One of the highlights of the Netroots convention that ended yesterday was a panel on getting out of Afghanistan that included the threat by two House Democrats to work with antiwar Republicans to undermine the Obama war program in coming weeks.
Below I'm going to provide some of the back-and-forth from that panel to convey the intensity and eloquence of that leftwing criticism, at a time when the Congressmen said that the White House is reexamining its Afghan commitment. And if you don't read everything in this dialogue-- well, be sure to read General Paul Eaton's Arlington Cemetery story 1/2 way down.
REP. JIM McGOVERN of Massachusetts: "We’re being called by the administration and being told about all these successes in Afghanistan. 'We secured this village, this [other] one'… The question is, is any of this sustainable without a prolonged military presence? Everything we do requires us to be there forever... And I wouldn’t trust the government of Afghanistan to tell me the correct time, based on their record of corruption."
STEVE CLEMONS of the New America Foundation, and leader of an Afghan Study Group, pointed out that we are spending nearly $120 billion a year in a country that has a GDP of $14 billion. Couldn't that money be better spent than on military actions? Clemons named Republicans who are making hay by questioning Afghanistan, including Michelle Bachmann, Michael Steele, Ann Coulter, Bing West (a former Reagan Defense official), Grover Norquist, and likely presidential candidate John Huntsman Jr.
The White House figured that when leftwingers abandoned them on Afghanistan, they still had the right wing. But Clemons arranged for a poll of conservatives. "Once they knew of the costs, support collapsed."
MCGOVERN. "The president still hasn’t gotten it yet."
CLEMONS: "The president could be in an LBJ position." Nixon was elected to end LBJ’s war-- a war Republicans "could blame on the incumbent president."
JOHN GARAMENDI, Democratic congressman in the Bay Area of California: "That didn’t turn out well for our team, did it-- Vietnam... If the president doesn’t move… he will face a revolution in Congress … [of] 'hell no we’re not going'… It’s coming to that.
"It's really important what Jim said: you’ve got to get the message out now, because this decision is being made in the White House now, and they’re listening. They really need to listen to their base."
CLEMONS said that all American "strategic ambitions" around the world "are stuck because we’ve created a Moby Dick in Afghanistan."
McGOVERN: "The fundamental point [is that] … the killing of Osama bin Laden has created this moment for the president to pivot. … [we need to] light a bonfire to get him to move in the right direction on this… I'm not sure that there will be another time like this… [And] this is Barack Obama’s war, he owns it. He owns it because he called for a surge.
MAJOR GENERAL PAUL EATON, warning that what he was about to say was emotional:
"On Memorial day I went to Arlington Cemetery. My father was killed in Vietnam, and in the grave next to his is a soldier recently killed in action, and there were his mom and dad, and they were doing a recording of their feelings at that moment.
"And that is an active part of Arlington, Section 60, and other families were sitting there, some in chairs, some with umbrellas. No picnicking-- picnicking is not allowed. But there was .... a mother with scissors trimming the grass around the headstone of her child...
"If I were asked, could I justify what has happened very recently to Americans who were killed in what we are talking about?… Every operation order has a Why. It’s an emotive event but really part and parcel of what we’re talking about."
DARCY BURNER, former congressional candidate, Microsoft executive, now a Netroots leader, said that if she were "going to wave my magic wand" for 2012, she would create a very short online video with General Eaton’s story of Arlington, and the fact that the Afghan war is costing us nearly $120 billion a year, and the statistics on how many teachers we are laying off this fall. Then air that video in states Obama will have to win in 2012.
"He will lose the election if the Republican candidates are calling for an end to the war in Afghanistan and progressives are calling for an end to the war in Afghanistan, and he is wrong on the issue."
GARAMENDI: "How did Barack Obama become a credible candidate? Iraq... Is Barack Obama Lyndon Johnson and is Michelle Bachmann Richard Nixon?"
McGOVERN: "We need to find more conservatives and Republicans. … Progressives in Congress [have been] cheap dates in terms of standing up on this issue… We’ve been too quiet for too long… [We can] halt the debate on the Defense Appropriations bill on this issue." When Bush was president, Republicans said they didn’t want to alienate one of their own on the Iraq war. "But that time is over for progressives… It is time to speak loudly and clearly and demand a fundamental change in this policy."
DARCY BURNER: "I am of the opinion and this is my opinion, that the fundamental human rights of every human being on this planet ought to be a priority for all of us.... And the idea that cultural differences ought to be a reason for us to deprive people of fundamental human rights… doesn’t fly with me.... How do we end the war in Afghanistan… and how do we pursue the protection of basic human rights for everyone on the planet..."
MCGOVERN: "The status quo policy is the wrong policy and it's bankrupting us, it's undermining our moral authority, it's undermining our national security interest. It's not doing anything that it is supposed to be doing."
LBJ had the lie-based Tonkin resolution Obama has the lie based wars in Iraq; Afghanistan and Libya.
America is talking to the Taliban , according to the Guardian.
Yes, because we never negotiate with terrorists!!!
Or the Taliban are not terrorists anymore as we upgrade them so we can get the hell out of that country?
The US is talking to the Taliban because, for all intents and purposes, they are winning. The Pentagon went in expecting to win handily the war of conquest and were completely clueless that what they were buying into was a war of attrition. Doesn’t help, you know, that the Pentagon can’t wrap their heads around the fact that killing so many civilians wholesale will never make you “the good guy” in the eyes of the occupied.
Oh, man. Darcy Burner really spoke for me. This is so true of how I feel. This makes my back molars grind. I am soooo fed up that this thinking is not front and foremost on everyone’s forehead: “I am of the opinion and this is my opinion, that the fundamental human rights of every human being on this planet ought to be a priority for all of us…. And the idea that cultural differences ought to be a reason for us to deprive people of fundamental human rights… doesn’t fly with me.”
I truly despise despise that the idea of cultural differences are a reason to impoverish, destroy, or limit the other.
But now my government is doing it to me. In my name. Both here and globally.
The frustration of not being heard about this is overwhelming.
But at Netroots lets not bring up Palestinian human rights issues…no no no. Phillip did anyone even whisper about the contradictions?
In regard to the US allegedly standing up for human rights in Libya but not Bahrain, West Bank, Gaza ,Saudi Arabia etc the Obama administration repeats “well one size does not fit all” As if human rights stances are like fitting people for a pair of shoes
You just discover a major oil deposit under the WB and voila`, Washington will notice the Gaza immediately.
Hypocracy is the major trademark of any politician, then comes the ability to lie and cheat. Not to forget the kiss to the backside of the moneybags.
Natural gas has already been found under the Mediterranean in the waters off Gaza: Border Focus: Eastern Mediterranean:
New Gas Field Discovered Between Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon & Gaza Strip:
More from the first of those two articles:
DITTO MRW @ June 20, 2011 at 10:12 am
Those Republicans that you mentioned see Afghanistan as an opportunistic way. A wedge issue. Peel some voters off.
“DARCY BURNER: “I am of the opinion and this is my opinion, that the fundamental human rights of every human being on this planet ought to be a priority for all of us…. And the idea that cultural differences ought to be a reason for us to deprive people of fundamental human rights… doesn’t fly with me…. How do we end the war in Afghanistan… and how do we pursue the protection of basic human rights for everyone on the planet…”
Except the Palestinians. Don’t go near that issue. Netroots has done panels on AFghanistan numerous years. Not afraid to touch that issue. Popular
link to juancole.com
Gates confirmed that the US State Department has for the past few weeks been negotiating directly with the Taliban. He seemed to expect something eventually to come of those negotiations. NATO allies are afraid that the US will go for a quick fix at the upcoming Bonn conference. It should be noted that the US government probably had preferred that those negotiations remain secret, but they were outed by our erratic and often hateful so-called ally, Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai.
The impression I get from reading the Financial Times is that the Europeans would be delighted if we find a way to leave Afghanistan.
Read european papers to get info what the europeans would like to do and there is absolutely no hint of such a wish.
At least not publicly spoken out yet.
Not sure about that, Kathleen. Seems as if it might be an intentional leak, to give the American populace a sense that Obama is reducing the presence of American soldiers in Afghanistan. Beware, it’s just another head fake. The military will simply be shifting resources to Libya, Syria and Iran. Infowars.com has the details from sources in Fort Hood that the military plans a ground invasion of Libya in October.
Meanwhile, the USA is technically insolvent, with Japan, China and Russia dumping our debt at an accelerating pace, and Bernanke printing money to buy our own Treasurys. Wake up, everyone –
They have to be looking at how much more it would cost the US if there is another 9/11 type of event…if the US pulls out of Afghanistan. Think it is going to be a long haul and lots of money going to Afghanistan for years to come
But how likely is another 9/11 event if we do pull out, especially if a condition of the deal under which we pull out is that the Taliban agree not to allow such an event?
(Bear in mind, Afghanistan is not needed anyway for pulling off such an event.)
The Taliban had nothing to do with 9/11. The three main reasons stated by terrorist, CIA analyst both former and present, historians of the middle east, former weapons inspectors, leaders in the area etc are.
1. US support for dictators in the region
2. US support for Israel no matter what they do
2. US military bases on Muslim holy land
Now we either respond or we don’t. Clearly with the blessing of the Obama administration and our MSM (which covered the Arab Spring except in Bahrain, protest in Saudi Arabia, decades long Palestinian protest) covered persistently
But nothing changing on the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
The US military bases have been moved around over there.
Al Queda looks for poor and suffering regions of the world to set down roots. Clearly there are plenty of those areas but Afghanistan having been and still can be that territory.
I was totally against the invasion of Afghanistan. As well of course of Iraq based on what so many experts like Scott Ritter and others were saying about the validity of the WMD intelligence. But once in Afghanistan…I am not so sure about puling out. Not that my opinion matters at all. The Afghani people have suffered so long so long. I actually believe in nation building in that country with Afghani leaders and the people taking the lead. Deciding where funds should go and stringent over sight.
First day of Obama Presidency, Obama meets with the Generals.
General :”But, Mr. Commander-in-Chief Your Honor, Sir, that’s what happened with that dummy Bush in charge. With a genius like you in charge, we’re sure to win in Iraq and Afghanistan, and win gloriously!
Obama: “You know, I like the way you think! You’re right. Let’s keep the wars going, with me in charge, how can it not turn out sucessfully?”
Generals, to themselves: “Geez, what an easily minipulated chump he is.”
Damn, Mooser as much as I love, oh do I love Obama, I think you capture the dynamic here. He is no more than another chump. The MIC know exactly how to manipulate any person who may have achieved the exalted status of CIC.