Category Archives: Foreign Policy

Dying In Iraq For Naught

Foreign Policy, Iraq, War

“Master Sergeant Wheeler, 39, a father of four who was thinking of retiring from the Army, became the first American in four years to die.” (NYT) What did this good man die for? He died to “rescue” “20 Iraqi security forces, some local residents and apparently some militants whom the Islamic State suspected as being traitors.”

Totally worth it, right? WRONG. So wrong.

Hillary’s Winning; Bamboozles Benghazi Committee

Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton, Republicans

Hillary Clinton owns the Benghazi hearing, mainly because Republicans are both stupid and malevolent, concerned with self-aggrandized huffing and puffing and posturing.

A clever bunch of people would have arrived at the House Benghazi committee hearing with a surprisingly terse, focused and unanimous mandate. First, they would have disavowed the actual intervention in Libya. Predicated on the first, the second move would be a short proposition to Hillary. It would go something like this:

“You were the one, Madam Secretary, who cracked the whip at Foggy Bottom. It is our informed opinion that you had resolved to run the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, as one would an open community center. In contravention of the safety of our staff there, you meant above all to telegraph to the world that the war you and war-lords Samantha Power and Susan Rice launched was a success, when in fact, Madam Secretary, your gunpoint democracy in Libya has been as fruitful as G. Bush’s faith-based forays into Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now, let us trace the ‘stand down’ orders that issued from the mindset aforementioned. It will take an hour, not more. We don’t expect to squeeze much from you, but let us do those dead men our due diligence. … etc. …”

And pigs will fly.

Instead, Hillary, slightly rehearsed, but speaking in a calm, surprisingly sonorous voice, is showing herself to be a master bureaucrat, in command and able to memorize the ins-and-outs of her office at the time these poor men died waiting on her help.

A masterful performance by Mrs. Clinton; a fail to the generally flailing GOP.

Open-Ended Stay In Afghanistan For Da Legacy

Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, War

The latest in a series of similar decisions taken by Barack Obama, as to US presence in Afghanistan, is to “effectively leave the decision of when to end America’s 14-year military involvement to his successor.”

What’s at stake this time around? The same as last time: The lives of some of the finest men this country has to offer; the prospect of being killed and crippled for naught. That last line was penned here on 12.02.09

VIA TIME:

President Obama announced Thursday a significant slowdown in the pace of withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, scrapping his aim of leaving only a small U.S embassy-based force in the country when he steps down from office in 2017 …
As the Taliban insurgency in the country shows signs of renewed strength, Obama said the current contingent of 9,800 U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan through most of 2016. Their focus will be counter-terrorism and training Afghan forces. “Their mission will not change,” Obama stressed, following the ending of U.S. combat operations in 2014.

But instead of withdrawing by the end of 2016 all but a residual force to be stationed at the heavily-fortified US embassy in Kabul, Obama said 5,500 American troops will remain in the country at four locations around Afghanistan.

Calling the decision “the right thing to do,” Obama said that while Afghan government forces had stepped up and fought for their country, they were not “as strong as they need to be.”

“In key areas of the country, the security situation is still very fragile and in some places there’s risk of deterioration,” he said.

The President’s reversal reflects an increasingly troubling reality: 14 years after they were displaced by the U.S.-led invasion of the country, Taliban insurgents are staging a violent comeback. Meanwhile, against the backdrop of a much-reduced foreign troop cover—the current U.S. presence, for example, is down from a high of over 100,000 in 2011—there is little sign that Afghan forces are strong enough to defend the country from the insurgency. …

MUCH MORE edifying than the non-news media’s pandering is Barely A Blog’s Afghanistan archive:

“The Afghanistan Report the Pentagon Doesn’t Care If You Read” (2012)

“Obama’s Address on the War in Afghanistan” (2009)

UPDATED: Lowlights In Bite-Size Tweets From First Democratic Debate

Democrats, Economy, Elections, Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton

Democratic Debate lowlights from the latest bite-size tweet to the first:

UPDATE (10/4): These tweets got left out of my laborious, URL cut-and-paste from Twitter to Barely a Blog (we’re working on a plugin between the two cyber-places, for auto-propagation):