Yes We Kandahar
Hardly a shock that a country’s corruption index and its poverty level are directly proportional.
Take a look at the Middle East:
Transparency International issued its 2009 Corruption Index, which rates 180 countries on a scale of corruption from 0 (highest) to 10 (lowest).
The following is the rating of the Middle East countries by rank and score:
22 Qatar 7.0
32 Israel 6.1
39 Oman 5.5
46 Bahrain 5.1
49 Jordan 5.0
61 Turkey 4.4
63 Saudi Arabia 4.3
65 Tunisia 4.2
66 Kuwait 4.1
89 Morocco 3.3
111 Algeria 2.8 [same rating as Egypt]
126 Syria 2.6
130 Libya 2.5
150 Yemen 2.1
168 Iran 1.8
176 Iraq 1.5
176 Sudan 1.5
179 Afghanistan 1.3
180 Somalia 1.1
Good job, Qatar, for placing first in the region. Israel has nothing to be ashamed of, either.
But did you check out the bottom of the table? Below Libya, below Iran, below Syria—below even Sudan—is Afghanistan, just above Somalia. And those two were the worst in the world, btw, not just the region. Even Myanmar, Haiti, Uzbekistan, and Chad rated higher.
Good luck building a nation out of goat s**t, Mr. President.
PS: You’ve got more than just corruption on your hands:
Rape in Afghanistan is under-reported, concealed and a human rights problem of “profound proportions,” the United Nations said on Monday.
Norah Niland, the United Nations’ human rights representative in Afghanistan, said field research conducted late last year and early this year found rape affected all parts of Afghanistan, across all communities and social groups.
“Women and girls are at risk of rape in their homes, in their villages and in detention facilities,” Niland said at a news conference in Kabul, as part of a 16-day activism campaign against gender violence.
“It is a human rights problem of profound proportions.”
Niland said feelings such as shame exacerbate the problem and are often attached to victims rather than perpetrator.
Rape occurs within the family and beyond and victims are often prosecuted for committing adultery, she said.
I remember how proud I felt when I learned how we had brought liberty to those poor people enslaved under the Taliban, especially the women. Now, I can’t even remember what that feeling felt like. I still believe liberty can be brought, but whether it takes root or not is up to the people themselves.
There may still be Afghanis worthy of our pity, but for pete’s sake, they live in a s**t-hole. Meet us halfway, and maybe we’ll give you a hand.
Marcus said,
November 30, 2009 @ 12:28 pm
It’s not about building them a country, and it never has been. They don’t even really fight us anymore. We needed Afghanistan, and wanted Iraq, for position in the war that’s coming. Unfortunately, Iraq was underestimated, and now political pressures have forced us to give it up. God help us and the Jews if we lose (much less give away) Afghanistan.
People can deny it all they want. People can deny the earth is round or the Holocaust happened. Doesn’t change the fact that they’re wrong. Everybody wanted war in 2001. Now it’s here.
Bloodthirsty Liberal said,
November 30, 2009 @ 1:14 pm
I presume you mean war with Iran, Marcus. I believe that’s been your point in earlier comments.
If Afghanistan serves a vital role in containing/defeating Iran’s imperial and genocidal instincts, then I can see the point in maintaining some sort of role there. But I don’t have to like it.
We had our war in 2001, and I thought we won it. How’d the Afghanis go and lose it? How many more times do we have to win it before it stays won, and is Obama the man to do it? I don’t know the answers to any of these questions.
BTL
Marcus said,
November 30, 2009 @ 7:04 pm
Obama can do it, and he is the only man right tnow who could lead the country into the war that awaits. Will he? Probably not.
-The US and S. Korea have recently drawn up military actions for the collapse of N. Korea
-Venezuela is about to attack Columbia -> Columbia just approved building seven more US bases on its soil
-Iran is defiant on their nuclear power. They would not be doing this if they weren’t being backed by Russia and/or China
-Iran and Russia hold military games codenamed, “Road to Jerusalem”
-China has taken a defensive military and parced it down into a mobile, offensive army modeled after our own, which they have studied meticulously during the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq
-The Jews will attack Iran
-Venezuela will attack Columbia
Afghanistan isn’t about winning and losing. The Taliban are stronger, but their fighting Pakistanis and Afghanis. For the most part, they won’t engage American forces. We take casualties because we go looking for them and reminding them why they don’t want to engage us.
Last point. If people want to talk about the less than stellar damage we’re doing. In EIGHT years, while engaged in TWO wars, we have lost less than 1% of our standing military. We have lost less than one-half of a percent of the might we could bring if we began selective service. We have taken NO military damage. And in 1968, the Vietnamese were through. They were finished. Records show that the first Tet Offensive was the last ditch effort of the N. Vietnamese. Until Cronkite shot off his mouth, the war WAS over, the war WAS won. So how did we end up losing it?
Everyone is jockying for position in the coming world war. The good news is it will happen sometime in or before 2012 -> election cycle for damn near the whole world (an all the principle combatants).