Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Afghanistan "Back To The Good War"
The New York times and several other news outlets found some military experts who think we can fight a long-range war remote control war against AL-Qaedea from re-establishing itself in Afghanistan, but most think we need more troops on the ground. Anne Appelbaum of the Washington Post say "the outcome in Afghanistan will make or break (Obama's) foreign policy. Obama delivered a lot of fierce Rhetoric about Afghanistan during the campaign, maybe because he believed it or more probably to avoid depicting himself as a McGovernite. But back, in his famous 2002 speech opposing the Iraq war specifically and "dumb wars" generally, Obama declared his support for the Civil War A Tough Call, World War Two after Pearl Harbor (another profile in courage) and had this to say about Afghanistan. After September 11 after witnessing the carnage and destruction, dust and tears, I supported this administration pledge to hunt down and and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. That is a much more limited than the current nation building exercise on offer. As Obama attempts to rally domestic and international support for this war he will need to start convincing people he actually supports. As Ms. Appelbaum says, "He has said many times that he supports the Afghan War in principal. Now we will see if he supports it in practice.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Obama: Rebuilding Alliances?
As a Presidential Candidate and as President-Elect Barack Obama promised to "rebuild alliance" in Europe and "restore America's standing in the world." The President is having serious rebuilding a alliance with 10 Downing Street. 10 Downing Street has hit back at President Obama and Hillary Clinton for attacking the decision to release the Lockerbie Bomber. President Obama and Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton fuelled a fierce American backlash against Britain, claiming abdelbast Al Megrahi should have been forced to serve out his jail sentence in Scotland- but a senior Whithall aide said the reaction was "disingenuous". British Officials say the American spoke out because they were taken aback by the anger over Megrahi release, not because they did not know what was about to happen. The U.S. was kept fully in touch about every thing that was going on with regard to Britain's discussions with Libya in recent years and about Megrahi, said the Whitehall Aide. "They Knew about our prisoner transfer agreement with Libya and they knew that the Scots were considering Megrahi case." First Obama sent the Uighars to Bermuda with minimal notice to the UK, and now this. If he is not careful, President Obama isn't going to have a alliance to rebuild. Thanks to (DRJ) at Patterico's Pontifications.
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