UPDATE: From MKH: From a spokesperson at Frist’s VOLPAC:
The Senator was misquoted. We will have a blog post addressing the AP story very shortly.
Hmm, I’m gonna need a pretty good explanation on this one, but check the VOLPAC blog for updates. I’ll have it up here as soon as I get it, too.
Senator Frist’s Blog post is here and THE MORON did not help himself much.
I’m currently overseas visiting our troops in Afghanistan, but I wanted to take a moment to address an Associated Press story titled, “Frist: Taliban Should Be in Afghan Gov’t.†The story badly distorts my remarks and takes them out of context.
First of all, let me make something clear: The Taliban is a murderous band of terrorists who’ve oppressed the people of Afghanistan with their hateful ideology long enough. America’s overthrow of the Taliban and support for responsible, democratic governance in Afghanistan is a great accomplishment that should not and will not be reversed.
Having discussed the situation with commanders on the ground, I believe that we cannot stabilize Afghanistan purely through military means. Our counter-insurgency strategy must win hearts and minds and persuade moderate Islamists potentially sympathetic to the Taliban to accept the legitimacy of the Afghan national government and democratic political processes.
National reconciliation is a necessary and an urgent priority … but America will never negotiate with terrorists or support their entry into Afghanistan’s government.
Written by Bill Frist, M.D.
Senator Frist do yourself a favor and retire back to being a heart surgeon. As far as your candidacy for the presidency – save yourself the grief.
YOU DON”T HAVE A CLUE!
Captain Ed CRAWLS back for Frist with Frist Didn’t Surrender To The Taliban
So what happened? I think that someone confused “Taliban” with “Taliban supporters” at some point, and whether that was Frist or the reporter will probably remain a point of contention between the two. At any rate, Bill Frist is not calling for the return of the Taliban and an end to democracy in Afghanistan.
And Flap does not buy Ed’s analysis of what the ultimate end game will be in Afghanistan. The end game should be the end of Afghanistan as a safe haven for terrorists that wish to attack the United States. The United States does not have to democratize every country it must subdue. Frist wants to play “hearts and minds.” Flap is more inclined to a more resolute approach.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist awards a Purple Heart medal to 42-year-old Capt. Jacqueline E. King of Tinton Falls, New Jersey during his visit to Qalat ,the provincial capital of Zabul province of Afghanistan on Monday, Oct. 2, 2006. King suffered burns and other injuries when her Humvee was struck by a suicide bomber’s vehicle in Qalat, southern Afghanistan, June 28. ‘I got blown out of the vehicle and burned and beat up,’ King said. ‘But I’m tough. I got back up. It’s rough. They’re not exactly thrilled to see us here.’
AP: Frist: Taliban should be in Afghan gov’t
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Islamic militia and its supporters into the Afghan government.
The Tennessee Republican said he learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated on the battlefield.
“You need to bring them into a more transparent type of government,” Frist said during a brief visit to a U.S. and Romanian military base in the southern Taliban stronghold of Qalat. “And if that’s accomplished, we’ll be successful.”
Is Senator Frist out of his FREAKING mind?
First, he is WRONG about the Taliban fighters being too numerous – since Coalition forces have driven most of them out of Afghanistan into refuges on the Pakistani-Afghanistan border.
Second, Senator, we are in a war and naturally Coalition forces may not be popular. But, remember, what the mission is? To prevent an attack on the United States and Western Democracies by Taliban sponsored Al Qaeda terrorists.
Lastly, the Taliban do NOT want to be part of any government. They want to BE the government.
For the life of me, I have not heard more MORONIC statements by a GOP Senate Majority leader. Except maybe the following…….
The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, told
Pentagon reporters last month that while the Taliban enemy in Afghanistan is not extremely strong, their numbers and influence have grown in some southern sections of the country.
The senator said he was warned to expect attacks to increase. There appears to be an “unlimited flow” of Afghans and foreigners “willing to pick up arms and integrate themselves with the Taliban,” he said.
He said the only way to win in places like the volatile southern part of the country is to “assimilate people who call themselves Taliban into a larger, more representative government.”
“Approaching counterinsurgency by winning hearts and minds will ultimately be the answer,” Frist said. “Military versus insurgency one-to-one doesn’t sound like it can be won. It sounds to me … that the Taliban is everywhere.”
Flap agrees wtih Allah and Ace. Perhaps we need to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan and leave the folks there to the Taliban ala Bill Frist. You know win over the “Hearts and Minds.” But…….
This is what happened the last time we ignored the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Senator Frist, the Taliban wish to KILL US. Do you need a fecking lesson?
Stay tuned…….
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