Meet General Karl W. Eikenberry

From Patrick Cockbourn at CounterPunch.Org, we get a blistering criticism of the Afghan government, including my first hearing of retired general Karl W. Eikenberry:

In a leaked cable to Washington sent last week, the US ambassador to Afghanistan, Gen Karl W. Eikenberry, argues that it would be a mistake to send reinforcements until the government of President Hamid Karzai demonstrates that it will act against corruption and mismanagement.
General Eikenberry knows what he is talking about because he has long experience of Afghanistan. A recently retired three star general, he was responsible for training the Afghan security forces from 2002 to 2003 and was top US commander in Afghanistan from 2005 to 2007.

It's not the case that I've discovered the intelligence of a military man only because I happen to agree with the core of what he says. The reason that I think this is important is that the opinion of such a man ought to count with the fuckheads, liars and fools who have been telling us, year after year, for EIGHT FUCKING YEARS, that "we're winning" in Afghanistan, as things get progressively worse.

In other news, I hope to get to Toronto on Wednesday, November 18th, to see Malalai Joya on her book tour for A Woman Among Warlords. I can't resist pointing out (perhaps not for the first time) that pro-war asshole Terry Glavin likes to rest on his first-hand knowledge of Afghanistan while indulging in his deluded rants, and he uses this experience as if it nullifies the fact that he's been totally wrong-headed, advocating continued Canadian killing and dying for a thoroughly corrupt, discredited puppet government. At the same time that he crows about his visiting Afghanistan, he denigrates Malalai Joya's condemnation of the NATO debacle.

What is it, what simple mental block is it, that causes an otherwise intelligent man to such depths of buffoonery, hypocrisy and delusion?