Obama will not withdraw from Afghanistan
To sincere anti-war people on the left: do you finally recognize that you were played? Did you really expect the President to pursue a different foreign policy? I hope you’re awake now, and will make your views known to your darling administrator.
But the signs were available all along. Remember the “debates” in 2008 when Obama talked about unilateral strikes on targets in Pakistan? Remember when both Clinton and Obama said “all options are on the table” with regard to Iran in December 2007? How about in July 2007, when Obama said we should focus on Afghanistan? I will quote myself from last year:
Please, voters, wake up and realize our foreign policy will not change with either of the establishment candidates. Our monetary policy will not even be spoken about by either of the establishment candidates. Our fiscal irresponsibility will not be addressed by either of the establishment candidates. The national debt will grow with either Obama or McCain. Troops will be sent all over the world with either McCain or Obama. Our civil liberties will disappear with either candidate.
Foreign policy does not change with a party label change. We will not withdraw from the East until the US is forced to by the inability to pay soldiers or to buy them supplies. Please consider Daniel Ellsberg’s prediction from last month.
I might add that Ellsberg was spot on with the idea that people were imagining Vietnam could have been won and the leadership would like to get it right this time. Newsweek’s cover last week is testament to that (if I could only find a link…).
Obama is supposed to deliver a speech today, announcing both an increase in troops and an exit for Afghanistan.
From VOA:
In a few hours, President Barack Obama unveils a new U.S. plan for winning the eight-year war in Afghanistan. The president is expected to announce a substantial troop increase, while also mapping out a path to bring America’s military involvement in Afghanistan to an end.
The increase in troops will happen. The exit will also happen, but not in the time frame he is talking about, and for economic reasons, not because it was planned. There is no planned exit.