It's been a few days since President Obama's West Point Speech where he announced his Afghanistan troop escalation. 30,000 more troops will be shipped over just in time for Obama to receive his Nobel Peace Prize in Norway on December 10th.
This has been the perfect chance to witness the credibility of Obama's conservative opposition, and without failure, its has been incredibly disappointing.
Relying on their militaristic instincts, the mainstream Right has criticized Obama for not sending the 80,000 troops General McKiller had asked him for and for setting a supposed timetable for withdrawal. Instead of prudently questioning the merits of LBJ-ing our way through another pointless war, conservative hawks are screeching for more blood. According to the cringe-inducing Glenn Beck, Obama should emulate a "real" leader like President Lincoln, who fired general after general until he got the mass-murderer that fit.
What has been pleasantly surprising, however, is the emergence of opposition from some very noteworthy liberal pundits and commentators. Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart have been highly critical of Obama's second escalation in seven months; Michael Moore has written an open condemnation letter to the President; and Barbara Streisand is even joining the anti-Afghan escalation chorus.
It's easy to see why there is growing resentment from some Obama supporters about his decision. In his speech announcing the escalation, he sounded shaky, nervous, and unsure, and every argument he gave for this deployment is incredibly unconvincing.
According to Obama, 30,000 more American troops are going to be sent in order to "prevent a cancer from once again spreading throughout the region" and "denying Al-Qaeda a safe haven." Obama has used this "safe haven" argument before, but the only haven the 9/11 hijackers needed was in Florida, Virginia, and an apartment in Germany. Even if a cruise missile had taken out bin Laden before 9/11, the plot was already fully planned in place and would have likely happened away.
Al Qaeda is a highly decentralized group with barely more than 100 members, and bombing havens in Afghanistan does very little damage to their coordination.
Obama then aimed his crosshairs at the Taliban, accusing them of "maintaining common cause" with Al Qaeda. The only "evidence" that he sites is the immediate events after 9/11, where the US asked the Taliban to give up supposed Al Qaeda members. The Taliban was happy to comply, provided that the US provide proof that they were involved. Three weeks (and no proof) later, bombs away.
It also turns out Obama's July 2001 "withdrawal" promise was a bit of a truth-stretcher as well. According to Secretary of State Robert Gates and National Security Adviser General James Jones, the US has no intention of leaving Afghanistan anywhere near 2011.
Obama' Afghan "surge" will only lead to a surge in bodycounts, and it ignores the central lesson of 9/11. The masterminds did most of their planning right in our backyard, just like the London and Madrid bombings were plotted in England and Spain. So why is Obama sending more troops when he obviously is aware of these facts?
A cynic might suggest that this troop escalation is nothing more than playing politics; he appears strong, all the while enriching Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, GE, and the rest of the Pentagon's merchants of death. And who says Obama isn't creating any jobs? He's sending 30,000 government employees overseas.
As Obama celebrates Christmas in the comforts of his DC mansion, his surge will just be arriving in Afghanistan with the gifts of more death and more destruction.
Somehow I think this isn't exactly how the Prince of Peace would want his birthday celebrated.
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This article originally appeared in SF's (d)N0t blog.
Comments
During the campaign Senator Obama said he would work on ending the war in Iraq within a year, and closing down the Guantanamo Bay prison camp; Now every time he is asked about these two issues he ends more months and more soldiers. President Obama said that he would release the prison abuse photographs so that the victims could seek the justice they deserve; Now he has withheld these photographs and they can not serve as evidence for any future trials. Wake up America! We are being lied to! What is it going to take for more citizens to start caring about these issues? A military draft?!
"...meet the new boss....same as the ol boss..."
Hey buddy, how about you actually think why he WOULD send more troops. Why don't you go to the nearest military base/recruiter station and give a speech on being against more. See what happens. The additional soldiers will make our existing forces safer. When is the last time you had a weapon in your hand and being shot at? After you go through a year of that, come back and we will talk. When you say increase in body count, that will happen either way until we actually win the war. A soldier is not trained to stay at home and use millions of dollars worth of equipment, and do nothing. We have the military to we can fight against the enemy forces.
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