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Obama uses V-word in Afghan speech, and we don’t meanvictory

By Tabassum Za karia ( Front Row Washington )

Submitted at 12/1/2009 7:35:51 PM

President Barack Obama utteredit four times inhis speechatWest Point about the wayforward in Afghanistan.It was the V-word that is oftenlinked with the Q-word thatconjures up the ghost of a pastwar that still is a raw wound inthe American psyche.Obama charged head-on to tryand address one of the key fearsfor Americans about continuedinvolvement in an overseas warby saying that Vietnam, oftendescribed as a quagmire, was notAfghanistan.Invoking Vietnam is usuallyavoided when trying to make thecase for war. But apparentlyObama believed saying it outloud would helpconvincetheAmerican public of the need tosend 30,000 more troops to a warthat has lasted eight years.Obama addressed critics whosuggest Afghanistan is anotherVietnam and that the UnitedStates should cut its losses andrapidly withdraw. “I believe thisargument depends on a falsereading of history,” he said.And he gave the followingreasons for why the two wars arenot alike:“Unlike Vietnam, we are joinedby a broad coalition of 43 nationsthat recognizes the legitimacy of our action.Unlike Vietnam, we are notfacing a broad-based popularinsurgency.And most importantly, unlikeVietnam, the American peoplewere viciously attacked fromAfghanistan, and remain a targetfor those same extremists whoare plotting along its border.”Obama gave a timetable forstarting the withdrawal of U.S.troops from Afghanistan in July2011, but with a caveat that hewould be “taking into accountconditions on the ground” (aphrase his predecessor PresidentGeorge W. Bush often used inreferring to withdrawing troopsfrom Iraq).That appeared to leave the doorwide open for adjusting thetimetable when the time is up.Former CIA analyst BruceRiedel also used the V and Qwords in talking about Obama’sstrategy.“This is a very bold gamble bythe president. It is a bold gamblefirst of all in terms of Afghanistan where we are in avery difficult situation. Thispresident inherits a quagmire,” hesaid.“It is also a bold gamble in termsof American domestic politics.His own party is increasinglydivided over this war. His liberal,Democratic base is increasinglytired of it and his own party ishaunted by the ghost of Vietnamright now,” Riedel said.“Wars tend to consumepresidencies and this is nowObama’s war.”Did Obama convince you thatAfghanistan will not be hisVietnam? Click here for more Reuterspolitical coveragePhoto credit: Reuters/Jim Young(Obama speaks to cadets at WestPoint)

Obama's Afghanistan Speech

( Little Green Footballs )

Here’s a thread to discussPresident Obama’s speech, andhere’sthe full text of thespeech…

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The First Draft: Afghanistan inspires Freudian slips about thatother battlefield - Iraq

By David M organ ( Front Row Washington )

Submitted at 12/2/2009 8:12:15 AM

President Barack Obama mayhave invoked Vietnam to banishthat ugly specter of defeat fromhis shiny new Afghan strategy.But a day later, Iraq seems to bethe wartime nightmare doggingtwo congressional veterans of theBush wars.Vice President Joe Biden, whowas a Democratic senator fromDelaware during Rummy’s“Shock and Awe” bombardmentof Baghdad, let the musings of his unconscious psyche slip outFreudian style in an interviewwithABC’s Good MorningAmerica.While refuting worries amongcritics that the Afghan strategy’s18-month timeline mightembolden the Taliban, Bidensaid: “How are they emboldenedknowing that by the time we trainup the Afghanis, we’re going tobe gradually handing off beginning in 2003?”2003 was the year of the Iraqinvasion. The big year for theObama plan is 2011.Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, long a forceful voice onmilitary policy, proved a bolderFreudian by actually mentioningthat other battlefield by name.“I support the president’sdecision to have a properlyresourced counterinsurgencystrategy with the addition of 30,000 troops, plus additionalcommitments from our allies, andI’m confident that we cansucceed in Iraq and come home.”…confident that we can succeedin Iraq…The U.S. was confident of success in Iraq long before theproverbial boots hit theproverbial ground. But the resultwas harrowing — aMiddleEastnation sentcareening to the verge of all-outcivil war, with U.S. troopsstanding in the middle.Biden and McCain may not beworried about anything like that.UPDATE: But as Neoavatarapoints out in the comment sectionbelow, the parallels betweenObama’s Afghanistan surgestrategy and George W. Bush’sIraq surge strategy are striking: atemporary infusion of about30,000 U.S. troops to imposesecurity in the hope that politicalreconciliation and securitytrainingwill gain momentum.It’s also noteworthy that Bidenand McCain didn’t turn Freudianuntilthequestionstouched ontimelines, an issue hotly debatedin Congressduring the height of the Iraq war.In fact, the mood seems fairlyupbeat about the Obama plan.That may be because U.S.military assessments have longcharacterized the Taliban as arelatively weak, rag-tagforcelargely lacking inthemartial skillsand materielthat former Iraqi army officersonce leveled at U.S. troops withhelp from Islamists from alQaeda in Iraq. And a similarstrategy worked in Iraq.Not that advocatesdon’t seepitfalls in Afghanistan.U.S. Army General DavidPetraeus, the architect of theIraqsurgewho is creditedwithpullingthat countryback from the brink, toldMSNBCthatthe Obama plan is realistic.Hethen held forth withcharacteristic prudence: “It willbe very challenging. There willbe nothing easy about it. Therehas been nothing easy.Afghanistan is hard and it’s hardall the time and we have our eyeswide open about that.” Click here for more Reuterspolitical coveragePhoto Credits: Reuters/JonathanErnst (McCain); Reuters/BogdanCristel (Biden); Reuters/JonathanErnst (Petraeus)

Apparently the writers of V have never used an iPhone in NYC

By Matt Burns ( CrunchGear )

Submitted at 12/2/2009 10:00:19 AM

AT&T is just plan awful in partsof NYC, but yet Tyler, from theABC showV, managed to getreception on his iPhone highabove NYC in a giganticspaceship. How is that possiblewhen I know for a fact that theiPhone is basically useless inmost parts of the city?Rubbish.Maybe, just maybe, we’ll findout in a later episode that each Vspaceship is actually part of anevil AT&T plan, but a side effectis that each ship actuallyimproves cellularreception. MostiPhone owners would probablywelcome alien overlords if theycould actually use their phonesaround New York, San Fran, LA,Boston, and the rest of the majorUS cities.Yes, I know this is one week behind as the episode aired lastweek. But I just watched it lastnight. Somehow I got one week behind.

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Senator Leahy takes Obama to task over landmines

By David Alexan der ( Front Row Washington )

Submitted at 12/1/2009 1:01:51 PM

With President Barack Obamapoised to order more U.S. troopsinto Afghanistan, a senior U.S.senator hammered theadministration Tuesday for not joining an international treatybanning landmines.“I think the Obamaadministration has made adramatic mistake in this area,”Senator Patrick Leahy, aDemocrat, said in remarks on theSenate floor. “This is not whatwe expected from thisadministration.”The Vermont senator, a longtimesupporter of the 10-year-oldinternational Mine Ban Treaty,said one argument the Pentagonmade for opposing the accordwas that it wanted to preserve itsoption to use landmines inAfghanistan.“Yet we have seen how civiliancasualties in Afghanistan havebecome one of the most urgentand pressing concerns of ourmilitary commanders, wherebombs that missed their targetsand other mistakes have turnedthe populace against us,” he said.“Can anyone imagine the UnitedStates using landmines inAfghanistan, a country wheremore civilians have been killedor horribly injured from minesthan any other in history, acountry which, like our coalitionpartners, is itself a party to thetreaty?” he asked.“Landmines cannot distinguishbetween an enemy combatant, aU.S. soldier, a young child or awoman out hunting firewood forher family. They do not belong inthe arsenal of any modernmilitary.”Leahy’s remarks came as a 10-year review conference on thepopular Mine Ban Treaty gotunder way in Cartagena,Colombia.Later Tuesday, Obama willunveil his new Afghanistan warstrategy, which is expected toinclude the deployment of 30,000additional troops.Some 260 square miles of Afghan territory arecontaminated by landmines,according to the 2009 LandmineMonitor, a report of theInternational Campaign to BanLandmines, which shared theNobel Peace Prize for its work tooutlaw the weapons.Up to 60,000 Afghans arethought to be survivors of landmine explosions.