So this is why we're over there...hmmm

[gnmwilliams]

Ok so I jest with the title but it makes you wonder.

DailyTech - U.S. Discovers $1T USD Worth of Lithium, Other Mineral Deposits in Afghanistan

[vontar]

Why do you think Russia want it years ago.

Trust me, no one has been fighting in Afghanistan all these years for nothing.

[jtluttrell]

DailyTech - U.S. Ships $1T USD Worth of Lithium, Other Mineral Deposits from Afghanistan

What tomorrow's headline should read.

[Guest drv2fst]

What tomorrow's headline should read.

Amen to that!

[Smith]

Why do you think Russia want it years ago.

Trust me, no one has been fighting in Afghanistan all these years for nothing.

Not even close. Russia desperately needed/needs a warm water port.

[Rightwinger]

Not even close. Russia desperately needed/needs a warm water port.

And then the US to build highways to it for them to move what the ships done brung in!

[Smith]

And then the US to build highways to it for them to move what the ships done brung in!

Funny how nearly all the infrastructure of Europe, the Middle East, and Afghanistan is/was funded by the US. Yet we are the bad guys .... interesting.

[Rightwinger]

Yep.

[Links2k]

They hate us for our freedom. Did you really believe that there was a noble cause behind two wars? The polititians and corporations are playing a mind game on the American people, and the people are losing.

Conservatives and liberals fight while the wizard works behind the curtain.

[mikegideon]

They hate us for our freedom. Did you really believe that there was a noble cause behind two wars? The polititians and corporations are playing a mind game on the American people, and the people are losing.

Conservatives and liberals fight while the wizard works behind the curtain.

Yep.

[Smith]

They hate us for our freedom. Did you really believe that there was a noble cause behind two wars? The politicians and corporations are playing a mind game on the American people, and the people are losing.

Conservatives and liberals fight while the wizard works behind the curtain.

They aren't that smart. You give them too much credit.

[monkeylizard]

Not even close. Russia desperately needed/needs a warm water port.

Afghanistan is a land-locked country. ISTM they were there because ideology drove them. The Marxist government of Afghanistan asked for their help against the Islamist Mujahideen*. If Pakistan or Iran was the plan, why go through the mountains of Afghanistan?

*Maybe our Marxist government could ask for their help against the Taliban.

Edited June 14, 2010 by monkeylizard

[Smith]

Afghanistan is a land-locked country. They were there because ideology drove them. The Marxist government of Afghanistan asked for their help against the Islamist Mujahideen. The cold war was still hot and they wanted any chance they could get to spread communism, just as we wanted any chance to spread democracy. If one could pick up some nice spoils of war along the way, great.

Maybe our Marxist government could ask for their help against the Taliban.

Not according to history. Afghanistan was thought to be the easiest gateway to warm water ports. There isn't much historical debate about Russia's motives in Afghanistan.

[BigK]

The world has known those minerals were there for a long time. They export about $3M worth every year. This is just the first time USGS has had a crew there to estimate their value. The goat herders, opium farmers, rug makers, and IED fabricators can't dig those resources out of the ground, thoughs

Some US mining company will come in to teach them how to do so more efficiently, sell them equipment on credit, and oversee the whole operation on a purely philanthropical basis. Bovine Scattology, there's gold in them thar hills!

Edited June 16, 2010 by BigK
spelling

[Mike.357]

I have not read this thread yet but I saw the news story earlier today.

i am not the least bit suprised. We are not fighting in Afghanistan for truth, justice and the American way. anyone that thinks so is naive. I always figured this was the reason we were there.

[Rightwinger]

Pounding the Taliban is just a bonus I reckon.

[leroy]

They hate us for our freedom. Did you really believe that there was a noble cause behind two wars? The polititians and corporations are playing a mind game on the American people, and the people are losing.

Conservatives and liberals fight while the wizard works behind the curtain.

I like this analysis!! Remember what Smedley Butler, an "Old Corps" Marine General and two time Medal of Honor winner said:

...War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. ...

Link to speech here: Smedley Butler on Interventionism

Sadly, Butler was an avowed Socialist; but he may have been right about this one. For what it's worth; I admire Butler for his courage. I do not agree with his socialist-pacifist views. That being said; Smedley Butler was a great man. Read more here: Smedley Butler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Food for thought.

Leroy

[Links2k]

I like this analysis!! Remember what Smedley Butler, an "Old Corps" Marine General and two time Medal of Honor winner said:

Link to speech here: Smedley Butler on Interventionism

Sadly, Butler was an avowed Socialist; but he may have been right about this one. For what it's worth; I admire Butler for his courage. I do not agree with his socialist-pacifist views. That being said; Smedley Butler was a great man. Read more here: Smedley Butler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Food for thought.

Leroy

+1

[Guest Glock23ForMe]

The funny thing is, the Title says

U.S. Discovers $1T USD Worth ...

Can you tell something is worth 1 Trillion Dollars when it's in the side of a mountain?

Or is it when you get it back to the states?

Hopefully, the latter.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

It's doubtful we will ever benefit from anything in Afghanistan. We can't afford what we have in this country, and it sounds like a lame attempt to justify our continuing presence and nation building when our stated goal was going after "the base" and it's leader.

Remember 9/11, anyone?

With Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan all acting up and the economies of most

countries going south, plus the gulf oil spill, there are too many distractions for this

to come along to even be newsworthy. I don't see us convincing radical muslims that they are sitting on a gold mine and to become capitalists. They would rather fight

us because we are not muslims, and continue in their attempt to destroy Israel.

Even if Karzi(?) was a willing participant, his political abilities couldn't pull that off.

He is a convenient friend because we are fighting his war and giving him money.

What happens when the money runs out?

I think it is another distraction. "Watch his left hand while his right hand is moving."

[BigK]

I'm glad we went after Bin Laden. I'm just as glad that we deposed Hussein. I'm glad we are trying to help both countries establish a democracy of sorts. I'm glad we're killing some of the terrorist leaders.

I hate that the media treats our troop like villains and the insurgents like victims. I hate that the fiscally and morally bankrupt countries in most of Europe have fought us every step. Most of all, I hate that we've lost lives and wasted money to save a group of people that will always hate us and want us dead.