Quotes of the Morning: Making the Beast with Two Fronts

“And finally, I do want to congratulate you on the joint jirga that's coming up. This is a meeting between President Karzai, President Musharraf and representative elements from parts of their respective countries, all coming together to talk about reconciliation and how we can work together -- how you can work together to achieve common solutions to problems. And the main problem is to fight extremism, to recognize that history has called us into action. And by fighting extremists and radicals, we help people realize dreams. And helping people realize dreams helps promote peace. That's what we want.”
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, August 6, 2007

“Noooooooo!….. I feel like I’m watching that slow-motion scene that seems to happen in every action movie. You know.. The one where the grenade or bomb or whatever is exploding and the hero is running away at full speed in slow-motion. You would think that, after all of these years in office, Fearless Leader would have learned not to say anything optimistic about any future event that he has any influence over, but he just never learns.
Well.. Let’s get on with it.”
-Skippy

“On Monday, President Bush said after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Camp David retreat that the U.S. would strike at Al Qaeda figures inside Pakistan if it had solid intelligence about their whereabouts, but did not say whether Pakistan would be consulted.”
-LA Times, August 8, 2007

“..and so..”
-Skippy

“Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pulled out Wednesday from a council of hundreds of Pakistani and Afghan tribal leaders aimed at reining in militant violence.
Pakistan's Foreign Office said Musharraf was canceling his trip to Kabul because of ‘engagements’ in Islamabad. Pakistani political analyst Talat Masood said, however, that Musharraf probably was responding to recent U.S. criticism of Pakistan's counterterrorism efforts, which has included suggestions that the U.S. could carry out unilateral military strikes against al-Qaida in Pakistan.”
-Associated Press, August 8, 2007

“Don’t worry though.. Much of the discussion was to be about how to deal with the Taliban and their resurgence in Afghanistan, and that is no longer an issue..”
-Skippy

“Afghanistan's leader, Hamid Karzai, dismissed the Taliban as ‘defeated’ yesterday, saying the doctrinaire Islamic insurgency poses no threat to his government and has been reduced to terrorizing ordinary Afghans.
Despite the insurgency still raging across much of southern Afghanistan and the more than 40,000 foreign troops currently waging war against them, President Karzai said the Taliban is ‘a force that's defeated. It's a force that is frustrated. It's a force that is acting in cowardice by killing children going to school.’"
-Globe and Mail (Canada), August 7, 2007

“Defeated! No longer an issue! Karzai is in control and everything is going just swimmingly.”
-Skippy

“Despite his strong Western backing, Karzai has been the target of three assassination attempts and has struggled to build a robust central government amid longstanding tribal rifts and strong warlord control in the provinces.
The resurgence of the Taliban has led to the worst violence in Afghanistan since 2001, particularly over the last 18 months.
One issue Karzai wants to raise with Bush is his concern about a rise in deaths of civilians killed in airstrikes by U.S. and NATO-led forces aiming at the Taliban.”
-Reuters, August 6, 2007

“Hmm.. Can we spin this..”
-Skippy

“After a two-day Camp David meeting with the Afghan President, President George W Bush put a positive spin on Afghanistan's progress.
But both the leaders stressed that serious problems remain.
The two held talks on a rash of crises confronting Afghanistan civilian killings, a booming drug trade and the brazen resurgence of the Taliban. ‘
'There is still work to be done, don't get me wrong, but progress is being made, Mr President, and we're proud of you,’ Bush told reporters at a joint news conference.
The Afghan leader warned that it could take time to remove narcotics from his country and it was possible with the help of Washington.”
-Associated Press, August 7, 2007

“Yes, it might take a little time to get rid of the drugs.”
-Skippy

“Afghanistan now produces more than 90 percent of the world's heroin. Illicit narcotics trafficking spiked since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in late 2001, and the drug trade is helping fund and fuel the Taliban resurgence. Drug production and violence are particularly out of control in the volatile south, where, Schweich said, ‘We see a deteriorating situation, and we need to get it under control.’
Afghan heroin has been making its way into the American Midwest, particularly Chicago and St. Louis, sparking a sharp rise in fatal overdoses. The purity of the powdery-white heroin, and the fact that it can be inhaled, without requiring a needle for injection, has led to its growing use by suburban youngsters, local police and health officials say.
American military forces in Afghanistan were reluctant to get involved in the drug war, for fear of driving impoverished farmers into the arms of the Taliban. Now, Schweich said, U.S., NATO and Afghan security forces will focus more strongly than before on poppy production and heroin trafficking.”
-Post-Dispatch (St. Lous), August 9, 2007

“We needed to move our troops from Afghanistan to Iraq in order to deal with the danger of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction (and ‘cause he tried to kill Fearless Leader’s dad), so now we can deal with the War on Terror on both fronts (soon to be three if Big Dick gets his way and attacks Iran). Don’t you feel safer?”
-Skippy