Interesting article by a Ga. congressman

  OK, I’ll take a break from talking about the weird hidden sex lives of “family values” conservatives to call your attention to this very interesting link to a story written by Ga. Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Macon) about his recent trip to Afghanistan.

I offer this not as any kind of political statement or endorsement of Marshall or any of his policies, but just because his diary is actually quite informative about how things are going on the ground there. Marshall is a Vietnam-era former Army Ranger, and spent his time in Afghanistan with Special Forces troops. His writing, though untutored, is direct and to the point and largely apolitical.

The money quote:

“Our world is growing smaller while the technology of violence develops at warp speed. Robert Wright calls it the growing lethality of hatred. Much or most of the globe survives on less than two dollars a day. The global economy is essentially unregulated and apt to cause momentous disruptions. Many worry daily of global pandemics, climate change and other forces. We evidently have not reached Fukuyama’s The End of History. Angry young men (mostly) will continue to passionately pursue righting wrongs or advancing some zealous cause, often religious. Some portion of them will war against the developed world. It won’t take many to do tremendous damage unless the world is well organized to stop them. We aren’t now. A conventional defense approach simply won’t do.”

Marshall has a good grasp of history. He cites Alexander the Great’s army as the only one meeting success in occupying the mountainous regions of Afghanistan. Marshall says that the only way for invading armies to get this kind of success is to be utterly ruthless, as Alexander was. As Marshall says, obviously in a modern world it’s neither practical nor morally sound for the United States to indulge in that kind of ruthlessness. Therefore, we need to retool.

Marshall doesn’t say it, but I will: Nothing will change until Bush and Cheney are gone. That’s the first step for anything good to happen for our country.

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