MSNBC's Maddow: U.S. Presence in Afghanistan 'Inherently Corrupting'

Happy belated birthday, America, your presence in Afghanistan is "inherently corrupting." That's the message Rachel Maddow gave on her July 6 program.

During the Bush administration, the Left often argued that the president had distracted America by engaging in hostilities in Iraq, bleeding resources and attention away from the real war on terror in Afghanistan, which had harbored al Qaeda pre-9/11.

Now with Iraq all but won following the success of the Bush-approved, Petraeus-executed "surge," the Left is becoming vocal in its opposition to the war in Afghanistan and finding a platform on MSNBC.

Daytime network anchor Dylan Ratigan has been calling for withdrawal from Afghanistan for weeks, arguing that the war in Afghanistan has lasted longer than Vietnam and been a needless waste of money.

Now Ratigan's colleague has joined in the chorus. On the Tuesday, July 6 edition of her eponymous show, Maddow made this argument:

If they're still offering that (referring to Taliban) and we're trying to make an Afghan government that is not corrupt, to be a viable alternative to that, but our very presence by virtue of the fact that we've got to spend a ton of money and we're foreigners and we've got to protect ourselves and all this stuff, our influence here, our presence here, is inherently corrupting just because a lot of money flows everywhere we go.