• About Kathy Shaidle
  • Kathy Shaidle: Donate
  • Kathy Shaidle: Privacy policy

5 Feet of Fury

Kathy Shaidle's blog. Est. 2000

Mark Steyn notes: ‘Stoning is making something of a comeback in the world’s legal codes’

December 30, 2013 By Kathy Shaidle

The Afghan campaign is this nation’s longest war — and our longest un-won war: That’s to say, nowadays we can’t even lose in under a decade. I used to say that, 24 hours after the last Western soldier leaves Afghanistan, it will be as if we were never there. But it’s already as if we were never there: The last Christian church in the country was razed to the ground in 2010.

At this point, Americans sigh wearily and shrug, “Afghanistan, the graveyard of empire,” or sneer, “If they want to live in a seventh-century s***hole, f*** ’em.” But neither assertion is true. Do five minutes’ googling, and you’ll find images from the Sixties and early Seventies of women in skirts above the knee listening to the latest Beatles releases in Kabul record stores. True, a stone’s throw (so to speak) from the capital, King Zahir’s relatively benign reign was not always in evidence. But, even so, if it’s too much to undo the barbarism of centuries, why could the supposed superpower not even return the country to the fitful civilization of the disco era? The American imperium has lasted over twice as long as the Taliban’s rule — and yet, unlike them, we left no trace.

More from my site

  • Must. Not. Spend. Legal defense fund. On. Plastic. George Bush-in-a-flightsuit dolls.Must. Not. Spend. Legal defense fund. On. Plastic. George Bush-in-a-flightsuit dolls.
  • ”Our solution to this is to return to America’s original immigration policy of ‘National Origins’…’”Our solution to this is to return to America’s original immigration policy of ‘National Origins’…’
  • Instapundit agrees with me: it’s ‘ClimaQUIDDICK’, dammitInstapundit agrees with me: it’s ‘ClimaQUIDDICK’, dammit
  • Dear Occupests: Guy Fawkes would’ve run you through with his swordDear Occupests: Guy Fawkes would’ve run you through with his sword

Filed Under: conservative blog

« Sagas of secular sanctity: Duty + class = melodrama
‘Why Alan Turing should not have been pardoned’ »
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Archives

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in