Read this and try not to laugh:
The U.S. said Iran shouldn’t interfere with Afghanistan’s internal affairs following a report that an Iranian official gave an aide of President Hamid Karzai a bag filled with packets of euro bills.
“We understand that Iran and Afghanistan are neighbors and will have a relationship,” Philip J. Crowley, a State Department spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement “But Iran should not interfere with the internal affairs of the Afghan government.”
Hey Iran- meddling with their internal affairs is OUR gig.
(via)
General Stuck
Sheat, that’s Bush league. We used to fly in C 5 transports with stacked pallets of US Dollars in Iraq. Chalibi and his buds probly sunning on some sunny beach they bought, sucking down fruity drinks and playing grabass with the native girls. Cheapskate Mullahs, can’t buy a stuffed ballot box elected American puppet dictator with a few bags of euros.
Ash Can
I’d like to think that there are people somewhere, anywhere in the Obama Administration who realize that Philip J. Crowley is making them all look like complete morons.
WyldPirate
@General Stuck:
Don’t count on it. The dollar has a long way to fall and will as soon as the FED cranks up the printing presses for a big round of QE2 after election day.
Got to keep all of the fraudsters on Wall St. propped up, doncha know.
arguingwithsignposts
I had to laugh earlier today when we were lecturing the Afghanistan government about the use of private security forces, and how many major $$ projects would be put off if they kicked all the
mercenariesprivate security forces out of the country.Cacti
Stop interfering with countries that share a common border with you…
Said the interloper from a different hemisphere.
Oscar Leroy
The US simply must meddle around in Afghanistan because some people there once gave refuge to some people who once attacked us because we meddled around in Mid-Eastern nations. It’s just common sense.
Oscar Leroy
@WyldPirate:
I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge them success or wealth.
Onkel Bob
Sorry I could not help myself… But really, just a bag? If they really want to influence them they should consider palletizing the funds.
gbear
@Oscar Leroy: Hey, at least we got those Ruskies out of there!
Uncle Clarence Thomas
Everyone here can surely agree that President Obama is very wise to continue the previous president’s policies.
balconesfault
So does this mean that the Monroe Doctrine is being extended with the Bush/Obama Doctrine – whereby no country in the world is allowed to have influence on any other country without our permission?
Sleeping Dog
Look, maintaining an empire is difficult and its not helped when those countries sharing borders with our client state aren’t on board with the program.
WyldPirate
@Uncle Clarence Thomas:
Cue the ObamaBots with multiple excuses in 3…2…1…
PeakVT
“We understand that Iran and Afghanistan are neighbors and will have a relationship,” Philip J. Crowley, a State Department spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement “But Iran should not interfere with the internal affairs of the Afghan government.”
Most days I oppose carpet-bombing Foggy Bottom. Today isn’t one of them.
Roger Moore
@Onkel Bob:
Sure, but what’s the good of a metric fuckload of money if you aren’t alive to spend it? Any Afghan with a sense of self preservation knows that the US isn’t going to stay there for the indefinite future, while Iran definitely is. Unless the US is giving you enough money to buy permanent residency for you an your entire clan in a country where Iran has little influence, it’s probably wiser to take a modest bribe from the Iranians instead.
BGinCHI
If we wanted Iran to interfere with Afgh, we’d invade them, take over their country, then have our puppet Shah do it.
It’s not like we haven’t done it before.
Chris
Here’s how I read that headline the first time I saw it:
“Iran Must Not Meddle in Afghanistan, U.S. Bag of Cash Reported”
(missing the words: “says after”)
Seemed about as sensible as any other way to read it. Especially after our pallets of money going over there, and the “Corporations have unlimited speech rights using money” attitude of Citizens United.
I suppose the distinction is that money talks, but you don’t see it quoted directly very often.
El Cid
I find it very interesting that the allegations of corruption against Karzai’s aide, and their portrayal in coverage, seem to suggest that the Karzai administration isn’t simply an inherently corrupt beast, but rather that ‘things are improving’ except for that mean, old, money-bag-taking aide.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
What would America do if a hostile empire had invaded and occupied Afghanistan? Gee, there’s a question nobody could ever answer…
bjacques
@17 Chris:
And that gives me a mental image of a cartoon bag with a big dollar sign on the front, shaking a finger and streaming typographical symbols at another bag bearing a Euro sign and wearing an Iranian mullah’s hat, all animated in the style of Schoolhouse Rock.
Guess I’m showing my age.
SRW1
We understand that Iran and Afghanistan are neighbors and will have a relationship,” Philip J. Crowley, a State Department spokesman
On the other hand, if the Iranians weren’t so stubborn and simply moved a country down or so, these neigborhood problems would go away just like that.