Closing Guantanamo by January, 2010?

"A total of 13 detainees have left Guantánamo since Obama took office. Six were resettled in Bermuda, Britain and France, not their native countries; five went to their homelands of Chad, Iraq and Saudi Arabia; and a Yemeni went home dead, an apparent suicide victim. The 13th went to New York for trial as an al Qaeda co-conspirator. About 230 remain."

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/1167861.html

That leaves Obama with 6 months in which to get rid of the other 230 Guantanamo detainees.

Will Obama do it right (and not keep to his self imposed promised deadline) or do it fast (and possibly release dangerous terrorists)?

Christians killed in Pakistan

"An angry mob of Muslims on Saturday killed six Christians and wounded dozens after burning 40 houses and a church over the alleged desecration of the Koran in a remote Pakistani town, officials said. . . . "Six Christians including a child were killed and more than a dozen were injured in this sad incident," Shahbaz Bhatti, federal minister of minorities told AFP by telephone, saying they were attacked by "a group of people. "Some people blamed the Christians for the desecration of the holy Koran," he said adding that the accusations were "baseless"."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090801/wl_afp/pakistanunrestreligion

We're taking sides in wars in which there are no good sides.

Afghanistan: Nine NATO troops killed so far in August

Today is August 2.

"Militants in eastern Afghanistan attacked U.S. forces with gunfire Sunday after a roadside bomb hit their convoy. Three American troops died in the attack, officials said. . . . The three U.S. deaths Sunday bring to nine the number of NATO troops killed already this month, after six NATO troops died on Saturday. Six of the nine were American. Last month, 74 foreign troops were killed, including 43 Americans."

http://www.miamiherald.com/691/story/1167155.html

More deaths in Afghanistan

"Militants in eastern Afghanistan attacked U.S. forces with gunfire Sunday after a roadside bomb hit their convoy. Three American troops died in the attack, officials said. July was the deadliest month for international troops since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, but August has gotten off to a lethal start."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-08-01-afghanistan_N.htm?csp=34

What happened to all the anti war protesters? Are misguided wars led by Obama too cool to protest?

The lesson of cash for clunkers?

"The federal government suspended its "cash for clunkers" program at midnight Thursday after less than four days in business, telling Congress that the plan would burn through its $950 million budget for new-car purchases."

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/top-stories/story/1165059.html

The most effective and successful immediate stimulus so far was not part of the stimulus bill, and did not set up a new government bureaucracy. Rather, "cash for clunkers" simply returns big chunks of money to taxpayers on the condition that they spend it immediately. Will anyone in Washington learn this lesson?

Another lesson of history ignored

"Village leaders in a former Taliban stronghold are rebuilding their own militia to protect the area from militants holding out in nearby hills after fleeing the Pakistani army's offensive last spring. The military operation in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas is winding down, but sporadic fighting persists — a sign that the Taliban have not given up. Locals say Taliban fighters are hiding in the hills outside Sultanwas, a village pulverized by air strikes and tanks during Pakistan's offensive. So villagers are leaving nothing to chance: They have reorganized their own militia and say they are talking to nearby villages to join forces."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-as-pakistan-militia,1,4869638.story

When we withdraw from the region, the lives of these villagers will be endangered due to their service in pro-American militias.

As at the end of every other third world conflict into which we've stuck our nose, we will be morally obligated to take these villagers home with us.

Say hello to your new neighbors.

What's our goal in Afghanistan?

"The Taliban in Afghanistan warned on Thursday they would attempt to derail next month’s presidential election, calling on Afghans to boycott the poll and urging them to “join the trenches of jihad”. Afghan and foreign troops are battling a growing Taliban-led insurgency across Afghanistan, with attacks escalating after thousands of US and British troops launched major operations in southern Helmand province this month. The increased violence coincides with campaigning for the August 20 poll, the second direct vote for president since the fall of the Taliban in 2001."

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C07%5C31%5Cstory_31-7-2009_pg20_1

We invaded Afghanistan to capture and punish the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11/01.

Now, almost 8 years later, we're still there, increasing our presence, and serving as armed election monitors (of an election that will be won by racist, sexist, theocratic anti-democratic religious fundamentalists).

Why do we have any interest in any of that?