Which Way in Afghanistan? Ask Colombia For Directions.

[rabs]

This was published in the Washington Post yesterday (Sunday April 5). It may be the most idiotic article of the year and an indicator of how truly awful the current state of journalism is today at the Washington Post.

(Btw, note the reporter says he "lived and worked" in Colombia from 2000 to 2004.
(Next paragraph: He covered the conflict in Iraq " in 2003 and 2004." Pretty nifty, being in Colombia and Afghanistan (or Iraq, it's not clear) at the same time. Or else he's lying.)

As for the content and premise of the story, it is a joke what with all its spin, errors and lies. :puke:

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I lived and worked in Colombia as a correspondent for The Post from 2000 to 2004. At the time, only the capital, Bogota, was spared the horrors of a war marked by massacres with machetes, machine guns and even stones that made it one of the most gruesome conflicts I've witnessed. Today, assisted by billions of dollars in U.S. military and development aid, the Colombian government has pushed a Marxist insurgency deep into the jungles where it was born four decades ago. Isn't that what Obama wants to accomplish in Afghanistan?

The conflicts in Colombia and Afghanistan share far more similarities with one another than either does with Iraq, which I covered in 2003 and 2004. The Taliban have caves and Colombian guerrillas their triple-canopy jungle and mountain hideouts -- terrain far more useful to insurgencies than Iraq's desert. Afghanistan's opium poppies fund the Taliban, just as coca fuels Colombia's guerrillas. As Pakistan does for the Taliban, Venezuela and Ecuador provide sanctuary to Colombia's insurgents.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/03/AR2009040302135.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Fantastic learning there's a guy at the Washington Post who has mastered bilocation!

That's a rare skill!

Bilocation, or sometimes multilocation, is a term used to describe the ability/instances in which an individual or object is said to be, or appears to be, located in two distinct places at the same instant in time.<1><2><3><4> The term has been used in a wide range of historical and philosophical systems, including early Greek philosophy,<5><6><7><8> shamanism,<9><8><10><5><6><7><11> paganism,<11> folklore,<12><8> occultism and magic,<13><14><15> the paranormal<16><17><18> Hinduism (as one of the siddhis),<19><20><5><6> Buddhism,<21><22> spiritualism and Theosophy,<23><24><25><15><10> mysticism in general,<26> as well as Christian mysticism<27><6> and Jewish mysticism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilocation

Writing decent, honest, factual articles is NOT within his ability range. This one sounds as if he may have scrawled it on the bar, after spending his entire day drinking! He didn't seem overly familiar with any real facts, did he? Why wouldn't he know that human rights organizations as well as the Colombian people are fully aware, and it even has been discussed on tv shows here, in the STATES, as it was JUST LAST WEEK, when they said once again, the paramilitaries are NOT gone, they're still there.

People even know AUC members have formed other groups, like the Aguilas Negras, Black Eagles, and continued killing leftists without missing a beat, or a day. Same old, same old. Still killing union members. Human rights workers. Indigenous civil rights workers.

Maybe this guy looses too much consciousness during bilocation, rabs!

His article about Colombia did NOT sound like something written by anyone who had spent serious time there investigating news stories, did it? Holy smokes.

You're right, journalism just couldn't get any lower. We hope! Of course we felt that way last year, and the year before that. Don't forget that fine American soldier who held off all the screaming Iraqiis with two guns while they shot her down, and she ran out of bullets, that nice, heroic Jessica Lynch who then, shot up, was RAPED by Iraqiis, too! Oh, wait! That didn't happen, even though the Post, the NY Times, etc. all said it did. Oh, well.

Found his photo. He doesn't even look half bright, as you might expect:

http://media.washingtonpost.com.nyud.net:8090/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/09/18/PH2006091800568.jpg

Could be someone's nephew, and probably does his writing from his hotel room.
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/scott+wilson/

[rabs]

2. Judi, now we know where the WP guy got his talking points

From Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs. I can hardly believe it but it looks like the military kooks are seriously considering a Plan Colombia for Afghanistan. The article below debunks that idiocy and it comes from, of all places, Seoul, South Korea.

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The United States is clearly worried by the crisis in Afghanistan and now a new policy is being viewed in order to tackle the growing insurgency. Therefore, the Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated that Plan Colombia may be a new approach to the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan. However, would Plan Colombia change the current situation in Afghanistan and how successful is Plan Colombia anyway?


Before focusing on this new approach which is being touted in important circles in Washington, it is vital to state the major differences between Colombia and Afghanistan.

I would clearly argue that both situations are very different and Plan Colombia may merely lead to yet another failed policy. For how do you equate The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) with the radical Sunni Islamic insurgency in Afghanistan? Surely it must be obvious that both movements use different tactics with regards to military objectives and political desires.

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http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=8218

[romy]

3. responde

cipcol does a very thorough response to this article (http://www.cipcol.org/?p=804).
for me it's just so absurd to praise a program and then suggest it be implemented somewhere else that has had such little success.