Thursday, December 03, 2009

Obama Pleases the Neocons

By Robert Parry
December 3, 2009

President Barack Obama’s escalation of the Afghan War has upset many rank-and-file Democrats who had hoped for a more peaceful strategy, but Obama’s order to dispatch 30,000 more U.S. troops is being welcomed by neoconservatives, a group that has long favored U.S. military interventions in Muslim lands.

Read on.

3 comments:

JC Mackintosh said...

Obama is a neocon - or close enough.

Anonymous said...


So, in October 2003, Bush ordered an attack against Afghanistan


I think you're off by about two years there.

Bill from Saginaw said...

Every retelling of the now infamous tale how Osama bin Laden escaped from Tora Bora because Bush, Rummy, and Tommy Franks were so preoccupied with attacking Iraq should include at least a short reminder that Mullah Omar, head of the Taliban regime in Kabul, offered in October of 2001 to turn Osama, Zwahiri and their Al Qaeda cohorts over into the custody of a neutral Muslim state for trial under international law for their role in the 911 WTC attacks.

The Bush White House perfunctorily rejected this offer. In fact, they put a million dollar bounty on Mullah Omar's head instead. So much for exhausting your available diplomatic options before letting slip the dogs of war.

Ever so often even today, you will find references in the mainstream US media to how the Taliban's "refusal" to stop harboring bin Laden and associates left the US with no choice but to invade. This is actually the complete reverse of historical reality.

Eight years later, Afghanistan remains what it always was - a war of choice, not necessity, and a very dumb one at that. The blowback will not be pleasant.

If you think the neocons are happy now, just wait until they can blame the next terrorist attack on American soil squarely on Barack Obama's botched escalation plan.

A tragically dumb war, refueled from West Point by tragically dumb political decision making.

Bill from Saginaw