Scott Horton Interviews Tom Engelhardt
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Tom Engelhardt, editor of TomDispatch.com, discusses the multitude of “other” surges in Afghanistan overshadowed by the troop deployments, the costs excluded from Obama’s 30 billion dollar surge estimate, the unfounded belief that a Democratic president can’t end a war, the difficulty of defining – much less achieving – success in Afghanistan and how Bush’s wars continue even though the geopolitical strategy that created them is gone.
MP3 here. (37:52)
Tom Engelhardt created and runs the Tomdispatch.com website, a project of The Nation Institute where he is a Fellow. He is the author of The World According to Tomdispatch: America In The New Age of Empire, The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America and the Disillusioning of a Generation and Mission Unaccomplished. Each spring he is a Teaching Fellow at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.
987
December 16th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
The object of war is war.
Claus-Erik Hamle
December 16th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
On the very first meeting in the new Bush Administration in January 2001 the very first point of discussion was the invasion of Iraq. Similarly, the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan was planned long before 9/11. In fact, I read somewhere that the plan for the invasion was ready for Bush to sign on 9/10.
Karl
December 16th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Great job Tom. Esspecialy for spotting those additional 15,000 that were sent this year without a specific announcement in addition to the announced 21,000.
What I am wondering though is anybody at all adding these numbers?
There are 70,000 Americans troops in country. There are also 35,000 non-American troops. Obama is sending additional 30,000 American troops and the NATO has promised at least 5,000 additional troops . This is all going to be accompanied by a huge contractor surge that is according to news from today take the number of contractors to between 130,000 and 160,000.
When you add up all these figures we are talking about an occupation that consists of a staggering 270,000 to 300,000 bodies! This is enormous. The record for Vietnam was 500,000 and that was a huge war.
AVietNamWarVet
December 16th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
It was General Douglas MacArthur who warned against involving the U.S. in a land war in Asia. Obviously our LOSS in the Vietnam War did NOT teach US any lessons. Mao was correct in observing that : "It is easy to defeat an arrogant enemy." There is NO country more arrogant than the U.S. is at this time. Does "finishing the job" in Afghanistan mean making that country safe for the American Oil Companies to build their pipeline through that country? "War is a Racket" – a greaty book that details how America's wars are fought for Corporate profits!
Rob
December 16th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Don't forget those profits.
j canzoneri jr
December 16th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
nothings new , just wasting money and young lives in central asia. great broadcast !!
RichardofLongBeach
December 17th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Why do Tom Engelhardt and Scott Horton continue to use the false canard of Al-Qaeda and 9-11. After a decade (century?) of non-stop lies from the US government, why would the only TRUTH from washington be the story of Osama Bin Laden and the events of 9-11. So if you summarized the words of Clinton, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Obama, it would be = Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. TRUTH. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie.
Forgive me, but if the above criminals can lie about WMD, the economy, unemployment, and even the weather, they can lie about 9-11.
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By holding on to this absurdity, for whatever reasons and motivation, Tom and Scott's credibility and reliability nosedives.
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LandOfCokaygne
December 17th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Can anyone point me to the article by the Afghani exile (in california) that tom was talking about?
Claus-Erik Hamle
December 18th, 2009 at 12:51 am
9 scientists, one of them Niels Harrit from the Uni of Copenhagen, have examined some of the dust from WTC for almost two years and they conclude that 10-100 tons of nano-thermite was placed in the three buildings before the planes hit. Science is science. Or what ?
grant
December 18th, 2009 at 3:49 am
science is outlawed in regard to 9/11. common sense too.
mark
December 18th, 2009 at 6:32 am
thermite isn't used to knock down buildings even if some guy in Denmark claims that it is.
meanwhile, there is actual, verifiable evidence that US allies warned the Bush regime that 9/11 was about to happen and the regime blocked efforts by the FBI and the DIA to track and stop the hijackers.
The US also tracked the Japanese Navy across the ocean prior to Pearl Harbor, but did not take steps to prevent the attack. The "New Pearl Harbor" was similar, but worse.
RichardofLongBeach
December 20th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
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@ Mark
Dear Shill,
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Please specify that although thermite may not be designed to knock buildings to the ground, it is extremely effective at cutting metal and be a part of the explosive mix that pulverised the concrete.
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Please do not place the blame only on Bush, when one of our allies was neck deep in this crime.
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Roosevelt's crime is well documented. Do we have to wait sixty years to identify the criminals involved in 911. Would it not be easier to immediately LYNCH them and all the paid sock puppets who defend them.
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Rick
April 16th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
"FILE NOT FOUND"?!?!?! Come on! I wanted to listen to this.
Scott Horton
April 16th, 2012 at 8:06 pm
Fixed