Yes, if the "peace movement" had its way, the Taliban would still be hanging women in the soccer stadium in Kabul for such offences as "immodesty" and adultery.

And children would still be being tortured in front of their parents to make them confess to political crimes.

But then again, these are the same types who, in the 1930's told us that Stalinist Russia was a worker's paradise, that the "Great Leap Forward" (and its resulting 10 million deaths) was a model for the rest of the world, that Castro is a man of honor and who paved the way for Ho and the NVA to make Viet Nam among the most oppressive regimes in the world.

What do you expect? Dicators can always count on the Left to shill for them here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

All news from Afghanastan indicates that a war still rages there, U.S. and Afghani's are dying daily, and yes, women are still persecuted, so much for your brilliant argument on how good America is.

Oh, so are you denying the fact that Bush gave the Taliban millions of dollars in aid in the spring of 2001? I guess hanging women in soccer stadiums was alright, as long as they were our "allies." You're as ignorant as your posting handle suggests. Keep watching Fox News, you uneducated halfwit.

Let's put the Taliban back in charge!! That will make things better.

NOT.

It will take us a while to undue the harm they did -- that and 12 years of Soviet oppression.

But America is doing it -- even over the Left's objections.

By the way -- hold on for the truth about Afghanistan. You won't usually read it here!

Thanks for being one of our most loyal viewers. We distort, you comply.

From the Times of London:

THE strangest thing descended on Kabul this morning: an hour-long rush hour. Despite the tooting and gesticulating, the 100F heat, and the air thick with diesel fumes from the decrepit Soviet Volga taxis, it was surely the most wonderful traffic jam in the world.
By the time the Taleban had fled the Afghan capital in November, this ancient city, slumped in a once-fertile valley surrounded by mountains, was a bombed-out corpse. Now that wreck is teeming with energy and hope. In six months Kabul has come alive, rushing headlong to embrace the 21st century.

Since January more than one million Afghans, buoyed by an optimism denied them since the Soviet invasion 23 years ago, have returned to reclaim their birthright. More than 1,500 families arrive in Kabul each day.

With them come the aid agencies, the NGOs, the United Nations teams with their gleaming white four-wheel-drives, hundreds of journalists, and foreign businessmen bullish enough about Afghanistan’s future to set up shop here, trading in everything from tea to bathrooms.

In the bitter cold of December, when the city’s thousands of tall Chamar trees were dark and leafless, the potholed streets were filled with years of garbage, women too anxious to shed their burkas, and men walking desultorily to work to sit for a few hours with nothing to do.

Now it is scorching summer, the trees are vivid green and Kabul is crowded, dusty, noisy and exciting. Thousands of men have shed their traditional dress, the shalwar kamiz, for Western slacks, open-neck shirts and imitation Italian loafers; thousands of women are out in pretty dresses and head scarves, mingling with sheep, new Indian Tata buses and bicycles.

The city still appears shattered, grey and grimy, with crumbling walls everywhere, but people are rebuilding their shops, erecting new houses. Restaurants, shut for years by lack of food in the grim Mujahidin era and then kept closed by the Islamic puritanism of the turbanned Warriors of God, have reopened. The Marco Polo serves delicious Afghan dishes including ashak, a kind of vegetarian tortellini. The Golden Lotus even sells beer.

You can get a decent bottle of wine, or Russian vodka and French brandy, if you know where to look: under the counters in Flower Street, where the Chelsi supermarket sells everything from Italian olive oil and mozzarella to Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Russian caviar, or at the International Security Assistance Force store, where crates of beer go for just $10 (£7).

Most strikingly, Kabul has a mobile phone network, provided by the British-owned AWCC. If any race believes it is good to talk, it is the Afghans.

DVDs are everywhere. Kabulis are, strangely, obsessed with Mr Bean.

Students are teeming back to the university and polytechnic, convinced that their studies will mean something. Kabul Television has stunned the city by broadcasting live coverage of the Loya Jirga.

The Kabul Times, closed down by the Taleban, is sold in the traffic queues by small boys. It even has a gossip column that criticises the Government.

Chicken Street, the mecca for hippies in Kabul’s boom years of the 1960s and 70s, is thriving. With so many troops and journalists in town, an Afghan coat now costs $100, after furious bartering.

Outside Kabul, much of Afghanistan remains medieval. Will it, too, be dragged into the modern era? Maybe not. One UN worker recounts asking an old man how far the journey was to a village in the remote north. “The horse pisses twice,” was the reply.

From the Times of London:

THE strangest thing descended on Kabul this morning: an hour-long rush hour. Despite the tooting and gesticulating, the 100F heat, and the air thick with diesel fumes from the decrepit Soviet Volga taxis, it was surely the most wonderful traffic jam in the world.
By the time the Taleban had fled the Afghan capital in November, this ancient city, slumped in a once-fertile valley surrounded by mountains, was a bombed-out corpse. Now that wreck is teeming with energy and hope. In six months Kabul has come alive, rushing headlong to embrace the 21st century.

Since January more than one million Afghans, buoyed by an optimism denied them since the Soviet invasion 23 years ago, have returned to reclaim their birthright. More than 1,500 families arrive in Kabul each day.

With them come the aid agencies, the NGOs, the United Nations teams with their gleaming white four-wheel-drives, hundreds of journalists, and foreign businessmen bullish enough about Afghanistan’s future to set up shop here, trading in everything from tea to bathrooms.

In the bitter cold of December, when the city’s thousands of tall Chamar trees were dark and leafless, the potholed streets were filled with years of garbage, women too anxious to shed their burkas, and men walking desultorily to work to sit for a few hours with nothing to do.

Now it is scorching summer, the trees are vivid green and Kabul is crowded, dusty, noisy and exciting. Thousands of men have shed their traditional dress, the shalwar kamiz, for Western slacks, open-neck shirts and imitation Italian loafers; thousands of women are out in pretty dresses and head scarves, mingling with sheep, new Indian Tata buses and bicycles.

The city still appears shattered, grey and grimy, with crumbling walls everywhere, but people are rebuilding their shops, erecting new houses. Restaurants, shut for years by lack of food in the grim Mujahidin era and then kept closed by the Islamic puritanism of the turbanned Warriors of God, have reopened. The Marco Polo serves delicious Afghan dishes including ashak, a kind of vegetarian tortellini. The Golden Lotus even sells beer.

THE strangest thing descended on Kabul this morning: an hour-long rush hour. Despite the tooting and gesticulating, the 100F heat, and the air thick with diesel fumes from the decrepit Soviet Volga taxis, it was surely the most wonderful traffic jam in the world.
By the time the Taleban had fled the Afghan capital in November, this ancient city, slumped in a once-fertile valley surrounded by mountains, was a bombed-out corpse. Now that wreck is teeming with energy and hope. In six months Kabul has come alive, rushing headlong to embrace the 21st century.

Since January more than one million Afghans, buoyed by an optimism denied them since the Soviet invasion 23 years ago, have returned to reclaim their birthright. More than 1,500 families arrive in Kabul each day.

With them come the aid agencies, the NGOs, the United Nations teams with their gleaming white four-wheel-drives, hundreds of journalists, and foreign businessmen bullish enough about Afghanistan’s future to set up shop here, trading in everything from tea to bathrooms.

In the bitter cold of December, when the city’s thousands of tall Chamar trees were dark and leafless, the potholed streets were filled with years of garbage, women too anxious to shed their burkas, and men walking desultorily to work to sit for a few hours with nothing to do.

Now it is scorching summer, the trees are vivid green and Kabul is crowded, dusty, noisy and exciting. Thousands of men have shed their traditional dress, the shalwar kamiz, for Western slacks, open-neck shirts and imitation Italian loafers; thousands of women are out in pretty dresses and head scarves, mingling with sheep, new Indian Tata buses and bicycles.

The city still appears shattered, grey and grimy, with crumbling walls everywhere, but people are rebuilding their shops, erecting new houses. Restaurants, shut for years by lack of food in the grim Mujahidin era and then kept closed by the Islamic puritanism of the turbanned Warriors of God, have reopened. The Marco Polo serves delicious Afghan dishes including ashak, a kind of vegetarian tortellini. The Golden Lotus even sells beer.

You can get a decent bottle of wine, or Russian vodka and French brandy, if you know where to look: under the counters in Flower Street, where the Chelsi supermarket sells everything from Italian olive oil and mozzarella to Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Russian caviar, or at the International Security Assistance Force store, where crates of beer go for just $10 (£7).

Most strikingly, Kabul has a mobile phone network, provided by the British-owned AWCC. If any race believes it is good to talk, it is the Afghans.

DVDs are everywhere. Kabulis are, strangely, obsessed with Mr Bean.

Students are teeming back to the university and polytechnic, convinced that their studies will mean something. Kabul Television has stunned the city by broadcasting live coverage of the Loya Jirga.

The Kabul Times, closed down by the Taleban, is sold in the traffic queues by small boys. It even has a gossip column that criticises the Government.

Chicken Street, the mecca for hippies in Kabul’s boom years of the 1960s and 70s, is thriving. With so many troops and journalists in town, an Afghan coat now costs $100, after furious bartering.

Outside Kabul, much of Afghanistan remains medieval. Will it, too, be dragged into the modern era? Maybe not. One UN worker recounts asking an old man how far the journey was to a village in the remote north. “The horse pisses twice,” was the reply.

What a surprise. Long Gondola chose to conveniently ignore my post. He'd make a great White House Press Secretary.

Well, the war is over, Iraq is now free. So, do you have a problem with Iraq being free. Should we go back and undo what we did? The war was a success, get over it. You should be thanking all of our troops for the great job they did and pay respect to those who gave their lives for your freedom. Saddam was an evil dictator, even if he never had WMD, I would have still have supported the war. 200,000 Kurds were murdered by Saddam. You can argue about how he got them and who supported him in the past, but you can't argue about who pushed the button. Try to relate this to gun legislation. We can all agree that a hunter doesn't need an M-16 to kill a dear and we shouldn't have automatic weapons for self defense. What you have to learn is that everyone is responsible for their own actions. Now if a person buys a gun from a legal gun shop and murders someone, who is responsible? The gun dealer or the killer? I've heard many arguments here that try to say that we gave Saddam his weapons and we supported him so its USA's fault. First of all, I don't believe that and even if we did provide him with the WMD, he still pulled the trigger. My point is that all of this time you were defending a man who is no more better than Hitler for some kind of political gain. Did you observe what him and his sons had in the palaces? How many palaces? Did you see the poverty? Tell me, if its our fault that the Iraqi people were suffering, why did Saddam live like that? He had UN supplies in his palace for personal use, you can't deny that! One of his palaces would have been enough to feed his people for at least a month and maybe start up some social welfare programs! How can you defend him? Please, if your just against war, I can understand that, but what are your reasons? Because war is bad, yes, thats a good reason if your just against war all together. What I have seen is that your really just against the Republican party, right? When Clinton bombed Iraq in 98 without achieving anything from it, where were you? Saddam was left in power and left to murder thousands afetr the bombing. I never saw any protesters then, why? I personally believe that the majority of the anti war demonstrators really have no problem with war, its more that you don't like the Presidnet and this gives you a reason to complain and maybe show how you don't support him. You should have been called anti-Republican Protestors because that was the message. I know that I'll be getting some replies that really don't argue with my position, but resort to name calling. Try to defend your position for me for once. God knows I haven't seen too many of you actually defend your argument. Can you say that the Iraq people won't be any better off now with a new free government? Are you going to tell me that the USA is going to appoint Iraqs new government so anything that happens in the future will be our fault? Well, I guess it will only be our fault if a Republican is in the White House, Right? For a long time, I voted democrat, but I have to say that I have changed to a Republican because I have been disgusted with how the Democratic Party is behaving. As for the issues,my opinion is based on what I believe is best for the nation and the world. I will graduate soon with a degree in Poltical Science and a minor in International Studies. I have gone away for a year and lived in Spain, while I was there, I was able to tarvel around Europe and learn their cultures. So try to spare me the argument that I only get my information from Fox News, OK? I would like to hear your arguments on how this war was bad. Don't try to tell me what other people think because I already know. Since last year, I have carried on correspondence with several Iraqi civilians trying to get their viewpoints about a possible conflict. They have all told me that they and their neighbors, friends and family all would love to have America come and liberate them. When the war was started, I got E-mail from one who told me of how greatful she was that the USA was coming to remove Saddam. She talked about the overall public opinion in her country. Everyone was supporting it. So should I tell my friend that Saddam should have stayed in power? Are you going to argue that she only thinks that way because I made her? Please, when you respond to this argument, try to make a reasonable argument that isn't based on your own hatred for Republicans or media from Al jazeera.

Thank you

I'm still waiting for one of you warmongers to respond to MY post. I guess it hurts for you rightwingers to face the truth, so you conveniently ignore it.

Why don't you give me a credible source to back up your info?

By the way, I'm not a warmonger, I love freedom and I believe that everyone should be free! By the way, unless you're native American, chances are that your ancestors came here to escape a situation like the one in Iraq.

It's a commonly known fact to those who choose not to ignore the truth. Bush DID give the Taliban millions of dollars in aid to the Taliban in the spring of 2001 in exchange for wiping out the poppy fields. Where are "credible sources" AND links for ALL of YOUR info?

You shouldn't be disrespecting our Secretary of State. He's a great man and you should thank him and appreciate what he's done for you.

Wow, I see that you gave me all of three minutes to respond. Unlike you, I have a life of my own and don't have all day to sit in front of a computer and click the "refresh" button every minute.

Yes, halfwit, there ARE planes patrolling Iraq. Go crawl back under your rock now. You wouldn't know the truth if it bit you on your cellulite-laden ass.

If he gave the Taliban money to wipe out the poppy fields and you don't like it then you obviously never met a recovering Heroin addict. As I said before in my previous post, I would get a response that wouldn't even defend the position of the anti war movement and general, you proved my point with you historical references. If you would have read it all, you would have seen that!

My point is that atrocities don't matter, as long as they're being committed by one of our "allies." Please take your head out of your ass and enroll into a remedial reading comprehension course.

Thats right, the government is lying to us, right? OK, time for you to go take some antipsychotic medication. And I'm a halfwit, I must be a psychic! I knew you weren't going to make a valid argument, you would only resort to name calling! thank you for proving the second point. I starting to think that you can't argue because you really don't have an argument. And no, paranoid conspiracy theories that you made up in your head do not count.

You know, paranoid schizophrenia is a common side effect to the heavy use of marijuana over a long period of time. My advive to you is to give that shit up.

Oh, so you are so naive, you believe EVERYTHING the government spoonfeeds you? You have the critical thinking skills of a child. You also have the mind of one.

You don't think that the Taliban committed atrocities? My advice to you is to give up crack.

Unless I get some kind of real argument that defends the position of the antiwar movment, I will no respond anymore. Call me whatever you, its just not worth my time to reply to you. If anyone has a good response to the big paragraph I wrote above, I encourage you to respond and make your case. I really don'ty have the time to be playing these little kids games. Did you ever get into a debate with someone when you were a kid and you won. What did the kid who lost say. 9 times out of ten, the other kid would say, "Oh yeah, well, you're stupid so there!" I'm not a kid anymore and thats not how I like to debate. Those of you who debate like that are just hurting your cause.

Why don't YOU make a "good response" to MY first post? Are you THAT afraid of the truth?

How do you come up with that assumption? In the Cold War, maybe, but not a recent ally. I never said they never committed atrocites, I meant that they were not our ally and our real allies do not commit attrocities when we are "allied with them at that day in time."

Goodbye

Oh, so we give millions of dollars in aid to our ENEMIES? Using your asinine logic, one could consider ISRAEL, the biggest recipient of US foreign aid, an ENEMY. Please enroll in Logic 101 at your nearest university.