If Biden's Plan Prevails

[Kathianne]

This pretty much sums up my thinking. Considering how the first foray pushed al Queda into Pakistan from Afghanistan, to think they can't 'melt back' is preposterous on the face of it:

http://www.esquire.com/the-side/war-...trategy-101609

Why Joe Biden's War Plan Spells the Rebirth of Al Qaeda

Because you can chase the pests out of Afghanistan and into Pakistan all you want, but unless Obama really wants to clean up the world's most decrepit apartment, the parasites are just going to come back. A call for continued nation-building.

By: Thomas P.M. Barnett


Now that we know the damn kid was sleeping in his attic, can we return to Topic A? As in Afghanistan (and, lest anyone in the administration forget, Pakistan), for which Vice President Biden has been getting a lot of attention: Arianna Huffington is calling for his head, Newsweek is hailing him as a soothsayer, and most of America is wondering when the hell President Obama's going to make up his mind on "his war."

As I detailed here last week, it's a dangerous path for Obama to tread somewhere between "all-in" (Stanley McChrystal's method of controversy, with more troops, more nation-building, and more counterinsurgency) and "strategic disengagement" (Biden's weapon of choice, with more drones, more nation-leaving, and a refocusing on counterterrorism). On the one hand, I can almost see why the president would side with his veep: By essentially shifting "the good war" from Afghanistan to Pakistan, Obama purportedly saves money, lives, and support from an increasingly frustrated electorate. And when you've got Pakistan looking like a Harrison Ford movie after a Saturday military siege, a Monday car bombing, a Thursday police assault, and this morning's suicide attack as just the latest in a string of violence there, it looks good for an American president to ditch a Vietnam-like "quagmire" in Afghanistan for Al Qaeda-hunting in Pakistan. In effect, we'd be taking a "good-enough" outcome on one front for the promise for the limited liabilities of another front where the people don't really want us and the army's already going after the bad guys anyway.

Trouble is, Biden's logic ignores our past successes in Iraq, the current state of globalization, the future of Afghanistan, and, perhaps reinforcing all three, the haunting presence of Al Qaeda. If Obama submits to Biden, as I suspect he will, is there any reason to think America won't simply preside over the rebirth of Al Qaeda? Probably not. Whether it's Bin Laden and Co. or some successor entity, whether it's doubling back to a faltering Afghanistan or reconstituting itself in Central Asia's restive Fergana Valley or somewhere in the Islamic upper-half of Africa, it'll be back...

[Gaffer]

I think the dark lord made a smart move by appointing jokin joe as his vp. jokin joe is like a shield. An assassination of the dark lord would put jokin joe in charge of the country. A do nothin communist will be replaced by a buffoon.

[trobinett]

I think the dark lord made a smart move by appointing jokin joe as his vp. jokin joe is like a shield. An assassination of the dark lord would put jokin joe in charge of the country. A do nothin communist will be replaced by a buffoon.

Kinda like an insurance policy, only BETTER........

[bullypulpit]

So it was OK for the Bush administration to ignore Afghanistan while siphoning the resources needed to stabilize that benighted country off to a needless war in Iraq?

No matter what Obama does to clean up the flaming bag of dogshit on America's door-step that is Afghanistan...left behind by the Bush administration...The right will have nothing but scorn and derision. Why do y'all hate America?

[MtnBiker]

Maybe Obama should not have asked to be President if the decisions are too hard to make.

[Kathianne]

So it was OK for the Bush administration to ignore Afghanistan while siphoning the resources needed to stabilize that benighted country off to a needless war in Iraq?

No matter what Obama does to clean up the flaming bag of dogshit on America's door-step that is Afghanistan...left behind by the Bush administration...The right will have nothing but scorn and derision. Why do y'all hate America?

Afghanistan was not 'ignored.' Like Europe in WWII, it was decided for better or worse that Iraq was the first front.

[Joyful HoneyBee]

Maybe Obama should not have asked to be President if the decisions are too hard to make.

Ah-ha....now there's the real issue in a tidy little nutshell isn't it. It is easy to 'sound' decisive on the campaign trail, but much harder to 'be' decisive once that trail has led to the driver's seat.

At the risk of sounding crass, based on what I have seen, this president is more concerned with how his public image is perceived by everyone else in the world except for the people he has sworn to serve.

And, let's not forget, he did swear an oath to serve this country...not the other way around.

[Jeff]

So it was OK for the Bush administration to ignore Afghanistan while siphoning the resources needed to stabilize that benighted country off to a needless war in Iraq?

No matter what Obama does to clean up the flaming bag of dogshit on America's door-step that is Afghanistan...left behind by the Bush administration...The right will have nothing but scorn and derision. Why do y'all hate America?

Bully if I remember correctly he was going to pull all the troops out of Iraq and go after the REAL real war, ( wasn't that suppose to be a start of fixing what y'all say were GW's mess ups?) but has he done that, NO, what exactly has he done?

That's right he also promised to listen to his Generals, has he done that, NO, so again what has he done?

Your 100% right it is easy to throw stones at the opposite side for whatever they do, ya think maybe this why Obama does nothing ?