Dangerous radical

[Lanya]

Once upon a time, a dangerous radical gained control of the US Republican Party.

http://www.juancole.com/2005/08/fisking-war-on-terror-once-upon-time.html

[Michael Tee]

Fantastic article!

What goes around comes around.  And around and around and around.

Kinda puts it all in perspective, doesn't it?

[gipper]

I don't fault Reagan as much as Juan Cole does, but it is nonetheless worthwhile to note that longer-range thinking is always the hallmark of a good "head coach." "Pyrrhic victories" can turn into major headaches later. Also, the idea is always to think about the whole season not just the immediate game, what I fondly call "Parseghian's Paradox."

[BT]

No mention of why the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Sounds like Cole started his recounting at mid-season.

[Michael Tee]

<<No mention of why the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Sounds like Cole started his recounting at mid-season. >>

Best of my recollection is that an intelligent, modernizing Communist government took power in Afghanistan, whether by democratic election or otherwise I don't recall, and this government ran into opposition from religious, ultra-conservative fanatics who opposed modernization and change.  The Afghan government then called in the Red Army to liquidate the anti-government, anti-socialist fanatics.  Basically, they were there to fight fascism, loosely defined in that context as anti-socialism.

[Plane]

Why is it unimportant that the idea originated with Zebignew Berzniki and James Carter?

[Michael Tee]

<<Why is it unimportant that the idea originated with Zebignew Berzniki and James Carter?>>

Why?  Because any ass-hole can have ideas.  The President's job is to sift through them and decide which ones to act on and which ones to toss out.  The issue is accountability and responsibility.

[BT]

Carter and Company did implement those ideas.

By in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Michael Tee]

Carter and his administration got the U.S. into a war in Iraq?  Guess I wasn't watching enough TV.

And I always thought it was the Reagan administration which pumped billions into the Afghan mujahideen.  What did Carter send, peanuts?  (no pun intended)

[sirs]

It's so funny to watch the adjectives Tee applies to any and all communist, vs any and all conservative ("ultra", "fanatical", "radical", "fascist", etc.)   Even to the point of letting slide how communists took power....be it democratic election or "otherwise"       

[Plane]

Carter and his administration got the U.S. into a war in Iraq?  Guess I wasn't watching enough TV.

And I always thought it was the Reagan administration which pumped billions into the Afghan mujahideen.  What did Carter send, peanuts?  (no pun intended)

Just a few billion dollars and Russian built whepons , by the time that Reagan was elected it was a well established program that Reagan did well to maintain and increase.


Check this out , I have reccomended it before.

http://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Wilsons-War-Extraordinary-Congress/dp/0802141242

Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times (Paperback)