A Fateful Election

So his statement that the US must begin to "withdraw responsibly" from Iraq is suitably hedged by masculine avowals of the utility of bombing al-Qaeda bases in Pakistan and the necessity of expanding the war in Afghanistan. Obama has in this way greatly impaired his value as an educator of public opinion. So long as he vouches for the War on Terror"the larger "war we are in," as he calls it"he cannot possibly explain the hollowness of a war against terror-as-such, a war against a technique.

Obama's conformity is the more dismaying because"as Andrew Bacevich has recently pointed out"the US military is promoting a dangerous consensus about the Global War. Where the Powell doctrine required the use of overwhelming force, a clearly delimited mission, and an exit plan, the new Petraeus doctrine licenses a general militarization of US foreign policy. According to this doctrine, violent instability of any kind in any country by definition threatens American interests, and is to be crushed or tranquilized by the methods of counterinsurgency. Where Powell had justified self-contained interventions, Petraeus's doctrine can be used to justify war practically everywhere, all the time.

I quote the above from the second essay. It is a worrisome question about Obama. I would hope he might formulate a new philosophy once in office. - edgarblythe

edgar, Good points about Obama's tendencies to follow the Bush/McCain wars in the Middle East. It only creates more hatred against the US from those living in the Middle East seen as an intrusion and occupation. It only succeeds in prolonging the wars.

edgar wrote :



the whole world can only hope that the next president of the U.S. will have wise and knowledgeable counsel , to steer him away from a course that might lead him to a world where " might and war " would overshadow all else .
hbg

I'm afraid Obama will not be that president, because he's already seems to have made some commitments on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Do you not think we should crush the Taliban and pursue bin Laden?

No. Let those who lives in that area take care of the terrorists. The Sunnis did a pretty good job of turning against al Qaida in Iraq. When they get tired of all the destruction from the Taliban and bin Laden, they'll find them and do what is necessary.

Our intervention in Iraq only grew terrorists.

So, you would not have tried to retaliate after 9/11?

No, 9-11 was different; we should have stuck to getting bin Ladin. It's now six years later, and we're still stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan.