"I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur." -- Barack Obama
"Blast Hits Afghan Capital Shortly After Hagel Arrives," by Alissa J. Rubin for the New York Times, March 9 (thanks to Lookmann):
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber wearing a vest bomb struck outside the Afghan defense ministry on Saturday, killing at least 10 people in a blast just hours after Chuck Hagel, the new United States defense secretary, arrived here in Kabul.And a short time later, another suicide bomber detonated his explosive in eastern Afghanistan before reaching his target, but killed eight children and a policeman, according to Afghan military and hospital officials.
Although Mr. Hagel was not near the site of either blast, the episodes with their combined death toll of 18 in a single day appeared timed to coincide with his visit. The attacks in the heavily secured capital and in a more remote area of the country highlighted how Afghanistan remained vulnerable to attacks by the insurgency despite nearly 12 years of international efforts to stabilize it.
The attack in eastern Afghanistan occurred in Khost Province, and the bomber was stopped from doing more harm by a policeman who died as he tried to stop the bomber.
“One of our brave police officers hugged the suicide bomber and asked him not to blow himself up, but the bomber blew himself up anyway and our brave police officer was torn to pieces,” said Yaqub Mandozia, deputy police chief of Khost Province.
In Kabul, the defense ministry said that in addition to the 10 people killed at the ministry, who included two Afghan soldiers, 14 others were wounded.
Less than three hours earlier 20 journalists had gathered at the exact location of the explosion at the ministry’s gate to board a bus scheduled to take them to a ceremony in observance of the transfer of Bagram Prison to the Afghan government. At the last minute the trip was canceled even though it had been widely promoted a few days earlier.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack at the ministry in Kabul. Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman for northern and eastern Afghanistan, said the bomber was from Kandahar, and that the intention “is to send a message to the visiting American defense minister.” He denied that any civilians had been killed or wounded.
The Taliban have pledged repeatedly not to harm civilians, but according to the most recent United Nations report on civilian casualties the Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for 81 percent of the 2,754 civilian deaths and injuries in the Afghan conflict in 2012.
Of those killed and wounded, four worked for the ministry. Two of the dead were Afghan National Army officers as were two of the wounded, said Dr. Musa Wardak, the head of the military hospital in Kabul, which received most of the bodies. Among the 10 people killed were also a woman and a child, Dr. Wardak said.
The explosion, which was followed by heavy gunfire, occurred just as Kabul residents were going to work and streets were busy with people on foot, motorcycles and in cars....
RSS Feed
Dear Barack Obama,
The word "victory" has gained a new connotation for us in the 21st Century. It no longer is invoked by powerful images such as Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur.
No, Barack Obama, "victory" now has a less certain connotation. Its outcome is obscured. Its images are shielded from public view. Victory as used to be known is even shunned and only grudgingly accepted.
This is because victory against the Islamic supremacists is deemed politically incorrect.
It is politically incorrect to name your enemy. It is politically incorrect to discuss what they believe and stand for. It is politically incorrect to point out the texts from which they openly draw inspiration and from which they quote as they commit atrocity after atrocity. And those who do point out the obvious and advise that we take the jihadist Islamic supremacists at their word and deal with them in terms with which they will understand, are condemned, shunned, vilified.
How is it, Barack Obama, that one can ever achieve victory under such circumstances? How could the allies of WW2 have achieved victory if nobody was ever allowed to name the enemy? Or to publicly discuss what the enemy believed? To publicly discuss what their own stated motivations and goals were? Indeed, if the very government of the United States never openly acknowledged such things as they did in WW2? And worse, the United States government's intelligence service has barred from naming or discussing such things?
Has it never occurred to you, Barack Obama, that you and your illogical politically correct policies have ensured that any form of victory is impossible? Or maybe it has occurred to you. More than occurred to you.
However, if we want to see what the new Victory looks like today, we need look no further than to the Islamic supremacists who have seized power in the wake of the so-called "Arab spring". They have absolute, unshakeable victory. Millions enslaved under sharia law. Women as cattle. Religious minorities under public attack. Any elections from now on nothing more than public jokes like in Iran. And they will never, ever be dislodged from their stranglehold.
Victory today has a grim face. It is achieved by deception and corruption and outright evil -- enabled by self-delusion and political correctness. And undercover agendas.
In fact, Barack Obama, you know very well what Victory looks like today, don't you? Sure you do.
Abraham_Lincoln