Could this be the plan?

“Listening to the news, I am begining to think that a plan is emerging amd "trial balloons" are being sent up... I assume its being promoted by someone in the Bush administration. Sure this is based half on careful listening and half on intuition. But before you suspect me of paranoid Bush bashing let me say that, at first glance, it seems like a good plan. Now I never even took a course on foreign policy, so fellow non-experts (or is there an expert lurking) take a look. BTW: I reserve the right to anounce that I was entirely wrong about any or all of this post:

I think the strategy that is now emerging for Afghanistan may lead to this:

1) Allow the deposed king, and a convention of whatever credible and agreeable Afghani leaders are available (an assembly of "elders")to set up a plan for an interim government.

2) Pressure the Northern Alliance or willing elements of the Alliance to agree to recognize the leadership of the king and the leadership committee.

3) Through Pakistan and any other means of leverage, get as many elements of the Taliban (many members are upset with Bin Laden and his foreign/Arab crew)to join the coalition or be prepared to when the coalition finally makes its move.

4) Totally isolate the Taliban which stays with the current government and Bin Laden (nearly completed already: Right now Pakistan is the only government which recognizes the Taliban (the US got the UAR and the Saudis to rescind their recognition)

5) Gain international legitimacy for the King's coalition.

6) Use US military force and the threat of the force to:

a) Keep the pressure on, so that coalition parties will have the incentive of saving Afghanistan from an all out US invasion as well as from chaos and the Taliban.

b) Pick off Bin Laden and or his key allies when an opportunity emerges.

c) Support, arm and protect the military forces which back the coalition.

d) Attack key military targets and elements.

e) Act in more aggressive ways when and if needed to accomplish the central aim of assisting the new regime and give it a chance to take power.

Judging from the news I hear, its clear to me that some people are preparing for something along these lines. In order to pull it off, there may need to be a credible threat of an all out US assault (invasion and/or massive bombing campaign).

The US would be prepared to provide major aid and friendship to the new government and would expect to get access to all the Bin Laden boys and a chance to make sure "All his bases are belong to US" (i.e. investigate and explore all the Al Qeda bases).

I am not military expert either, but this looks probable and pretty reasonable to me. What d'yall think?”

“the answer is a hearty 'who cares'????????? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha”

“Afghanistan ain't France.”

“Send Jesse Jackson to Afghanastan with copies of Playboy so he can convert the Muslims into other religions. Maybe he could bring his love child to really impress them.”

“THE PLAN
In the beginning there was a plan.
And then came the Assumptions.
And the Assumptions were without form and the Plan was completely without substance and the darkness was upon the face of the workers and they spoke among themselves, saying "It is a crock of sh!t, and it stinketh to high heaven."

And the workers went unto their Supervisors and sayeth, "It is a pail of dung and none may abide the odor thereof." And the Supervisors went unto their Managers and sayeth unto them, "It is a container of excrement and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it."

And the Managers went unto their Directors and sayeth, "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength." And the Directors spoke amongst themselves, saying one to another, "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong." And the directors went unto the Vice Presidents and sayeth unto them, "It promotes growth and is very powerful."

And the Vice Presidents went unto the President and sayeth unto him, "This new plan will actively promote the growth and efficiency of this Company, and these areas in particular."

And the President looked upon The Plan,
And saw that it was good, and The Plan became Company Policy.
This is how sh!t happens.”

“Back in the day...in Japan (if I recall correctly). The General (japanese) would set up a tent outside the encampment of his enemy (which his troops had layed seige too). On the first night the tent was white...He would grant surrender to all who gave up by dawn. Day two, a black tent...women and children would be saved if a surrender occured. Day three, a red tent...no quarter would be given.

Pedxing...very thorough list. I PRAY it goes that smoothly. I wonder what color OUR tent is, and what color THEIRS is.”

“The Taliban do not have red or white tents. We will see the heads of US Servicemen on pikes before this is over with. Mutilation of captured enemies is considered a fair play with these zealots.”

“Bacpac, that is what scares the crap outta me. I just wonder what type of conflict we are going to enter. I am for military action. I just don't want to see the US get all squeamish when this thing inevitably gets ugly and we start shipping body bags...home. If/When we send our soldiers to kill we better not hamstring them with dangerous R.O.E. Let them do what they were trained for,to kill people and to break stuff.War is an awful ugly beast.”

“Ah yes! More retarded US foreign policy. Let's impose our arrogant US plans on another Arab country... do we learn nothing from the Shah of Iran case? Apparently not.”

“IMHO: If this is what happens, the real test may be in how much control the US tries to have over the new Afghanistan. If the US stays too involved (propping up the government or controlling it) there will just be more problems and things will get worse.

When Israel invaded Lebanon to get rid of the PLO, it looked for a moment to be a bold and brilliant mood. Most of the Lebanese were fed up with having so many armed Palestinians running around Lebanon. Many cheered the Israeli tanks. Had the Israelis left after the PLO fighters sailed away from Beirut, they would have been better off. But as it was, Ariel Sharon and the Israeli army stayed there tried to be a power broker and tried to create a fifedom first in all of Lebanon and then in Southern Lebanon. He also took moves to get the Palestinian refugee camps out of Lebanon that involved severe atrocities. Ultimately this turned the invasion into a disaster: Israel made new enemies who were at least as fierce, dedicated and powerful as the PLO.

The US needs to learn from that mistake. A liberated Afghanistan needs to be a free country which chooses its own future... so long as the terrorist networks are dismantled.”

“Does spock ever have an orginal thought? Constant whining about what is wrong with the world, but no viable suggestions for an alternative plan? I keep trying to find a valid point to discuss in his posts, but they are like whimpers of a spoiled child.

I can't tell if he is suggesting we are all fat lazy red necks and therefore deserve terrorism or that he is rubber and we are glue.”

“What do we know about this king? Was he loved? Is he bright? How conservative is he?”

“I bet the king is better than the Talibahn.”

“Supposedly, Afghanistan was an OK place until about 30 years ago when a relative deposed him while he was out of the country taking a cure. Evidently Afghani's do look at him as source of stability.
I believe people are talking about him being a catalyst for the formation of a new government and being a "constitutional monarch" like Queen Elizabeth of France or Juan Carlos of Spain. Juan Carlos played a very positive role in developing and protecting Spain's democracy after Franco died.”

“From todays news:

On the king and the plan”

“bacpac, there is saying that goes something like "great men discuss ideas, average men discuss events, stupid men gossip about others.' Get a life, bacpac. You do nothing constructive complaining about me. Maybe you could come up with another intelligent thread about D### Munching crack babies.”

“bacpac, there is saying that goes something like "great men discuss ideas, average men discuss events, stupid men gossip about others.' Get a life, bacpac. You do nothing constructive complaining about me. Maybe you could come up with another intelligent thread about D### Munching crack babies.”

“bacpac, there is saying that goes something like "great men discuss ideas, average men discuss events, stupid men gossip about others.' Get a life, bacpac. You do nothing constructive complaining about me. Maybe you could come up with another intelligent thread about D### Munching crack babies.”

“I heard you the first time brainiac.”

“Visiting in Seoul today...different computer that's slow or sticks.”

“Of course. It is the computer's fault. Those electrons get confused in the Korean/English translation.

Good Grief”

“¤Ð¤±ÃÀ¤º, ¤Ë¤À¤Å ³àÂ÷”

“So what time is it over in Korea?”

“almost 1 in the afternoon”

“That is odd. I didn't think Korea was on daylight savings time.”

“I guess if you were actually in Korea you would know that.”

“I trusted the clock on this computer...it's wrong. he time as I post this is 12:40...if I can believe the clock on the wall. But as i've stated often, time does not exist, and if it does, it's relative.”

“That computer is causing you a lot of problems tommorrow afternoon.

hehehe”

“yeah, it's already Monday October 1...Korean Thanksgiving day. A big holiday where nobody works...even this computer apparently.”

“Nobody works? You should feel right at home.”

“So it's un-american to take a vacation from work? Geez. I apologize for saving my vacation time and my money. I obviously work a lot harder than you bozos who spend all day on this website and waste your days off on drunken camping trips.”

“Hey, I am on vacation too. We must really be losers if we spend our vacation posting on TT.”