President Barack Obama may or may not be doing the right thing in Afghanistan, but the rationale he gave for it on Friday is almost certainly wrong. Obama has presented us with a 21st century version of the domino theory. The U.S. is not, contrary to what the president said, mainly fighting "al-Qaida" in Afghanistan. In blaming everything on al-Qaida, Obama broke with his pledge of straight talk to the public and fell back on Bush-style boogeymen and implausible conspiracy theories.
Obama realizes that after seven years, Afghanistan war fatigue has begun to set in with the American people. Some 51 percent of Americans now oppose the Afghanistan war, and 64 percent of Democrats do. The president is therefore escalating in the teeth of substantial domestic opposition, especially from his own party, as voters worry about spending billions more dollars abroad while the U.S. economy is in serious trouble.
He acknowledged that we deserve a "straightforward answer" as to why the U.S. and NATO are still fighting there. "So let me be clear," he said, "Al-Qaida and its allies -- the terrorists who planned and supported the 9/11 attacks -- are in Pakistan and Afghanistan." But his characterization of what is going on now in Afghanistan, almost eight years after 9/11, was simply not true, and was, indeed, positively misleading. "And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban," he said, "or allows al-Qaida to go unchallenged -- that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can."
Read on...
Peacenik would rather be writing about the total meltdown of Wall Street that may be happening as Peacenik types this. Peacenik likes Obama. But Peacenik thinks Obama is totally screwing up trying to fix the financial crisis. It can't be fixed. And Peacenik thinks Obama is well on the way to screwing up his foreign policy. He's back to talking about those bad boogymen hiding in caves. A domino theory forchrissakes. The frigging speech about Afghanistan could have been given by George Bush. The growing recognition that it is all a house of cards, finance policy, foreign policy, social policy, makes it harder and harder for Obama to keep insulting the public's limited intelligence. Trouble, big trouble is brewing. Optimists are saying to watch out this fall. Peacenik says watch out....today.
Obama realizes that after seven years, Afghanistan war fatigue has begun to set in with the American people. Some 51 percent of Americans now oppose the Afghanistan war, and 64 percent of Democrats do. The president is therefore escalating in the teeth of substantial domestic opposition, especially from his own party, as voters worry about spending billions more dollars abroad while the U.S. economy is in serious trouble.
He acknowledged that we deserve a "straightforward answer" as to why the U.S. and NATO are still fighting there. "So let me be clear," he said, "Al-Qaida and its allies -- the terrorists who planned and supported the 9/11 attacks -- are in Pakistan and Afghanistan." But his characterization of what is going on now in Afghanistan, almost eight years after 9/11, was simply not true, and was, indeed, positively misleading. "And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban," he said, "or allows al-Qaida to go unchallenged -- that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can."
Read on...
Peacenik would rather be writing about the total meltdown of Wall Street that may be happening as Peacenik types this. Peacenik likes Obama. But Peacenik thinks Obama is totally screwing up trying to fix the financial crisis. It can't be fixed. And Peacenik thinks Obama is well on the way to screwing up his foreign policy. He's back to talking about those bad boogymen hiding in caves. A domino theory forchrissakes. The frigging speech about Afghanistan could have been given by George Bush. The growing recognition that it is all a house of cards, finance policy, foreign policy, social policy, makes it harder and harder for Obama to keep insulting the public's limited intelligence. Trouble, big trouble is brewing. Optimists are saying to watch out this fall. Peacenik says watch out....today.
