Juan Cole: The president sounds like he's channeling Cheney or McCain

[bigtree]

Mar. 30, 2009

Obama's domino theory
The president sounds like he's channeling Cheney or McCain -- or a Cold War hawk afraid of international communism -- when he talks about the war in Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama may or may not be doing the right thing in Afghanistan, but the rationale he gave for it on Friday is almost certainly wrong. Obama has presented us with a 21st century version of the domino theory. The U.S. is not, contrary to what the president said, mainly fighting "al-Qaida" in Afghanistan. In blaming everything on al-Qaida, Obama broke with his pledge of straight talk to the public and fell back on Bush-style boogeymen and implausible conspiracy theories.

Obama realizes that after seven years, Afghanistan war fatigue has begun to set in with the American people. Some 51 percent of Americans now oppose the Afghanistan war, and 64 percent of Democrats do. The president is therefore escalating in the teeth of substantial domestic opposition, especially from his own party, as voters worry about spending billions more dollars abroad while the U.S. economy is in serious trouble.

He acknowledged that we deserve a "straightforward answer" as to why the U.S. and NATO are still fighting there. "So let me be clear," he said, "Al-Qaida and its allies -- the terrorists who planned and supported the 9/11 attacks -- are in Pakistan and Afghanistan." But his characterization of what is going on now in Afghanistan, almost eight years after 9/11, was simply not true, and was, indeed, positively misleading. "And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban," he said, "or allows al-Qaida to go unchallenged -- that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can."

Obama described the same sort of domino effect that Washington elites used to ascribe to international communism. In the updated, al-Qaida version, the Taliban might take Kunar Province, and then all of Afghanistan, and might again host al-Qaida, and might then threaten the shores of the United States. He even managed to add an analog to Cambodia to the scenario, saying, "The future of Afghanistan is inextricably linked to the future of its neighbor, Pakistan," and warned, "Make no mistake: Al-Qaida and its extremist allies are a cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within."



read more: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/03/30/afghanistan/print.html

[NeedleCast]

1. Daily Obama = Bush Thread

Check...

[bigtree]

3. myopic

[burythehatchet]

6. too kind an adjective

[Mithreal]

7. Exactly, murderous and warmongering. nt

[Mithreal]

5. You really would character assassinate Juan Cole? Omg, get real.

Peace and policy before politician.

Killing done in President Obama's war is sacred, right? And yes, I am calling Afghanistan his war, not America's war. America's war should be to bring jobs back to this country for the unemployed, house the homeless, feed the hungry and heal the sick.

No more killing.

[NeedleCast]

14. Sorry to Gore your sacred cow

Sorry you haven't gotten your pony yet.

[Mithreal]

24. Do you care to persuade or elaborate? Do you understand ad hominem?

I am willing to have a discussion but I don't see your point, honestly. And was there a reason you capitalized Gore?

Juan Cole is a respected Middle East expert. Nothing I think about him makes him my sacred cow and I never wanted a pony.

Go in peace and bring a better post next time.

[Zhade]

31. Juan Cole knows more about the Middle East than you could ever HOPE to know.

NT!

[frylock]

28. kill the messenger

[ima_sinnic]

2. kick & rec for the "change" that never comes

the "change" that exists only in some clever copywriter's box of cheap political tricks.

[mike_c]

4. meet the new boss...

...same as the old warmonger. I don't know who Obama is playing that song for. Certainly not for most democrats, which begs the question: whose tune is he dancing to? He has pledged to keep us committing war crimes in Iraq for at least another year and a half, almost certainly longer with an indefinite, open-ended occupation. He is buying the war of aggression against Afghanistan hook, line, and sinker. He's carrying water for the PNAC. It's his war now.

U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan NOW!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. Not to mention LBJ and Nixon. K&R

[high density]

9. Yes Obama is as dumb as Bush and Cheney and has no clue about history

We get it.

[bigtree]

10. you didn't get that from this article

[Captain Hilts]

11. A stupid phrase by Cole. nt

[bigtree]

13. impolitic, maybe

He makes a valid and important point, though, about the rhetoric and the rationale the president used to define his reason for continuing and escalating the military mission in Afghanistan.

[QC]

12. Juan Cole is an enemy of the people. n/t

[bigtree]

15. either with us, or against us?

brilliant.

[NeedleCast]

16. Juan Cole, On Afghaistan

Cole calls the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan "the right war at the right time," and credits it with breaking up a network of al-Qaeda training camps which posed a danger to the U.S.

(From Wikipedia)

[bigtree]

18. interesting

So, you don't believe he's reconciled his views since that statement with his views today (as well as with those expressed in the article)?

I think that if you want to credibly define his views on Afghanistan, Cole should be judged on the totality of his stated opinions.

[NeedleCast]

23. I don't know that he's changed his views since he made that statement

[glitch]

27. QC posts this for every criticism of Obama -- it's a parody of the cheerleaders' shouting down

of any criticism. He never uses the sarcasm tag so it is easy to miss the humorous intent.
I always get a chuckle from them.

[paulk]

38. that's sarcasm, imo

[MarjorieG]

17. Obama was a lot more nuanced than Al Qaeda's 9/11, increasing organization worldwide but

based in AkPak. To which Obama is sending more than military. As told to Schieffer, if violence increases or shows need for more troops, Obama said might not need more troops but something else. I think he could not just turn around and go with such unrest, part of another job Bush started and blew.

I think I will start to stay away, because even credible sources, like Cole, as well as DUers, are hasty and projecting. I would rather let Obama lead while I try to keep lever voting in NY. My angst here is not helpful to anyone, as are many others' comments.

[bigtree]

19. I don't think Cole is 'hasty' in his view

. . . he's been at this awhile.

[Liberal Veteran]

20. Well, I am just shocked President Obama is planning on continuing in Afghanistan!

I mean, after all, it's not like he told us that would be his position.

Except of course for the 8000 times he said as much on the campaign trail.

Did you think he was lying?

You'd think most of the people were living under a fucking rock if this comes as a shock to them.

Or it could just be that some PUMAs are still nursing their bruised egos.

[bigtree]

21. can't argue his points

. . . better to attack his character (and others)? Inspiring.

[Liberal Veteran]

22. No, what I am attacking is this "faux shock" over the President doing exactly what he promised.

[Ikonoklast]

25. We must let all the bruised egos have their "Daily Hate".

Some just never got past the primaries, or even took the time to listen to what was being said at the time by their own candidate, let alone Obama.

[readmoreoften]

32. You paranoid freaks who think this is about Clinton supporters are ridiculous.

Almost all the Obama criticism on DU comes from its largest faction--Kucinich and Edwards supporters--who (foolishly) trusted the "progressive genius keepin' his powder dry" narratives coming out of the Obama camp. Your attempts to pin Obama's pro-war garbage on a Clinton is like a page out of the Limbaugh handbook.

Imagine that!!!11!!! DU'ers don't want an escalation in war!! It's so unlike them!!! These anti-war weirdos must be CLINTON SUPPORTERS!!1111!!!!! :eyes:

(Of course Clinton supporters were generally anti-war, but, hey, why not spin reality to suit your paranoid fantasy...)

[Ikonoklast]

33. My, my.

Thank you for that.

Must have hit a nerve, as I never mentioned any names.

[newtothegame]

37. Why exactly are you here, if you're anti-union and pro-war? Oh yeah, you're here...

to desperately search for trolls. Sorry you're so miserable; do mommy and daddy know you use their computer?

[Odin2005]

26. Juan Cole = FAIL

[harun]

34. Odin = FAIL. Juan Cole should have been SoS.

[Occam Bandage]

29. Rarara, Obama is Bush, rarararara, rarararara.

[bertman]

30. Shhhhhhh!!!! Ya'll don't be sayin' nothin' bad about our President now. That's unMerkan.

[Juche]

35. The domino theory actually happened

The US pulled out of southeast asia in 1975, and Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos all went communist in the same year (1975).

I had high hopes for this article, but the fact that the guy thinks the domino theory of southeast asian communism is a myth takes away his credibility.

And I recall during the primary debates Biden basically was saying the same thing, Pakistan could fall if the region becomes too unstable. During the recent elections in Pakistan, only about 10% of the vote went to islamist parties, the other 90% went to more secular and moderate parties. So I agree that the idea that there is a groundswell of grassroots support for Islamic dictatorship is mostly a myth.

[Mari333]

36. the moneyed interests that run perpetual wars for profit

are still running the WH . they wont let anyone get in their way. no matter what party it is.

[Prometheus Bound]

39. Make no mistake. A year from now, maybe two, Taliban warships will be threatening the US homeland.

Let me be clear.

Make no mistake.

They want to kill us all.

We are fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here.

Blah, blah!