HOW TO REDUCE MILITARY CASUALTIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST (since the repubs want to cut long-term medical cost for heroes (like in their voting down 911 benefits for the heroes of the World Trade Center....) ...let's BRING OUR TROOPS HOME THEN ... AND SIMULTANEOUSLY SAVE ABOUT "FIFTY BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR," - that could be USED to PAY DOWN SOME OF OUR DEFICIT SPENDING!!! it's all ABOUT MONEY...the real big blanket issue is DEFICIT SPENDING! Now, here's how to take a big chunk out of that - like 150million A DAY...actually more...I'm estimating conservatively...HERE'S HOW!!! 1. the population of Afghanistan is UNDER 30 million. 2. the per capita income is about 600 dollars a year...so it's one of the poorest countries in the world. 3. ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS: a. give each single citizen of Afghanistan about 5 dollars A DAY. (about 3 times the per-capita average) b. with dependents...a graduated scale up to 10 dollars a day. c. THIS AMOUNTS TO LESS THAN A HUNDRED MILLION A DAY... and since I heard on potus - stand up with pete dominick on xm radio - that the war actually costs about 326 million A DAY...THATS A SAVINGS OF ABOUT 200 MILLION A DAY... over time, this could just about offset the entire tax cut that most Republicans just voted in for their buddies in the wealthy sector. Now, you ALSO LARGELY GET RID OF THE TALIBAN (which our military hasn't been successful in doing USING BULLETS/MISSILES, ETC. ... because who is gonna run around in the desert hiding in caves, when THEY COULD be BECOMING "CAPITALISTS" with 3times their normal income... you'd have a "mass defection of Taliban supporters...they'd be too busy PICKING UP THEIR PAYCK...MAKING BABIES...so they can get a bigger payck... and starting SOME KIND OF BUSINESS... they'll probably EVEN BUY SOME OF OUR EXPORTS.... HOW YOU DO THIS: you issue the money to the individuals by thumbprint... kind of like us SETTING UP LOCAL UNEMPLOYMENT OFFICES ...thereby essentially keeping tabs and controlling the population... and where they are... THEY CAN'T BE FIGHTING OFF WITH SOME REBEL GROUP AND COLLECTING this money ... they have to be in the towns/cities (and not out hiding in the caves/desert/mountains, etc.... this HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT MONEY... we don't give them money... we chase them with bullets...why...so our domestic arms mfrs can make BIG PROFITS... JUST GIVE THE AFGHAN PEOPLE A BIT OF MONEY... cost us far less... and they will give up the Taliban WHO DOESN'T PAY THEM ...JUST FEEDS THEM... OUTBID THE TALIBAN WITH U.S. BUCKS... IT'S ACTUALLY THAT SIMPLE... and 200million a day saved IS MORE THAN 50 BILLION A YEAR... PLUS ALL THOSE U.S. SOLDIERS LIVES SAVED...plus you greatly ERODE THE TALIBAN, TERRORISM, ETC. just give 'em some bucks to keep them OUT OF OUR HAIR! JUST GIVE THEM SOMETHING... and NOT A BULLET!!! ...AND YOU START A "MORE VIBRANT ECONOMY" IN THE REGION...and UNCLE SAM IS GIVING THEM A PAYCK... so you create some good feelings, etc. (this is a bit oversimplified... like not everyone (like those already highly successul get the money, etc... but I'm sure the administrative costs would be far less than the cost of the military infrastructure we have there, etc. SO WE SAVE 50 BILLION, DO GOODWILL, BREAK THE BACK OF THE TALIBAN, AND START A VIBRANT ECONOMY IN ONE OF THE POOREST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD...(too bad our leaders don't "think out of the box" ....the greedy military/industrial complex box... but guess what, THEY KNOW THIS... this method just doesn't CHANNEL MONEY TO their "arms-supplier" buddies who contribute to their campaigns...etc. (I could go on and on....) LET'S TRY "THE CARROT - INSTEAD OF THE STICK!" ... be a lot cheaper! flashrob SOME REFERENCE LINKS BELOW FOR MY COSTING, ETC. Cost of the war in the Middle East per capita income by country... divide the gross national product by the number of citizens in the country |
| how to get out of Afghanistan, knock the socks off the Taliban, save American lives, and save 50 billion a year too! |
| A DIFFERENT STRATEGY FOR AFGHANISTAN 1. First of all, I believe their is a POWER STRUCTURE that manipulates MOST MEDIA VENUES, and keeps most of the "dumbed down public" OFF THE REAL ISSUES AND "most importantly" THE WAY THESE PEOPLE AT THE TOP of the HALLS OF POWER really OPERATE. (the biz lobbying to Congress is an example of something most people ACCEPT... along with passively absorbing "a hefty dose of "products/services commercials on TV." 2. You could describe this as: Corporate America, the Military Industrial Complex, etc. I think the "bottom line" for them is PROFIT, regardless of WHO (mostly us uninformed "grunts," pays for it....). NOW HERE'S MY "thinking out of the box" STRATEGY FOR AFGHANISTAN... 1. Afghanistan is largely "open terrain" with a lot of desert. Now, that means that - UNLIKE THE VIETNAM JUNGLES - it is relatively easy to MONITOR "enemy personnel and weapons movement." Satellite surveillance, infrared at night, etc., give us the capability to FAIRLY EASILY detect ANY MASS MOVEMENT OF TROOPS OR WEAPONS. 2. So, why then are we CHASING the enemy ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, destroying cave bases or trying to discover them - and THEN THEY SUDDENLY hide their weapons and become "local villagers." Were just "spreading ourselves thin" playing "hide and seek" with the enemy. 3. The SIMPLE ANSWER IS: this is a GREAT WASTE OF: time, manpower, equipment and MONEY (money that could be better spent on "health care," building domestic things like "wind/wave power," etc. 4. Consider if we just: a. Established a line of encampments on the Pakistan border... AND WAIT FOR THEM... b. If we detect (by satellite any MASS MOVEMENT... we TAKE IT OUT WITH MISSLES, BOMBING in "open terrain" thereby NOT HAVING CIVILIAN CASUALTIES. c. Our troops are basically SET UP with corresponding AIR POWER (missiles, jets, bombing, etc.) TO TAKE OUT ANY MOVEMENT TOWARD Pakistan. d. This reduces the risk to OUR TROOPS (not chasing around in caves, and spread out thinly all over Afghanistan). Just sitting - LIKE IN A MEDIEVAL FORTRESS - waiting for them TO COME TO US! e. Virtually eliminates CIVILIAN CASUALTIES and the corresponding "political and media hoopla" about that. f. Greatly REDUCES THE COST OF OUR PRESENCE THERE, in terms of PERSONNEL, supplies, MONEY, etc. g. Prevents them from TAKING OVER PAKISTAN and their NUCLEAR CAPABILITY.... We, could probably CONCENTRATE OUR FORCES/PRESENCE in Afghanistan to a "small fraction" of what we are currently deploying there... AND FAR MORE EFFECTIVLY... we just WAIT FOR THEM TO TRY TO MOVE into Pakistan in MASS... and THEN WIPE THEM OUT... 1. greatly reducing our casualties. 2. virtually eliminating civilian casualties. 3. reducing the number of troops we need there. 4. reducing the AMOUNT OF WEAPONS WE NEED... (ask yourself WHY ARE WE CHASING SMALL GROUPS ALL OVER AFGHANISTAN, AND SPREADING OURSELVES THIN -THE ANSWER TO THAT IN A MOMENT.) NOW OUR GOVERNMENT and the people I alluded to IN THE HALLS OF POWER ARE NOT STUPID...they are very SMART. What they are doing: a. keeping the AMERICAN PUBLIC off the real issue: MAKING HUGE PROFITS IN SUPPLYING EQUIPMENT to conduct a "steady state" (the objective is to NOT END THE WAR but LET IT DRAG ON...so THEY CAN CONTINUE MAKING MONEY ON "ARMS/OTHER SUPPLIES" NEEDED TO CONDUCT A VAST AND SEEMINGLY ENDLESS MILITARY ESCAPADE. b. debating about "withdrawal timetables" is DISSEMBLING on their part... to keep their REAL MOTIVATION from BEING DISCUSSED!!! c. it's about MONEY and HOW MUCH THEY CAN "KEEP MAKING" by this war dragging on. ......................... Here's a simple point: It widely circulated in the media that it costs about 1 MILLION dollars per U.S. soldier, per year in Afghanistan... a. How much would it cost to PAY EACH OF THE TALIBAN INSURGENTS $5. A DAY. for a year. b. Limited U.S. FORCES... just a few banks... AND GUESS WHAT... do you really think THE MAJORITY OF THOSE INSURGENTS would stay HOLED UP IN CAVES or villages WHEN THEY COULD GO TO THEIR LOCAL BANK AND PICK UP THEIR "5 BUCK PER DIEM." Would you think THAT BANK, that source of their NEW FOUND EASY MONEY would be a "target of a bomb." I DON'T THINK SO.... So, get the picture I'M ROUGHLY PRESENTING here... all this BS about HOW OUR GOVERNMENT IS CONDUCTING THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN has only ONE REAL MOTIVE... how MUCH these ARMS DEALERS AND SUPPLIERS can MAKE IN THIS WAR! And it's easy: just give the American Public a "good show:" lot of "back and forth" meetings, with Congress - NOTICE HOW NOTHING SIGNIFICANT COMES OF THAT MOST OF THE TIME... well, that's because of "Lobbyists." It's ALL JUST MOSTLY: A BIG SCHEME for the "rich, powerful, and the political servants of these people" TO MAKE VAST SUMS OF MONEY... Of course, what's a few thousand "grunts" in body-bags, or permanently disabled citizens, in comparison TO THE BIG BUCKS THESE kind of people CAN MAKE... I don't want to take more of your time... and I can't cover all the issues at this time, BUT I COULD...it just is a matter of "following the money" (whose profiting, etc.) I would suggest that you get a few EX-MILITARY sympathetic strategists types TO DISCUSS some of the things I have suggested. flashrob Ps. One of the REAL REASONS WERE CHASING THE TALIBAN AROUND IN CENTRAL/NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN... is because BIG ENERGY INTERESTS want to build a "gas pipeline" across Northern Afghanistan from the "STANS" and bypass Iran, Iraq, etc...AND THEY DON'T WANT TO HAVE to CUT IN (make payments to the Afghan people... Taliban mostly). They use "phony terrorism" to get the American People to support their endeavor TO ELIMINATE those people, WHO THEY WOULD HAVE TO LET HAVE SOME CONTROL OF THE PIPELINE... AND GET A BIG PIECE OF THEIR "GREEDY ENERGY WEALTH PROFITS." And they DON'T WANT TO GIVE THE AFGHANS A "CUT!" SO... WIPE THEM OUT INSTEAD is what they are doing... see how it REALLY WORKS AND, THE TYPE OF THING REALLY GOING ON... we need to REVAMP OUR COUNTRY ... get the garbage out of CONGRESS AND WALL ST... |