Perhaps Lee_Prince00 should ask Fred Hiatt for a job. His sort of drivel would fit right in on the Washington Post editorial page.

what's happening in Afghanistan is sort of the equivalent of the Black Hills Gold Rush, when it became imperative to seize the Black Hills from the uncivilized tribes.

That kinda makes sense.

One question, however: in the Black Hills there was gold. What (besides most of the world's heroin) is of value in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan?

There is plenty of evidence that Bush & his buddy Karzai (from Chevron/UNOCAL) were pushing for a pipeline during the time of the invasion. The fact that these motives were reported by conspiracy theorists like Wayne Madsen doesn't make it less true:

Although UNOCAL claims it abandoned the pipeline project in December 1998, the series of meetings held between U.S., Pakistani, and Taliban officials after 1998, indicates the project was never off the table.

Quite to the contrary, recent meetings between U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlain and that country's oil minister Usman Aminuddin indicate the pipeline project is international Project Number One for the Bush administration. Chamberlain, who maintains close ties to the Saudi ambassador to Pakistan (a one-time chief money conduit for the Taliban), has been pushing Pakistan to begin work on its Arabian Sea oil terminus for the pipeline.

source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/MAD201A.html

Also, at this point, the strategic value of the occupation is to create a string of military bases encircling the energy deposits of southwest Asia. Check out what Russian analyst Andrei Konurov says regarding US motives (link @ sig):

The U.S. has deployed 19 military bases in Afghanistan and Central Asian countries since the war began in October, 2001. These bases function autonomously from the surrounding space, are networked by airlifts, and get supplies from outside of Afghanistan, also mostly by air. The system of bases makes it possible for the U.S. to exert military pressure on Russia, China, and Iran. As for Russia, this is a manifestation of the long-term U.S. geopolitical strategy aimed at separating Russia from seas and locking it up in the Eurasian inland. More advanced phases of the strategy envision the U.S. advancement deep into Eurasia, the gaining of positions in it that would weaken Russia's control over its territory, and - eventually - the elimination of the Russian statehood in Siberia and the Far East.

Ironically, for most people, his policies don't and won't work for them. But they won't find out until it's too late. And that, of course, will have been by design.

You got that right.

The trend can be seen clearly in places like Pittsburgh during the G8 summit. The over-the-top brutality & use of sinister new "riot control" technologies was tacitly approved by our so-called "progressive" new president.

By the way, it's always fascinating to click on over to places like DKos & see so many of the same folks who criticized the previous administration (for its lawlessness) now fiercely defending the indefensible policies of this administration.

I hope I'm not around when real unemployment hits 30% & runaway inflation robs the middle class (or what little remains of it) of its retirement savings. The savagery of the government response to the citizenry's valid protests will be an awful sight to behold.

Back during Cast Lead I became convinced that our friend Jonathan was actually working for IDF public relations, since he always seemed to be ready with the very first comment whenever Glenn wrote about the assault on Gaza & our cowardly political institutions' response (or lack thereof) to it.

C. Sinnard:

Seeing as how AIPAC is rife with Mossad operatives, I'm not one bit surprised that they had some ass-hat planted in the audience ready to heckle Mustafa Barghouti.

Pow Wow:

I'm in the process of reading the Goldstone Mission's report. The IDF & the Israeli gov't have truly come full-circle, and have adopted the murderous methodologies & racist attitudes of Himmler's SS.

To our eternal shame, our government's UN rep will veto the report's solid recommendations. As another commenter pointed out, the US not only permits these atrocities, it actively supports & participates in them.

I thought that the disgust I feel towards my country would diminish with the election of Obama; it has only grown stronger.

I hear that South America is nice this time of year... but it's just as hard to leave the US as it is to enter, these days. Some have speculated that the new Mexico/US border fence is mainly for keeping us in.

...that the joint chiefs or the "national security" chief or some other such unaccountable death merchant or collection thereof has told the new president point blank: "you will allow us our wars and escalations of wars and coups and torture prisons and extraordinary renditions and wiretaps and our obscene budgets and our insestuous profiteering contracts, and you will not allow real investigations of any prior, present or future war crimes... and we will let you live to enjoy the wondrous perks of the 'highest office in the land.'"

I'm also guessing that Mr. Obama has received a similar "talking to" from the head of Goldman Sachs or the New York Fed or the Blackstone Group, warning him against any real reform of the financial system. Along the same lines, the scumbags who run UnitedHealth & CIGNA & WellPoint probably made it clear that single-payer is off the table, or else.

Or, maybe our new president is really a just another corporatist douche-bag, along the lines of Joe Lieberman.

In any case, he doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as a real Democrat like FDR.

Feingold has been stellar in regards to civil liberties.

He isn't perfect, however; he gladly jumped onto the "de-fund ACORN" bandwagon.

Still & all, Feingold seems to be carrying on in the proud tradition of solid Wisconsin progressivism.