The Fruits Of Our Labor

March 2, 2012 by Bob Livingston



On Oct. 7, 2001, the U.S. military began operations in Afghanistan in retaliation for the Sept. 11, 2001 airliner hijackings and attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon and another undetermined location in Washington, D.C.

The goals stated by President George W. Bush at the time were retaliation against al-Qaida for the attacks, the removal of the Taliban theocracy that ruled most of the country and provided safe haven to al-Qaida, and to bring “justice” to the reported mastermind of the attacks, Osama bin Laden.

It’s now been 10½ years and al-Qaida is decimated and all but gone, the Taliban has been removed from power and the Barack Obama Administration is negotiating with Taliban leader Mullah Omar to end the conflict, bin Laden is reportedly dead (for the sixth or seventh time), 1,908 U.S. military personnel are dead from the conflict and the U.S. has spent more than $506 billion.

Are the Afghan people grateful? Apparently not.

Yesterday morning, two American soldiers and one American citizen working as a teacher were killed in separate shootings, supposedly in retaliation for the burning of a few copies of the Koran or the Quran or whatever they call that filthy, hate-filled screed they consider a holy book.

That brings the total of Americans killed over the incident to six, despite numerous groveling apologies by Obama and his underlings. More than 30 Afghans have also been killed in six days of violent riots over the incident.

I have to ask: Why are we still there?

Oh, I know why we’re there, and it’s not what most of you think. We’re not there to nation-build. We’re not there to fight terrorism. Look at a world map, find Afghanistan, think of the big picture and you’ll know why we’re still there.

But I wonder how much longer it will be before the American people are tired of the fighting and dying and throwing away of American dollars, ostensibly, to bring democracy and civilization to a backward, uncivilized, barbaric society that will resume killing one another once the common enemy — America — is gone, a society that believes killing innocents is an acceptable response to destroying a few books.

It appears it’s going to be at least four more years, because the purported front-runners for President — Obama on the Democratic side and either Romney or Santorum on the Republican side — have made it quite clear they intend to expand empire America and continue the wars to establish U.S. hegemony over the entirety of the North Africa /Persian Gulf region.

Our labor in that area has borne a rotten and extremely expensive fruit. How much longer will the American people be content to continue to till that ground before rising up and demanding an end to it?

The Fruits Of Our Labor : Personal Liberty Alerts=