Afghanistan: The Fools Errand Continues As Does the Betrayal of Our Troops

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The United States has expended billions of dollars and squandered thousands of young American lives in the doomed from the outset fiasco in Afghanistan.  Anyone other than the cretinous George W. Bush and the war mad Emperor Palpatine Cheney could have predicted the outcome of America's fool's errand given the last 2,000+ years of Afghan history.  But, no, the Chimperator and his malevolent Vice President were more concerned in fighting a religious crusade and enriching defense contractors like Halliburton than look out for America's true interests.  And what do we have to show for the wasted billions and lives?  One of the most corrupt and incompetent nations on earth.  At least that is the finding of Transparency International which has just released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index.  How bad are things in Afghanistan?  It is tied with Somalia and North Korea as the most corrupt nation in the world.  Here's a sampling of some of the findings via the Washington Post:

Afghanistan ranks as one of the most corrupt countries, and it seems bribes and fraud permeate nearly every level of life there. One Afghan in seven paid a bribe in 2010, and the average bribe is equal to one third of the average Afghan salary. A recent report found that high-level political interference and institutional failures thwarted efforts to probe the 2010 collapse of Afghanistan’s Kabul Bank, recover hundreds of millions of dollars from fraudulent loans and prosecute the people who profited, the Washington Post’s Pamela Constable reported. The Transparency International authors concluded last year, ”Corruption, weak institutions and a lack of economic development pose a fatal threat to the viability of Afghanistan,” and it seems the situation this year is sadly no different.

As for the "progress" that senior military leaders claim to be making, UPI has this:

KHOST, Afghanistan, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Taliban militants in Afghanistan's Khost province ambushed a convoy of NATO-led coalition security forces and claimed to have killed nine NATO troops.

Local authorities confirmed that the incident took place, but have denied that there were any casualties, Khaama Press reported Saturday.  No other information on the incident was released.

Based on the experience of how information was kept under wraps when my son-in-law was badly wounded in Afghanistan last month, I am sure no account of the incident will be released until the military brass decides how to best spin yet another failure in security.  Meanwhile two more Americans have lost their lives for nothing:
  

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. 

They died Dec. 3, in Lashkar Gah City, Helmand province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 818th Engineer Company, 164th Engineer Battalion, Williston, N.D. 

Killed were:Sgt. 1st Class. Darren M. Linde, 41, of Sidney, Mont., andSpc. Tyler J. Orgaard, 20, of Bismarck, N.D.

Americans and politicians who really support our troops should be demanding that we withdraw completely from Afghanistan NOW.