Marine Gunned Down by Afghan Soldier

[LongBlade]

I'd love to see us remake their culture in our image but I don't know how we'll do that without occupying them.

[pawelj]

I'd love to see us remake their culture in our image but I don't know how we'll do that without occupying them.

To reuse my old house analogy again.
If you want to rebuild a house from the ground up, you need to demolish it first. Not enough "demolition" done in Afghanistan.
For examples of successful demolition projects look at Japan, Germany.

[LongBlade]

I'd love to see us remake their culture in our image but I don't know how we'll do that without occupying them.

To reuse my old house analogy again.
If you want to rebuild a house from the ground up, you need to demolish it first. Not enough "demolition" done in Afghanistan.
For examples of successful demolition projects look at Japan, Germany.

Oh, I understand that. The problem is that Afghanistan is already a stone age culture, so bombing them back any further is a problem.

[Gusington]

We could break their bigger rocks into smaller rocks.

[Centurion40]

There is nothing that we can do except stay away.  If they were cockroaches, we could try a campaign of extermination.  But they are human beings, so that option does not exist.  And back in the days when attempted genocide was in vogue, the exterminators were unsuccessful in eradicating the problem.

[pawelj]

I'd love to see us remake their culture in our image but I don't know how we'll do that without occupying them.

To reuse my old house analogy again.
If you want to rebuild a house from the ground up, you need to demolish it first. Not enough "demolition" done in Afghanistan.
For examples of successful demolition projects look at Japan, Germany.

Oh, I understand that. The problem is that Afghanistan is already a stone age culture, so bombing them back any further is a problem.

It's not just about bombing. It's about replacing social and cultural structures. In Afghanistan we let them recreate a Taliban-light society.
We should have dictated the constitution for starters as we did in Japan, Mac Arthur style.

[Gusington]

Another problem is that there is zero history of any kind of Western style political freedoms.

Constitution? Thanks. Can we have 1 billion copies to use as toilet paper please? Thanks.

Actually they probably don't know WTF toilet paper is either.

[pawelj]

Another problem is that there is zero history of any kind of Western style political freedoms.

Constitution? Thanks. Can we have 1 billion copies to use as toilet paper please? Thanks.

Actually they probably don't know WTF toilet paper is either.

Constitution is a start and lets us know who is who over there, by their attitude to it.

[Gusington]

We know who is over there. And the past 11 years give a good cross-section of their attitude toward everything. There is no easy solution here.

[pawelj]

We know who is over there. And the past 11 years give a good cross-section of their attitude toward everything. There is no easy solution here.

Maybe some do, but judging by the outburst from gen. Dempsey this morning, I have serious doubts.