway? Well, they are a Pushtun movement, first really appearing in religious seminaries with money paid from Saudi Arabia. They promised peace and security, mainly in Afghanistan. But the borders between Afghanistan and Pakistan are so leaky that one flows right into the other. And they did stamp out much corruption, but they have some rather disgusting, to us, strict rules and codes of conduct. They do have quite a following based upon the good they have done and the application of extreme intimidation. So, since we vowed to get no rest until capturing Osama bin Missin’ dead or alive, the Taliban which came into real prominence back in 1994, continues to build successfully as we flail away militarily under almost impossible political, social, and cultural circumstances for which we are ill equipped to understand, overcome, defeat, or change.
Do you feel safer these days, poorer, or perhaps frustrated? The questions persist. Be informed and vote wisely.
Bob McClellan
Polson
