From the May 4, 2013 edition of the New York Times:
KABUL, Afghanistan — The C.I.A.’s station chief here met with President Hamid Karzai on Saturday, and the Afghan leader said he had been assured that the agency would continue dropping off stacks of cash at his office despite a storm of criticism that has erupted since the payments were disclosed.
My gawd, "petty cash to pay off warlords". We need to GET OUT of there now, Karzai will fall or he won't, it is out of our hands, why do we prop him up? Afghanistan will never change, it will be tribal forever and sharia will rule.
ReplyDeletePetty cash to pay off warlords? Hmm. I think I'd like to be a warlord when I grow up.
ReplyDelete*snickering*
ReplyDeletePicturing annie, the Mossad Warlord :-)
:))
DeleteMaybe I'm overly cynical, but this is standard stuff, isn't it? I mean didn't the British do stuff like this for centuries?
ReplyDelete(And maybe if they handed out more in the 18th century around here we'd be the Dominion of Columbia instead of the United States?)
Thing is the British strategy was self-funding; the piles of cash were themselves a cut of the profits from the operation of various colonies. We don't bother with that, the taxpayers - whoops I mean moneyprinters - handle that...
Passing out cash goes a long way back...in my lifetime to USAID, CORDS, etc. et al ad nauseum, in Vietnam. Lewy's right, the British method was self funding by colonial means...our system is just us taxpayers. I know personally US military who had to hand out the cash, so nothing in this "revelation" is a surprise.
DeleteA saying in Afghanistan is that you cannot buy an Afghan, but you CAN "rent" one.