Kabul madhouse

[BushMasterBoy]

I just wonder when the next Islamic radical terrorist attack in the US will be?

[Rooskibar03]

Meanwhile....

[Martinjmpr]

besides all the topics discussed,
there goes the world supplies of iron, copper, cobalt, gold,chromium.

Why? Those minerals are still valuable aren't they?

We'll just buy them from a different group of assholes than we used to. No skin off our nose.

Also there's lots of iron and copper right here in the USA. So to the extent that this might affect the market for valuable minerals, it will help us as much as it will hurt us.

[hollohas]

Pentagon saying 640 on a C17. I don't believe it. 800, no way.

Here's the pic...

[Rooskibar03]

Notice how there are at least 2 or 3 men for every woman or child in that photo.

[Danimal]

And again what do we gain?

Germany was occupied to hold back a legitimate threat in the soviet union.

And without sounding racist, America was founded and built by european immigrants so we had an interest in rebuilding our old country. Europe is equal in values, civilization and religion. Afghanistan... not so much. There is no historic or emotional tie to them.

The main thing that we had to gain was a stable presence in a region that is spiraling into instability. The Taliban is now back in charge, and they have a modern outfitted military trained by us of about 300k people it will be a very different story in the region. Granted they will probably brutally kill about half of them and slaughter their families for working with us. I am not saying we are going to gain much at all by staying but I believe we have a lot to lose by leaving. Just because something has a cost and does not return money does not mean that it does not have value. I will make a prediction that in just a few years another threat similar to ISIS will emerge, they will be armed and trained around Afghanistan and they will be carrying the weapons we left behind. They will be bankrolled by Russia and China and will inflict damage on a much broader scale than Bin Laden was capable of. I am not talking about large scale attacks, I am talking strategic assassination's, attacks that are designed to change the way we live.

The alternative was to help a country remain stable enough to establish a way of life that they would be willing to fight for. The Taliban moved as fast as they did because they knew that eventually if the population was allowed to have hope and a normal life that they would die to protect it. They moved as fast as humanly possible to prevent any chance at hope because that is really the only thing that could have defeated their ideology. We declared a war on terrorism, a war on their ideology and that is not something that you can buy or bomb your way to victory. The only way we would ever be able to win would be to establish a population of people that had hope for their future.

[Bailey Guns]

Pentagon saying 640 on a C17. I don't believe it. 800, no way.

Seemed like a high number to me, too. But there's a recording of an air controller talking to the pilot who tells the controller he (or she) has 800 people on board. If the number was later revised down, different story. 640 is still a lot, even though it's been done before.

ETA: The story I quoted above has now said the revised number is 640.

[Rucker61]

Pentagon saying 640 on a C17. I don't believe it. 800, no way.

Boeing's record was 1100 on a 747.

[Irving]

Boeing's record was 1100 on a 747.

Hell of a Christmas party...

[brutal]

Boeing's record was 1100 on a 747.

1102 if you count the wheel hangers.