This is a bit old, but I’m using it for Poli Sci debate, so I figured I’d post it here for the hell of it. I like Dennis Kucinich a lot and really admire him for his integrity, but I always hate the way him and others like Ron Paul treat these conflicts as “issues” when they discuss them. Don’t get me wrong, they are extremely rare for their comparitively radical views as Congressmen, but comments such as “I like Obama…” blows my mind. HE’S A WAR CRIMINAL, MASS MURDERER! Perhaps they can’t speak out in that manner because they are public officals. I mean they have the right ideas with the knowledge and evidence to back up their platforms, but it’s as if they treat the president’s policies as poor political moves rather than crimes against humanity. Then again, Kucinich valiantly proposed impeachement of Bush as a War Criminal, so kudos to him. I also dig O’Reilly’s line about Obama being closer to Bill on the War, which is absolutely true. Oboma cheerleaders should take note. If you’re Antiwar and support Obama, then that’s fine for you, but it ain’t my cup of tea. I think y’all better choose a side soon.
Chris
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 
People forget that Afghanistan had an army and government that was secular and in 1989 it defeated Bin Laden’s people in battles and its predicted demise did not happen. Only when General Dostum changed sides in 1992 after Boris Yeltsin seized power in Russia did the government fall, then the mujahedin factions destroyed most of Kabul in rocket battles through 1994. The Taliban took over because Hizb Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was thought to be a destructive failure by Pakistan and they decided to support a new faction. In 1996 people were tired of warlordism, endless killing and criminality. The thing is, is that by 2001 there was unhappiness with the Taliban but bringing back warlordism was not the answer.
This goes back to the decision in 1989 to twist the knife in the back of the Afghan government. Back then, the U.S. could have supported it, but it kept supporting the mujahedin in order to humiliate the Soviets, so that they experience their own Saigon Rooftop moment. The Afghan government kept going under Soviet assistance until Boris Yeltsin seized power and pulled the rug out from under it, and this led to General Dostum changing sides. It would have been far less costly to try to keep things stable then but now they are in a no-win situation and staying there just involves killing many people in an indiscriminate way. Why, General McCrystal Meth admitted the other day that his forces killed countless people recently who were of no threat at all.