Andrew Sullivan on Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is the red headed stepchild of American politics right now-nobody knows what to do with it, but it's not going away. I don't really want to think about it either-there aren't that many options, and what's worse, all of them are lousy.
I can't help but think back and wonder what would have been different if the former President had not shifted our focus to Iraq in 2002. But that's old news-things would be different if Meade pursues Lee after Gettysburg, or if John McGraw signs Jose Mendez in 1920, or if Washington can't escape off the Brooklyn Heights.
I don't know what the President plans to do. I don't envy him the choice, certainly, and I don't know what I would do. I just want the killing to stop, as simplistic as that sounds.
Sullivan says it well, and I agree:
"And, to be honest, I have every confidence in this cabinet and this general and this president will do the best they absolutely can. And while we shouldn't stint in criticism, we should allow them some lee-way in an immensely difficult and fateful call."
"I can't help but think back and wonder what would have been different if the former President had not shifted our focus to Iraq in 2002."
ReplyDeleteAs long as "shifting focus" would not have meant leaving one of the major terrorist kingpins (Saddam Hussein) in place.
Playing "armchair general", I see two major problems/mistakes with Afghanistan (under Bush, and under Obama, as he inherited it and didn't bother to change it)
1) Pakistan. You can't stop the terrorist problem in that area without complete cooperation from Pakistan, where so many of them are based.
2) The border. Even if the Pakistan problem weren't solved, making the Pakistan-Afghanistan border completely secure would render the Pakistan problem less relevant. Apparently the new troup surge might address this.
DMarks-
ReplyDeleteSigh.
Saddam Hussein is and always was interested solely in retaining his power. Did he pay off terrorists? Sure, if it would win him street cred. Did he support groups that annoyed or threatened Turkey and Iran? Of course-because annoying and threatening Turkey and Iran enhanced his own strength. He would have balanced bananas on his nose if it would have kept the Baghdad streets quiet.
(http://bit.ly/EpVPy)
from The Washington Post:
"The [9/11 Commission] staff report said that bin Laden "explored possible cooperation with Iraq" while in Sudan through 1996, but that "Iraq apparently never responded" to a bin Laden request for help in 1994. The commission cited reports of contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda after bin Laden went to Afghanistan in 1996, adding, "but they do not appear to have resulted in a collaborative relationship. Two senior bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between al Qaeda and Iraq. We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."
Or, should I say, Saddam Hussein isn't anything. He WAS solely interested in enhancing his own power.
ReplyDeleteBTW- Those comments are mine. I was signed in under my son's Google account accidentally.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how he feels about Afghanistan.