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Barcepundit (English edition) — ... HMMMM, let me guess what's missing from Obama's remarks on the new AfPak strategy: But this is not simply an American problem -- far from it. It is, instead, an international security challenge of the highest order. Terrorist attacks in London and Bali were tied to al Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan, as were attacks in North Africa and the Middle East, in Islamabad and in Kabul. Wait a minute... I know there's something missing... oh, that's right! > This is missing. > He needs better ...
Obamateurism of the Day
Hot Air » Top Picks —
... In announcing his policy about the prosecution of war in the Afghanistan-Pakistan theater, Barack Obama tried impressing upon listeners that al-Qaeda was not just a threat to America. He listed the major AQ attacks since 9/11, but he forgot someone in the roll call: But this is not simply an American problem — far from it. It is, instead, an international security challenge of the highest order. Terrorist attacks in London and Bali were tied to al Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan, as were attacks in North Africa and the Middle East, in Islamabad and in Kabul. If there is a ...
Guest Post by Katherine Tiedemann: Leaving Waziristan
The Washington Note —
... While releasing his newly-announced Afghanistan/Pakistan strategy review last Friday, Obama commented that, "Pakistan needs our help in going after al Qaeda....[and] we will insist that action be taken -- one way or another -- when we have intelligence about high-level terrorist targets in Pakistan." ...
Rogue state
Daimnation! —
Canada. Who'd a thunk it? Those Conservatives sure are, er, troglodytes in the Crvena Zvezda's madly spinning reportorial world. What would the Red Star's reporters have written if Prime Minister Harper had said these things?
[...]
So I want the...people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future. That's the goal that must be achieved. That is a cause that could not be more just. And to ...
Obama does want to defeat some Taliban, Mr Walkom--and Mr Harper
Daimnation! —
... Thomas Walkom writes, "Like Harper these days, Obama carefully does not talk of defeating the Taliban." Not quite. This is what he said in a March 27 speech: "There is an uncompromising core of the Taliban. They must be met with force, and they must be defeated." If only the prime minister would make that point to the Canadian people. ...
Ira Chernus: Requiem for the War on Terror
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... whether the result is a glass half empty or half full may lie in the eye of the beholder. In some cases, the new administration's policies still look amazingly like those of the Global War on Terror, sans the name -- most notably in Afghanistan, where President Obama is pursuing many of the same old goals with renewed force, and in Pakistan, where he is steadily widening Bush's war. Sounding a lot like Bush, in fact, Obama played the 9/11 card repeatedly in his announcement justifying his program of stepped up action in the AfPak theater of operations. ...
Afghanistan Mission Creep Watch
democracyarsenal.org —
President Obama, March 27th, 2009:
We are not in Afghanistan to control that country or to dictate its
future. We are in Afghanistan to confront a common enemy that
threatens the United States, our friends and our allies, and the people
of Afghanistan and Pakistan ...
Confused About Afghanistan
democracyarsenal.org —
... I feel like I'm sort of beating a dead horse on this one, but here again is what President Obama said in March about US goals for Afghanistan: ...
Afghanistan Mission Creep Watch
democracyarsenal.org —
... Watch we see a mismatch between operations and the strategy laid out by the President (or at least an overemphasis on building up the Afghan government's credibility) and a complete lack of resources to do population-centric counter-insurgency, particularly when it comes to Afghan troops. If we don't have civilian development and post-conflict reconstruction experts or indigenous Afghan soldiers then how exactly are we supposed to maximize any security gains made in Afghanistan? President Barack Obama, March 27th, 2009, describing the new US strategy for ...
Obama's Peril in Afghanistan?
FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right —
When Barack Obama took office in January, he swiftly moved to make his policy mark on the handling of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as the US's anti-terrorism campaign more generally. Declaring a full change in direction, he issued executive orders restricting interrogation techniques, closed Guantanamo Bay and other secrets prisons, and so forth. In another high profile move, the administration launched their revised Afghanistan policy in major Presidential address in March, which included a number of ...
Afghanistan Mission Creep Watch - The President Confirms It Version
democracyarsenal.org —
President Barack Obama on March 27th, 2009: So I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and
focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan
and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the
future. ...
Words Matter
democracyarsenal.org —
... He also said this in March "We are not in Afghanistan to control that country or to dictate its future. We are in Afghanistan to confront a common enemy that threatens the United States, our friends and our allies, and the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan who have suffered the most at the hands of violent extremists." ...
Will Obama Follow Through on his Afghanistan Promise?
The New Republic blogs —
On March 27, President Obama announced a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. This, in part, is what he said: Many people in the United States--and many in partner countries that have sacrificed so much--have a simple question: What is our purpose in Afghanistan? After so many years, they ask, why do our men and women still fight and die there? And they deserve a straightforward answer. So let me be clear: Al Qaeda and its allies--the terrorist who planned and supported the 9/11 attacks--are in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that al ...
None Dare Call It Nation Building
JustOneMinute —
... to provide the capability for a real counterinsurgency strategy oriented towards protecting the Afghan population. Is this so different a goal from last March? Last March Obam's political objective seemed to be to spin his "new" approach as a step away from Bush's misison creep and extravagant nation-building. Obama explained : The Times ...
Lib Blog: Afghan support was a political tactic
The Anchoress —
... administration should feel any more bound to what they said about this than all the other committments [sic] it has blithely turned aside in the interest of “pragmatism.”
Jim Geraghty:
We now know liberal bloggers never meant what they wrote about Afghanistan. We will soon know if the president meant anything he said about that war on the campaign trail.
Obama six months ago:
Al Qaeda and its allies — the terrorists who planned and ...
A Brief Timeline of President Obama’s Benchmark Statements on the “War of Necessity”
Flopping Aces —
... : As we develop our new strategic goals, we will do so in concert with our friends and allies as together we seek the resources necessary to succeed . March 27, 2009 : “…if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban – or allows al Qaeda 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.” ...
Profoundly inane quote of the day
Sister Toldjah —
... The average Democrat doesn’t like fighting wars. They don’t like using military force. They don’t just dislike collateral damage and civilian casualties and flag-draped coffins; they cringe at the concept of combat with citizens of another country, even when the president has declared: ...
Biden Defends the Indefensible
True North - Pointing Minnesota in the Right Direction —
... Mr. Vice President, President Obama's speech in March announced a new Afghanistan strategy. He made a strong case for what needed to be done. Here's what he said then: ...
Biden Defends the Indefensible
California Conservative —
... Mr. Vice President, President Obama’s speech in March announced a new Afghanistan strategy. He made a strong case for what needed to be done. Here’s what he said then: ...
‘This Administration Ended, Rather Than Extended, Two Wars’
Antiwar.com Original —
... of essentially being in on the president’s councils, and none of the advantages of offering our own advice. But I don’t see why we shouldn’t weigh in. Personally, I prefer not to leave the process to his speechwriters and advisors. What follows, then, is my version of the president’s Afghan announcement. I’ve imagined it as a challenging prime-time address to the American people. Certainly, the subject is important enough for such an address, even if the last time Obama did this, in March , it was via an unannounced appearance on a Friday morning. So here’s my President ...
Tom Engelhardt: The Afghan Speech Obama Should Give (But Won't)
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... What follows, then, is my version of the president's Afghan announcement. I've imagined it as a challenging prime-time address to the American people. Certainly, the subject is important enough for such an address, even if the last time Obama did this, in March, it was via an unannounced appearance on a Friday morning. So here's my President Obama -- in, I hope, something like his voice -- doing what no American president has yet done. Sit down, turn on your TV, and see what you think. Tom ...
