In Christian Metaphysics there is an axiom: You are only as close to God as you are to the person you hold at the farthest distance. Sit with that for a while and it will work on you.

But yes, Liz Cheney seems to, quite seriously, be lacking some conductor in her reasoning capacity and she just insists on drawing attention to it every time she opens her mouth. Or maybe she just never got past being Daddy’s little girl so she can’t stand the idea that if she stops promotion his point of view he might turn out to be irrevocably wrong. Who knows…

And Obama has only been fiddling in Kabul now for 10 months. Bush and Cheney fiddled there for 7 years. Afghanistan is just one of many fiascos they dumped on Obama’s plate.

And how many American soldiers died in Afghanistan on the Republican watch because of Republican incompetence? Not to mention the thousands who died in Iraq, right?

Here, let me introduce you to what really motivates America in Kabul:

Colin Miller from the Webdiary web site [9/24/09]:

Initially the Taliban enjoyed the support of Bill Clinton’s administration for a campaign against Iran, but the most strategically important goal was to secure the region’s oil and gas. In 1996-98 the US government supported the (US) Unocal oil company’s plans for a pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan.

What was support (or indifference) toward the Taliban in the Clinton years, has turned to antagonism and a goal of elimination, whatever the cost, today. So many near neighbours have meddled in Afghanistan’s affairs over decades – notably Pakistan and Russia, and to a lesser degree Iran and Saudi Arabia – that the region has rarely been free of conflict. And never more so than now, with the resurgent Taliban being fought vigorously with the stakes raised to dizzying heights in the interests of oil, and oil interests.

Prior to September 11, United States’ policy toward the Taliban was largely influenced by oil. In their book, Ben Laden, la verite interdite, 2002, (Bin Laden, the forbidden truth), former French intelligence officer Jean-Charles Brisard and journalist Guillaume Dasquie document the “oil” connection between George W. Bush and the Taliban.

The United States’ dependence on Middle East, and soon Central Asian, oil and gas has led the US government to intervene militarily under a variety of pretexts, which change to suit the domestic political mood at any given time. The development of a coherent U.S. energy policy would obviate the real (or perceived) need to dominate other countries.

There is a very very good reason that Cheney does not talk to Rachel Maddow. Rachel is always cordial and courteous but she is blunt and she will not let revisionism go unchallenged. So, I will make a point of being home when Liz Cheney got to the mat on that, but I won’t hold my breath in anticipation.

And it is fucking hilarious (even more so than the asinine notion that you can give your kids to the military) that anyone would even mention deferment for her three daughters (or her sons for that matter). FEMALES ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR SELECTIVE SERVICE, thus the whole notion of a deferment is absolutely silly. Of course it is silly when discussing her sons as well, because the US won’t be reinstituting the draft anytime soon.

Some of you people are so fucking ignorant it is amazing you know how to type a damn sentence.

The people trying to use history as some sort of argument against getting involved in Afghanistan are ignorant morons. Today’s Taliban doesn’t have the support of the majority of the population as their precursors did after THE SOVIETS INVADED. There is no comparison to the current situation. The Taliban now is not being funded with billiions and billions and being provided with high-tech weaponry by the US like the Afghani fighters were during the Soviet occupation. The Soviets lost thousands and thousands of troop. The casualty figures for the US are nowher near as high. Furthermore, the US has NATO aid, and the Taliban does not have the support of the population; in fact, the Taliban is hated in large portions of the country.

There is absolutely no historical similarity between the current situation in Afghanistan and the situation that existed there from 1979-1989. Anyone who claims there is an ignorant idiot.

She has 3 daughters and 2 sons. When the time comes, will she give children to the military? Or will she get them deferred like their infamous grandfather.

Check history Liz. No Country has “won” in Afghanistan ever, though many have tried.