After finally watching the "debate" transcript...

[Guest Cerebus]

Despite the fact that Kerry "won" the debate, he said a shitload of things during the debate that were beyond the realm of stupid. One of the biggest (almost outdoing his Iran fissle material thing) is this:

 

KERRY: Unfortunately, [bin Laden] escaped in the mountains of Tora Bora. We had him surrounded. But we didn't use American forces, the best trained in the world, to go kill him. The President relied on Afghan warlords and he outsourced that job too. That's wrong.

 

Oh really. I wonder what Lieutenant Kerry (who, according to rumors, was in Vietnam) would have done.

 

Presumably, he would have used American military forces, instead of “outsourcing” the effort to local warlords. But what forces where available in theater at the time? The first large contingent of conventional forces in Afghanistan, a brigade of 1,000 US Marines, arrived at an airstrip near Kandahar on November 25, 2001. That didn’t fall to anti-Taliban forces until December 7.

 

The only other US forces in Afghanistan at the time were Special Forces, and CIA paramilitaries. They trained the various militias into a coherent force to defeat the Taliban, and call in air strikes as required. It was this combination that had already driven the Taliban from the strategic city of Mazar-e-Sharif, the airbase at Bagram, and the capital Kabul.

 

The only US military on the ground at Tora Bora was a contingent of about two dozen Special Forces who were airlifted in to the area on December 2. Their mission was to coordinate the ground attack and to “laze” targets for US bombers. There is no way that these men could have taken Tora Bora without assistance – And the Marines in Kandahar already had their hands full. In any event, Tora Bora was completely overrun by December 12, by our "outsourced" friends, but not before the al Qaeda leadership escaped to Pakistan.

 

Because of this plan, by the time those first Marines arrived, the Taliban had already been largely defeated. “Outsourcing” the war in Afghanistan was not Bush’s idea. It was the Pentagon and the CIA that came up with this plan. But President Bush did approve it, and it worked.

 

The only military alternative to this plan would have been a massive invasion of Afghanistan with several divisions. These divisions would have had to get to Afghanistan by coming ashore in Pakistan and driving through the ungoverned Tribal Areas, where the Pakistani army wouldn’t even go. In any event, it would have taken several more months for these forces to arrive in theater – plenty of time for the terrorists to dig in.

 

Does anyone see any problems with this plan? It seems to me that the Russians tried this approach a while back, and the British before them. Look how well it worked for them. I'm hardly the biggest Bush supporter, but he approved of a plan that worked.

 

Presented with the same options, would Kerry have made the right decision? Judging from his remarks last night, I’d have to say “no.”

 

Edit: The title is supposed to be reading the "debate" transcript. I'm just an idiot.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Quit questioning his patriotism...

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

I thought that statement was about 3rd of 4th on his list of stupid things he said. The global test and the not trusting the U.S. with nuclear bunker busters while saying we should be providing Iran with nuclear stuff was higher on my list of things.

 

I give him credit though, he only mentioned Vietnam about 5 times during the debate.