Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Today,  Thursday, Trump said we are going down to 8600 troops in Afghanistan- if a deal is reached with the Taliban. If? For days now, they have been saying they have. He added that if another attack on America originates from Afghanistan (it didn't; it originated from America) he said we will come back in force and like never before, which I take as code for killing 10 million Afghans. Trump said he will only reduce the troops when the Taliban gives a guarantee that Afghanistan won't be used by terrorists, but how can they? "Yes, we guarantee it. We really, really, really guarantee it. We really really do; Cross our  hearts; hope to die; stick a needle in our eyes." Now, is that good enough? And how are they supposed to guarantee it there when Trump can't stop homegrown terrorist acts here?  


Trump said there will be no complete withdrawal- ever. "You have to keep a presence," he said. Hmmm. But, even the Afghan government says it wants the Americans out eventually. So, the President of the United States can just decide to permanently occupy another country against their will? 

And once again, doesn't he realize that everything he says publicly reaches the Taliban? So, when they hear that the U.S. is never getting out, completely, how are they supposed to react? 8600 is about the number of troops that were there when Obama left office. Was the Taliban happy then? So, why should they be happy now that he's willing to go back to that? 

This whole thing is getting weirder by the hour. For days, they've been popping the corks on the champagne bottles, but we are hearing nothing from the Taliban, and it sounds like we are not offering them anything close to what they want. 

I know the solution! A 10th round of negotiations!