Afghanistan: a possible lateral thinking workaround

rosesaylavee

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sun Dec-06-09 12:53 PM
Original message

Afghanistan: a possible lateral thinking workaround

Edited on Sun Dec-06-09 12:54 PM by rosesaylavee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_thinking">Lateral thinking is a way of coming to a solution when there 'seems' to be only black and white answers. I read de Bono's work several years ago and of course think I still have his book but it's in a box somewhere inaccessible here in my house. I am of course not an expert on this topic at all but have always admired this way of reasoning.

After Tuesday's announcement regarding the surge and contraction planned in Afghanistan and the many problems associated with this very complicated mess left us by that idiot dimson and his minions, I have been trying to envision a way of using lateral thinking in light of this particular problem ... I understand that this idea is either brilliant or ridiculously naive. Having a somewhat thick skin (sort of) as well as a great admiration for the distillation ability of DU as a premiere democratic discussion forum, decided to show you what I sent the White House via their on-line website last night. My hope too is that if it is deemed a good idea (by a general consensus), that maybe those in the Admin who hang out here and/or have access to someone in the Admin who could present this idea, would take it and bring it up at a meeting for further consideration ...

And no, before you ask, I am not on any hallucinogen or mind altering substance. :P

So here goes:

Dear Mr. President,

This may be a very naive suggestion or it may be a rare stroke of genius on my part. Whatever it is, I offer it to you for your consideration.

From what I understand, one of the difficulties facing us in Afghanistan is that the people do NOT trust us to maintain our commitments to them. They do NOT trust us to be who we say we are. And given some of the grave mistakes made there in the past 8 years, and the rising death toll, I can't say that we can blame them much for their cynicism. And of course the Taliban is using this cynicism to gain support for their side.

...snipped personal info paragraph...

My idea is to get our citizens here more engaged in a constructive manner that would complement what our troops are trying to accomplish there. Would it be at all possible and/or helpful for communities or cities or towns here to 'adopt' communities, cities or towns there? To create a kind of cultural exchange that would involve letters, food stuffs, clothing, blankets, school supplies, etc.? I like this as it plays on what we Americans have pride in still - our generous spirit. And it would be hard to be bi-partisan� or so I would hope. I see it as something too that would help us bring our troops home sooner. Not sure who could organize such an effort but it would give us Americans something to do, something tangible to sacrifice and all the while giving the Afghans a sense that we do care about them and how they fare there, that we hope that their lives do become better than before we showed up to take on the Taliban.

From the bomb-them-with-butter-brigade,
...