Logic Backflips, twists, spins, and general torture: Obama's FP
Obama has now authorized a surge (but dont call it a surge) for Afghanistan. He states that the nation was neglected, we need to send more troops in, and it is the fault of the previous administration that things got this bad.
At the same time, he is pushing ahead with pulling out of Iraq, where the surge worked and there have been huge advances in safety, security, and democracy. He is determined to make sure that we pull out whatever the cost, against the advice of every one of his top military commanders.
All I can say is WTF WTF WTF!
That does not make a damn bit of sense any way that you look at it other than the political move where a failure in Iraq = failure for Republicans/Bush, but he things he can make Afghanistan his own success BY DOING THE SAME DAMN THING THAT ALREADY WORKED IN IRAQ AND THAT HE IS TRYING TO UNDERMINE IN IRAQ. Plus, the whole damn point of his "out within 16mo" plan for Iraq was to "bring the troops home." Wasn't it? Am I crazy? Instead, he pulls them out of one war and puts them into another, and somehow that will be a political victory and he will be loved for it. Does. Not. Make. Sense.
Oh, and to top it off, he gave Pakistan a hard time about not being able the fight the Taliban. Maybe he should talk to his colleague Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a serious contender for the "Dumbest Person to ever serve in Congress" award. From the LA Times:
A senior U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown from an air base in that country, a revelation likely to embarrass the Pakistani government and complicate its counter-terrorism collaboration with the United States.
The disclosure by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, marked the first time a U.S. official had publicly commented on where the Predator aircraft patrolling Pakistan take off and land.
At a hearing, Feinstein expressed surprise over Pakistani opposition to the campaign of Predator-launched CIA missile strikes against Islamic extremist targets along Pakistan's northwestern border. "As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base," she said.
What a friggin stupid thing to do and to say. It means the US will likely have to re-base the flights, and will likely not find as good basing anywhere else. If she were not a Senator, she would have been charged with revealing official secrets... a significant crime. Instead, its a slip of the tongue which probably leaves the CIA wishing that they were more like the agency from the Bourne movies, and they had the option of terminating a US civilian. How the hell can someone be so stupid?
Oh and on a final note, I love how Clinton has gone around blaming the current problems with N. Korea and Afghanistan on the Bush administration, when they lie largely at the feet of the Clinton administration. There might be a couple people (in California?) out there who think that Monica's war was an effective deterrent to the growing power and influence of the Taliban in Afghanistan (blowing up mud huts with tomohawks usually goes a long way), but those people should not be allowed to vote, or drive, or make their own cereal. At the same time she has made outrageous claims about the agreements with N. Korea reached under her whipping boy's.. er.. husband's time in office which are totally unsupported by the facts or the intelligence community.. more on that later.
Suffice it to say, I would so far rank Obama's foreign policy inititives as a total failure. I agree with the surge for Afghanistan, but that is not even his initiative, it is a continuation of Bush's administrations policies and the requests of the military.
Sometime soon I will get around to looking at his domestic policy and the new protectionist bailout already hated by the rest of the world (way to alienate all those loving Europeans in one swift cutting-off-your-own-leg step.) But, there is only so much rant in me on any given day, and today I am all spent.
At the same time, he is pushing ahead with pulling out of Iraq, where the surge worked and there have been huge advances in safety, security, and democracy. He is determined to make sure that we pull out whatever the cost, against the advice of every one of his top military commanders.
All I can say is WTF WTF WTF!
That does not make a damn bit of sense any way that you look at it other than the political move where a failure in Iraq = failure for Republicans/Bush, but he things he can make Afghanistan his own success BY DOING THE SAME DAMN THING THAT ALREADY WORKED IN IRAQ AND THAT HE IS TRYING TO UNDERMINE IN IRAQ. Plus, the whole damn point of his "out within 16mo" plan for Iraq was to "bring the troops home." Wasn't it? Am I crazy? Instead, he pulls them out of one war and puts them into another, and somehow that will be a political victory and he will be loved for it. Does. Not. Make. Sense.
Oh, and to top it off, he gave Pakistan a hard time about not being able the fight the Taliban. Maybe he should talk to his colleague Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a serious contender for the "Dumbest Person to ever serve in Congress" award. From the LA Times:
A senior U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown from an air base in that country, a revelation likely to embarrass the Pakistani government and complicate its counter-terrorism collaboration with the United States.
The disclosure by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, marked the first time a U.S. official had publicly commented on where the Predator aircraft patrolling Pakistan take off and land.
At a hearing, Feinstein expressed surprise over Pakistani opposition to the campaign of Predator-launched CIA missile strikes against Islamic extremist targets along Pakistan's northwestern border. "As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base," she said.
What a friggin stupid thing to do and to say. It means the US will likely have to re-base the flights, and will likely not find as good basing anywhere else. If she were not a Senator, she would have been charged with revealing official secrets... a significant crime. Instead, its a slip of the tongue which probably leaves the CIA wishing that they were more like the agency from the Bourne movies, and they had the option of terminating a US civilian. How the hell can someone be so stupid?
Oh and on a final note, I love how Clinton has gone around blaming the current problems with N. Korea and Afghanistan on the Bush administration, when they lie largely at the feet of the Clinton administration. There might be a couple people (in California?) out there who think that Monica's war was an effective deterrent to the growing power and influence of the Taliban in Afghanistan (blowing up mud huts with tomohawks usually goes a long way), but those people should not be allowed to vote, or drive, or make their own cereal. At the same time she has made outrageous claims about the agreements with N. Korea reached under her whipping boy's.. er.. husband's time in office which are totally unsupported by the facts or the intelligence community.. more on that later.
Suffice it to say, I would so far rank Obama's foreign policy inititives as a total failure. I agree with the surge for Afghanistan, but that is not even his initiative, it is a continuation of Bush's administrations policies and the requests of the military.
Sometime soon I will get around to looking at his domestic policy and the new protectionist bailout already hated by the rest of the world (way to alienate all those loving Europeans in one swift cutting-off-your-own-leg step.) But, there is only so much rant in me on any given day, and today I am all spent.
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