The experts who managed the original Marshall Plan say Afghanistan needs a commitment of at least $5 to $10 billion over 5 to 10 years, coupled with occupation forces of 250,000 Allied soldiers to keep the peace throughout the country.
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In Angola
In Angola I wondered
how the land of the free
had the power,
to launch soldiers
from another country
into the arms of eternity.
How could
the sly foxes of the CIA
find a way,
to sway
a country into it’s war.
What fools
had the politicians
of my country become,
to rise and let boys
of eighteen bare the brunt
for the most unpopular war.
Although the victory
was sound
more was lost than gained
and coming back from war,
I will never be free
from the demons
that torment me.
War kills hope and joy
and leave it’s scars
in every soldiers soul
and the innocent
pays the highest price.
From history
and into posterity
the USA does not
fight it’s wars alone
and at times
let others pay the toll.
In Afghanistan and Iraq
some allied soldiers
still fall and die...
poem by Gert Strydom
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~trillion Dollar War~
"Ours is not to question why"
So many soldiers n' contractors die,
In a hostile Country far away
As a once great Nation begins decay
ROTMS
Here a few more numbers to keep in mind as we approach the 2014 deadline for withdrawal of US combat forces:
68,000: The number of US troops still stationed in Afghanistan.
117,227: The total number of Department of Defense contractors working in Afghanistan.
34,765: The number of US citizens working as contractors in Afghanistan.
9,355: The number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan since Obama took office.
18,553: The total number of civilian casualties since the war started.
1491: The number of US troop casualties in Afghanistan since Obama took office.
2121: The total number of US troop casualties since the war started.
$385,600,000,000: The estimated financial cost of the war in Afghanistan to the US taxpayer since Obama took office.
$557,300,000,000: The estimated financial cost of the war in Afghanistan to the US taxpayer since October 7,2001.
View ROTMS writings, images and video at;
rotms.blogspot.com
poem by Ray Lucero
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Sino
Afghanistan!
Coupled with the matters of the heart;
But how many more soldiers are we ready to sacrifice? !
For Sino my friend lost one of his legs last night,
And the people are still not free.
poem by Edward Kofi Louis
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Our Times
Our Times
13.7 billion years ago
4.5 billion years ago
3.5 billion years ago
200 thousand years ago
10,000 years ago
5000 years ago
3500 years ago
1800 years ago
500 years ago
50 years ago
One hundred years from now
Five hundred years from now
Ten million years from now
Ten billion years from now
We are where we are now
Where are we now?
Who are we now?
What will we be?
When?
poem by Shalom Freedman
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If today is anything like the typical day of the past 3 years, three American soldiers will die in Iraq or Afghanistan, the Taliban will get a little stronger in Afghanistan and the civil war will continue to be enhanced in Iraq.
quote by Alcee Hastings
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The third point is that for some time the UN has been talking about helping Afghanistan in the reconstruction of the country but there has never been any real commitment by the international community to provide resources for that.
quote by Lakhdar Brahimi
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You would have thought that after 9/11 the president would have finished the job in Afghanistan, and kept the focus on capturing Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda deputies, but he and his team gave top priority to their original plan to invade Iraq.
quote by Bill Nelson
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Let us also reflect on the honorable service of our men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces currently serving our country overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, and around the world.
quote by John Linder
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Thoughts For The New Year
THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR
(2008)
It took me a billion years to come to my
present form and shape;
Distilled from space and time,
And blessed with His heavenly grace,
To reflect His glory and sing His praise!
But our selfish ways and divergent creeds,
Coupled with our insatible greed,
Instead of creating a harmonious fusion,
Suceeded in creating utter confusion!
May we now unite with a single thought,
Of peace and love and the all loving God,
Forgetting our hatred and greed,
Breeding the dove of peace within;
Embracing our world, and all as one,
Laced with the sprit of friendship and love,
And to live in peace under the sun.
- Raj Nandy
New Delhi
01 Jan 08
Ode to the American Soldiers
Ode to the American Soldiers
for fighting for our Freedom
for making this day real
Ode to the American soldiers
Iraq, Afghanistan, countries galore
they risk their lives for ours
Support them, pray for them
Ode to the American Soldiers
poem by Ashton Karen
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The number of attacks on the American and allied forces is at the highest level since the insurgency began despite the increase of America combat operations and the introduction of some 40 new Iraq security forces and battalions.
quote by Ike Skelton
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Afghanistan is very satisfied with Croatia's participation in the NATO-led peace mission and expects Croatia to expand its contribution to peace restoration in Afghanistan to other areas as well.
quote by Hamid Karzai
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Similarly, establishing a firm timeline for bringing our troops home could accelerate the development of Iraqi security forces and deepen their commitment to defending their own country and their own government.
quote by Peter DeFazio
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Physics Has Power
Never do spies flower the seeds of life,
They walk like the sun and stars to enlighten
The burdened ones, their offspring spent the nation.
Never do criminals walk under the sun to pile rocks
On ghostly buildings that house forces of the non-living;
The dead have risen to play forces of games of forces,
These men see dangerous eyes, and fruits of labour.
Never do judges feel free to obliterate the laws of the country,
Just by entering the conversation between spies,
Forming a link with honest workers,
Who are employed by the honest ones.
My flowers are again in the world flourishing,
Much like the teeming galaxy of stars
Revoltingly managed by the powers of Physics.
poem by Naveed Akram
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British Election
British election
Three men in suit on a podium, they have no shame, all three want to rule
Britain and they tell lies and promise things they cannot keep. Since we are
Serfs at heart we vote for the most aristocratic one forgetting when the loaf
is cut, they keep the slices we get the crumbs. All three men agree about
the war In Afghanistan and it most continue to win the peace and they extol
the brave soldiers who in the end die from an unwinnable war. I should have
been sorry for the soldiers they are mostly un educated working class, and like
the idea of fighting the Taliban. Should they die which they do too often.
There is a great funeral no one does a military send off like the Brits. To end
this war we have to talk to the Taliban, and when we do the suffering of mums
and the deaths of young men have come to nothing. Three well tailored men
on a podium, sing from the same music sheet, produced by newspapers and
everything will be as before in a country where people are made to feel
ashamed of being working class, being told of dependency culture and working
hard when there is no work, and be told how lazy they are.
poem by Oskar Hansen
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The Europeans had made two promises to the United States if Marshall Plan help was forthcoming. The first promise was maximum self-help on the part of every country; and second, maximum mutual aid.
quote by Paul Hoffman
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A billion dollars every week for Iraq, $87 billion for Iraq. We can't get $5 billion for childcare over five years in welfare reform.
quote by Jim Wallis
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Political Intelligence
Nobody said Apples for nearly a minute
I thought I should die.
Finally, though, the second sardine,
from the end, on the left,
converted a try.
(It brought down the house.
The noise was terrific.
I dropped my glass eye.)
Meanwhile Mr BaIdwin
managed to make himself heard.
He looked sad
but with characteristic aplomb said
keep calm there is no cause for alarm.
Two soldiers' crutches had sexual intercourse
on the spot with a little bit of fluff
from a lint bandage in the firing chamber
of a 12 inch gun.
People agreed not to notice.
The band played a little bit louder.
It was all very British.
poem by Arthur James Marshall Smith
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The Long Drought Is Over
The long drought is over some weather experts believe
But weather patterns the experts have been known to deceive
In parts of the Country huge flooding the weather seems strange
But then we are in the age of climate change
The ferocity of Nature cannot be denied
In flooding tragedies up country seven people have died
Their cars by the flood were swept off of the roadway
Their deaths by drowning the big news story of the day
For to combat extreme weather patterns we need more than God on our side
Nowadays Natural disasters are occuring Worldwide
In drought ravaged Lands millions of refugees
And thousands are dying of hunger and disease
The long drought is over some weather experts do say
But the moods of Nature changing every day.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Empires
Empires
On the ancient road I hear roman soldiers’ footsteps, all roads lead back to an empire;
and nothing has changed the poor die in the service of their masters. The Romans took
the elites sons of country they wanted to dictate sent them to Rome trained and sent
them back and they had vassal state. It didn’t always work, loyalty became resentment
and uprising, the kept kings demanded more power. The new empire is doing the same,
sends sons and daughters of the elite, in countries they want to control, to Harvard, we
get the royal household of Jordan. Sometime it backfires and we get Osama Bin Laden.
All empires must fall it’s written in the stars, their outpost Israel, is a sacrilege, losing her
humanity. I hear tired Roman soldiers marching on roads their foes will take when they
come to crush them. Iraq is a civil war waiting to happen, Afghanistan is a lost cause and
Pakistan will never submit to foreign dominance. I hear the footsteps, the new empires’
soldiers, the urban poor, have been promised glory, and shiny medals, as always they die
for a dream not theirs. The ghosts of roman soldiers marches on through the centuries,
nothing has changed in two thousand years.
poem by Oskar Hansen
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