Category Archives: Afghanistan
Bokbluster Weekend NATO Editon
Last week President Obama assured member nations that NATO would defend them. Meanwhile, terrorists frolicked by the pool at the abandoned American Embassy in Tripoli.
Not NATO
On Friday Ukraine signed a ceasefire agreement with Russian separatists. Ukraine isn’t a NATO member. The only American military assistance it received where Meals Ready to Eat. Still it was making progress against the separatists. That is until Russian tanks invaded.
The beheading of two Americans seems to have concentrated the country’s attention on the use of military force. Even Rand Paul wants to wipe out ISIS. He says he’s always been in favor of war if it’s in the national interest. How far does the national interest go?
Pretty far, according to Robert Kagan and Victor Davis Hanson. They both made the same point that when you withdraw military power bad guys fill the vacuum.
Brett Bair interviewed three CIA contractors who were on the ground in Benghazi when Ambassador Stevens was killed. They say their station chief told them to stand down. Eventually they defied orders and fought the terrorists, some of whom may now be poolside in Tripoli.
Stupid Shit Obama Doctrine
When President Obama is not saying “the Bear is loose”, as he pretends to break the bonds of his keepers, he likes to say he “doesn’t do stupid shit”. Not doing stupid shit seems to be the Obama Doctrine. (I changed “shit” to “stuff” in the cartoon to get it in the newspaper. Harry Truman wouldn’t have given a shit:
Reportedly, at a speech to a Washington garden club, he kept referring to the fact that flowers need manure. Now, in those days, even the word “manure” was a little extreme for such ladies, and afterwards one complained to Mrs. Truman. “Can’t you get the President to say ‘fertilizer?’” “Heavens, no,” Mrs. Truman replied “It took me twenty-five years to get him to say ‘manure’.”)
Anyway, with 2016 approaching, Hillary decided to put some daylight between herself and Barack I. In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in Atlantic, the former secretary of state said, “Great nations need organizing principles. “Don’t do stupid shit” isn’t an organizing principle.”
Obama’s response? “That’s horse shit!”
Dana Milbank accuses our fecund fecal minded ruler of going on vacation “while the world burns”. “If not in the category of “stupid “stuff” it could fall under the heading of tone deafness.”
Even Obama agrees.
War is Ending
The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) apparently did not get the memo from President Obama that “war is ending”. ISIS is too violent even for al Qaeda. The group is leaving a trail of heads, removed with dull knives from policemen and soldiers, as it storms though Iraq toward Baghdad. Not a problem. As Daniel Henninger said this week,”Barack Obama is fiddling while the world burns”.
Barack Obama is fiddling while the world burns. Iraq, Pakistan, Ukraine, Russia, Nigeria, Kenya, Syria. These foreign wildfires, with more surely to come, will burn unabated for two years until the United States has a new president. The one we’ve got can barely notice or doesn’t care.
Bergdahl Not Left Behind
The U.S. swapped five Taliban commanders from GITMO for one hostage/POW (depending on whose definition you believe). That would be one jihadi for each of Bowe Bergdahl’s five years of captivity. The swap may have been illegal because the president failed to consult with Congress – something Jay Carney promised would happen a year ago.
The official government story was that Bergdahl was “captured on the battlefield“. His comrades say he either deserted or went AWOL. They also claim that lives were lost searching for him. The Washington Times say opportunities to rescue Bergdahl were declined on the grounds he wasn’t worth the risk.
Bergdahl Not Left Behind
President Obama justified the high price paid for Sgt. Bergdahl saying, “We never leave our men and women in uniform behind.”
Most Transparent Administration
President Obama promised us the most transparent administration in history. It hasn’t worked out that way. Leonard Downie, Jr., the former executive editor of the Washington Post, said, “the administration’s war on leaks and other efforts to control information are the most aggressive I’ve seen since the Nixon administration”. NYT reporter James Risen has called Obama “the greatest enemy of press freedom in a generation”.
But he’s getting better reviews from the Taliban, and not just because he gives them such great deals. They know when we are bugging out of Afghanistan because the president told them so. They might also know who runs the CIA in Kabul because the administration accidentally leaked his name.
