Obama's Very Own Perpetual War

I knew that McCain would be Bush-all-over-again. But I had hopes for Obama.I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. No longer. I've run out of excuses.

Seventeen thousand to Afghanistan. For what, precisely? The Taliban and Al Qaeda have been steadily gaining ground in Afghanistan- and in Pakistan. What has our military occupation accomplished in terms of inhibiting their progress? What is our strategy? I’ve seen no clear strategy put forth. What are we there for? Our original reason for entering Afghanistan was presumably to clear out Al Qaeda bases and to prevent the country from being a launching ground for terrorist attacks against the U.S. and our allies. Now we seem to be espousing the Neo-Con view of fostering a democratic government as opposed to an Islamic theocracy. I even heard Bill Clinton the other night noting that one of the reasons for expanding our involvement in Afghanistan is to fight for women’s rights, which are being violated by the Taliban. I am entirely supportive of women’s rights; but are we supposed to be protecting women’s rights in foreign countries by way of waging war? Is that a good reason to put American soldiers- men and women- in harm’s way? There are quite a number of countries where women’s rights are being violated. So should we invade them too? Is this the new Liberal/Neo-Con Joint Theory of Warfare? What are we actually accomplishing in Afghanistan? I haven’t the shadow of an idea. Does anyone? Does Barack Obama? Or is he just being carried away by the generals? And how many more lives is all this ambiguity going to cost? How many, President Obama? Do we know what we’re doing at all? And would the American people be allowing all this to happen if there were a draft and their children were being carried off to fight and die for incomprehensible reasons?

Well, take heart, Mr. President. You have gained a new friend. Ann Coulter was interviewed on Larry King this evening- and she likes you. She noted that you are carrying on George Bush’s policies very well indeed. We now have more never-ending war going on than ever. We’re “going forward” as far as war-criminality is concerned. Guantanamo still isn’t closed as far as I know. And as far as I can tell, renditioning has to date not been declared illegal. “Change you can believe in.” I guess if you can succeed in delaying long enough in setting things to rights you can leave it all for the next President to deal with. Meanwhile, same old same old. Never do today what you won’t do tomorrow.

I have to acknowledge that I’m a responsible party in all this. I voted for you. The one consolation I have is that McCain would no doubt have been even worse. Very comforting. The flag-draped coffins will continue to come home. Have you made a decision yet about allowing photos? You might want to confer with Mr. Bush.