• Afghanistan,  Barack Obama,  Michele Bachmann,  Mitt Romney,  President 2012

    President 2012: Michele Bachmann on Afghanistan = “Stay the Course”

    June 22, 2011 /

    As President Obama announces Afghanistan tropp withdrawals, likely GOP Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann takes a different approach. Here is her statement in an interview with The Weekly Standard.

    On Afghanistan, I firmly believe that we are at a point where we’ve got to stay the course, and we’ve got to finish the job. Reports coming out of Helmand right now are positive. … David Petraeus, who wrote the book on counterinsurgency and on the surge strategy, is successfully prosecuting the surge.

    Now, President Obama has not told the story the way President Bush did. President Bush did let the country know where we were at, and I give him a lot of credit because when he was getting all sorts of invective pointed against him, he stood against the world for what he knew to be right in dealing with terrorism. And perhaps no other would have stood the way that he did. I give him great credit for that.

    Now in Afghanistan, we are making great progress. We have to win southern Afghanistan, then we have to go on and win eastern Afghanistan. I believe that we will be victorious, and we’ll end it. I understand why people are frustrated. I completely understand. But I do trust General Petraeus in that effort and in what he is doing over there. And I think that they are doing what we need to do.

    This is a constrast to both President Obama and the GOP’s Mitt Romney. But, it is a safe policy position and what Obama’s general are recommending.

    However, American voters are tired of years of war (on the LEFT and RIGHT) and the massive costs associated with them, especially with Osama Bin Laden’s death.

    And, remember Obama’s troop withdrawals will be modest at best.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 3rd on 14:02

    May 3, 2011 /

    These are my links for May 3rd from 14:02 to 18:15:

    • Dick Lugar: Obama ‘lacks vision’ on Afghanistan – The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Tuesday that President Barack Obama “lacks vision of success” in Afghanistan, fewer than 48 hours after Obama announced that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden.

      Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), who has been outspoken against American engagement in Libya, said the war in Afghanistan does not have a “strategic value,” after almost a decade in the region and with “al Qaeda largely displaced” from the country it once was concentrated in.

      =======

      That Obama does…..

    • President 2012: Mike Huckabee to Hold Washington Fund-raiser – Mike Huckabee isn’t making much noise these days about another presidential bid, but he’ll be in Washington Wednesday to raise money for his political action committee, Huck PAC, and to talk–very privately–about his 2012 intentions.

      The Capitol Hill fund-raiser will afford fans who can write a $1,000 check the chance to grill the former Arkansas governor about his drive to wage another campaign. In a voicemail message left this week with one potential donor, an organizer billed the event as “a small group discussing his potential run for president.”

      The event is being hosted by Rex Elsass, a Republican strategist who owns a political advertising company called the Strategy Group for Media.

      ======

      But, Huck cannot use the money for any Presidential run. So, the motivation remains unclear.

      Is he toying with the donors? Or is this a pre-emptive strike for the Presidency?

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for May 3rd on 12:40

    May 3, 2011 /

    These are my links for May 3rd from 12:40 to 13:49:

    • In-Sen: Richard Lugar Calls For Afghanistan Endgame – At a time when many Republicans are praising President Obama following the U.S. operation that killed Osama bin Laden, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) is doubling down on his effort to press the president on an endgame for the war in Afghanistan.

      "Clearly it would not be in our national security interest to have the Taliban take over the government or have Afghanistan reestablished as a terrorist safe haven," Lugar said in a Tuesday statement. "But the President has not offered a vision of what success in Afghanistan would entail or how progress toward success would be measured."

      On Monday, Lugar welcomed the news that bin Laden had been killed but said his death should also serve as a reminder. "The reported death of Osama bin Laden is welcome news, but it in no way eliminates the threat from the terrorism he espoused," he said. "This is another reminder that Americans cannot hide from global affairs."

      Lugar's questioning of the strategy in Afghanistan isn't new, but it shows that his team expects the news of bin Laden's death to bring more attention to the debate over the mission in Afghanistan.

      "If anything, the attack on bin Laden proves that maybe we are more successful and should be putting our money and resources in those kinds of operations wherever al Qaida is, which is in Yemen and in Africa and not necessarily in Afghanistan," said Lugar adviser Mark Helmke.

      =======

      The rationale for continued troop presence in Afghanistan may very well have disappeared with Bin Laden's death.

      Lugar is trying to bolster favor with voters in Indiana, while he best do that with domestic matters and then retire.

    • President 2012 Arizona Poll Watch: Mitt Romney 48% Vs. Barack Obama 44% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Arizona Poll Watch: Mitt Romney 48% Vs. Barack Obama 44% #tcot #catcot
    • Another Version of the Osama Bin Laden Courier Story | The Weekly Standard – Another Version of the Osama Bin Laden Courier Story
    • Another Version of the Osama Bin Laden Courier Story – Yet another version of how U.S. intelligence officials identified Osama bin Laden’s courier has been published. Again, we need confirmation from intelligence officials to determine which details are true. It is not at all clear at this point how this went down.

      The Associated Press reports that “detainees in the CIA’s secret prison network told interrogators about an important courier with the nom de guerre Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti who was close to bin Laden.” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed later “confirmed knowing al-Kuwaiti but denied he had anything to do with al-Qaida.” 

      A new tip came in 2004, when “top al-Qaida operative Hassan Ghul was captured in Iraq.” According to the AP’s account:   

      Ghul told the CIA that al-Kuwaiti was a courier, someone crucial to the terrorist organization. In particular, Ghul said, the courier was close to Faraj al-Libi, who replaced Mohammed as al-Qaida's operational commander. It was a key break in the hunt for in bin Laden's personal courier.

      Then, after al-Libi was captured in May 2005:

      Under CIA interrogation, al-Libi admitted that when he was promoted to succeed Mohammed, he received the word through a courier. But he made up a name for the courier and denied knowing al-Kuwaiti, a denial that was so adamant and unbelievable that the CIA took it as confirmation that he and Mohammed were protecting the courier. It only reinforced the idea that al-Kuwaiti was very important to al-Qaida.

      ======

      Read it all

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 21st on 06:09

    April 21, 2011 /

    These are my links for April 21st from 06:09 to 06:11:

    • Under Protest – Megan McArdle – Have you noticed all the huge antiwar demonstrations in the last twelve months?  Yeah, me neither.  It turns out that a lot of the energy for the movement seems to have been provided by Democrats who are a lot less worried about wars conducted by Democratic presidents.  Or at least who believe that advancing the Democratic agenda is much more important than trying to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  This is by no means the whole movement–but it was enough that once a Democrat took office, both the numbers at the demonstrations, and the organizational capacity of the movement as a whole, dwindled away to near-nothingness.

      Scott McLemee meditates on what this means:

      At this point it seems worth mentioning an insight by another friend whose education in such matters took place in the laboratory of the 1960s. For many years, he said, being engaged in antiwar activism or civil rights work meant going to events where, after a while, you were able to recognize almost everybody. Then one day he attended a demonstration and saw that something had changed. There were some familiar faces, but he had no idea who most of the people were.
      "That's how you know that the cause has actually become a movement," he said. "You look around and see a lot of new faces. It's no longer just the usual suspects."

      =====

      Read it all

    • Have you noticed all the huge antiwar demonstrations in the last twelve months? – MEGAN MCARDLE: “Have you noticed all the huge antiwar demonstrations in the last twelve months? Yeah, me neither. It turns out that a lot of the energy for the movement seems to have been provided by Democrats who are a lot less worried about wars conducted by Democratic presidents. Or at least who believe that advancing the Democratic agenda is much more important than trying to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is by no means the whole movement–but it was enough that once a Democrat took office, both the numbers at the demonstrations, and the organizational capacity of the movement as a whole, dwindled away to near-nothingness.”

      Yeah, it’s as if all that self-righteous moralism, and cries or war criminal and illegal wars and concentration camps at Gitmo was just a lot of lying, self-serving twaddle by people who really just wanted power for their team. Who knew?

      Well, some of us did. And pointed it out at the time. And, well, we’re going to keep rubbing it in now.

      ======

      You think?

  • Afghanistan,  Harry Reid,  Iraq War

    Harry Reid: The Afghanistan War is LOST or Something Like That

    April 14, 2011 /
    Nevada Senator and Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid proclaims the Iraq War is lost

    Not again! Harry Reid was already wrong about the Iraq War in the video above.

    Now, it is Obama’s turn in Afghanistan.

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressed doubt in the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan Thursday, saying, “I’m not confident it’s going to work.”In an interview that aired Thursday on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” the five-term Nevada senator said, “The president has indicated as commander-in-chief he is going to start drawing down the forces this summer.”

    Reid also noted the $100 billion the country is spending, calling it a “huge amount of money” that the nation “cannot continue to keep dumping” into the Afghanistan war.

    Sharing his respect for Gen. David Petraeus, commander of coalition forces, Reid said, “I’ve talked to General Petraeus…and he thinks things are going well.”

    “I hope it’s going well,” he continued. “But the American people have a … very short attention span.”

    Yeah, but not so short a memory or attention span that we cannot remember that YOU were wrong before and ready to quit in Iraq.

    Dingy Harry should stick to waking up Vice President Biden when he takes a nap during “The One’s” speeches.