Authors Of Iraq War Push Obama On Afghanistan

The neoconservatives who provided the intellectual foundation for the war in Iraq convened on Monday to make a renewed push for the current administration to pursue greater military engagement in Afghanistan.

Hours after it was reported that military officials are advising President Obama to send up to 40,000 more American troops to the eight-year-long war, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney joined the intellectuals at the Foreign Policy Initiative forum to declare any future policy debate moot.

"This is not the time for Hamlet in the White House," said Romney, mocking President Barack Obama's appeal for more time to decide the best course forward for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

"Hopefully he has had the time to deal with the issue of Afghanistan," Romney added. "He will make the decision, which is called for by as great a team of military minds that has ever been assembled for a conflict like this... This team is unanimous. They have developed a strategy that is consistent with his principles. How in the world can he at this stage be saying what he is saying?"

Speaking before the FPI -- a group headed by many of the chief intellectual authors of the war in Iraq, including The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol, renowned neocon Robert Kagan, and former adviser to the Coalition in Iraq Dan Senor -- Romney's remarks were filled with other carefully-worded criticisms of Obama's foreign policy. The president had shown himself to be "a reluctant and timid defender of freedom," was pursuing a "dramatic" and "revolutionary" departure from previous approaches to global affairs and was alienating our allies in an effort to placate emerging international forces, argued the former Massachusetts governor argued.

"All politicians are in love with love," Romney said of the alleged "neutrality" that Obama had brought to U.S. diplomatic relations. "I think it flows in part from the sense that is growing in a lot of foreign policy circles that America is in decline. And that is inevitable that other great nations will surpass America and therefore the job of the president of the US should be to manage America through decline and make sure that we are in good stead with the Chinese and the Russians and these other contenders."

And yet, for all the foreign policy machismo and rhetorical platitudes offered by Romney, a countervailing truth seemed to temper his and others remarks. On the topic of Afghanistan, Obama and the neocons are far closer to one another than they are apart. The president, to date, has pursued policies that even former rivals like Sen. John McCain, (R-A.Z.) and Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.) have cheered.

At an earlier panel at the FPI forum, the president was urged once more to follow the recommendations that his top military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, laid out in a 66-page assessment of the situation in that country.

"The primary objective [in Afghanistan] is to protect the United States" from another 9/11," said Rep. Mark Kirk, a Republican Senatorial candidate in Illinois. My job, Kirk added, is to "make sure that everyone in [Chicago's] Sears Tower can come home tonight."

But others were more accommodating of the president's desire for deliberation, noting the need to build up public support for the endeavor and the long-term implications of any additional troop commitment.

"The support of the American people is the center of gravity for the next ten years," said Brig. Gen. Mark T. Kimmitt, USA (Ret.). Given the extent of the commitment hoped for, this "is going need some deliberation," Kimmitt said, "we don't want to see a rush to failure."

Comments

[jimmygee]

11:32 AM on 09/23/2009

Romney of all people deciding how a war should be fought when he opted out military service and encouraged his four sons not to fight for their country. What a hypocrite.

[magiart1]

08:56 PM on 09/22/2009

Part two...

Few wish to face this soul-withering reality - I was a G.I. Joe long ago and I KNOW because, like all of us, my ears have no lids and my eyes don't lie and my mouth, after forty years, is incapable of expectorating the vile taste of this reality.

'Obama', they demonically allude 'we hope that you too DON'T wish to die young like Kennedy' and they continue - 'If you don't care, in your foolish, youthful, idealistic enthusiasm, about dying young, there's always a Lyndon Johnson cum Joe Biden waiting in the wings who, in their fear and complacency, don't wish to die...who WILL do our bidding, ha, ha, ha.'

Believe what you want out there - belief is but a hopeful wish that comments like mine are 'conspiracy theories' and not based on the truth...Ah, but do you have FAITH that they're not?

[lonbwoy]

03:36 PM on 09/22/2009

Obama has to either send more Troops or, bring the Troops Home!!. No Half-Hearted approach.

[lonbwoy]

03:34 PM on 09/22/2009

Hold on a sec, didnt Obama call Afghanistan the Necessary War????.

Either give them more Troops, or get the Hell out, No voting present here!!

[bilmardre]

02:41 PM on 09/22/2009

Are the troops the pawns in this neo-con game?

[Tim303]

02:09 PM on 09/22/2009

I see they are trying the "Not enough helicopters" stunt like their conservative Brit counterparts.

[greybeardgray]

12:21 PM on 09/22/2009

Point/Counterpoint (CONT.): ... (3) The suggested linkage to
some kind of 'Health Care' push, is our real security question; the apparent
end-around being danced through in Washington is more than an 'Open Door' policy,
or 'give-away the store' philosophy (although it might provide some immediate relief
with the 'mortgage crisis' and the back-up of certain U.S. elements' bills). But uh,
"what about that appeal process provision for suspected illegals, or those with
citizenship concerns under commander-in-chief Obama's endorsed version of 'health
care reform'?" In closing, if I might be brief, my suggestion related more toward
whether 'battlefield' debate is the proper venue for that activity (debate); and for
Bob Woodward, what's the line on who's going to ride the 'white horse'? Sounds like
a juicy item!!! jaj-gbg.

[greybeardgray]

12:18 PM on 09/22/2009

Point/Counterpoint: by joel a jones [In Re: Yesterday's Huffington Post comment.]

" ... Another Clinton veteran with experience in national security matters was not so
sure, however, that Obama wasn’t helped by a piece that lays the public ground for
an inevitable troop escalation. “This thing has to have some airing and consideration
by the public — so in the tactical sense, there’s a benefit to considering it,” the
official said." [http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090922/pl_politico/27414]

Apparently there are some recent developments, since my parody of
Editor-In-Chief, Perry White's, expert assessment of the 'tug-of-war waltz and
quagmire', which is the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The above-referenced
article has prompted me to make clarifications on the ultimate aim of that post on my
Huffington Post and Facebook, personal accounts. While the 'tug-of-war' technique
might prove helpful in settling a domestic debate over hypothetical scenarios, the
very real facts are: (1) The American public is being bombarded and inundated with
volumes on both of these conflicts, along with devastating figures as regards loss of
human life as well as assets. (2) The rising 'fear factor' of Homeland Security is
leaving us all but 'secure in our persons' domestically. (... to be cont.)

[jaggededge]

11:27 AM on 09/22/2009

so i guess afghanistan was going GREAT, until that darn obama got in there

just ask pat tilman's family

[lightningbolt]

11:22 AM on 09/22/2009

Bush failed in Iraq and Afghanistan and we must withdraw now before the economy collapses.

[Littlewords]

11:15 AM on 09/22/2009

The neo-cons had an unabated seven year run at this. Over this time they:

1) never caught Bin Laden
2) never gained control of Afghanistan
3) never eradicated the Taliban
4) never gained control of the boarder with Pakistan
5) never got the number of troops right
6) never stayed focused on Afghanistan, instead advocated Iraq war (mother of bad decisions)

Yet with great self confidence and self importance they have the gall to step up publicly and trash the handling of this delicate area by the new president in his first months in office.

Only a neo-con is able to remain blind and impervious to the reality of their choices, the consequences of their failed decisions, and the problems resulting from their bad policies. All the while spitting venom and living in denial that anyone could have a better way forward.

Ah, the ever delusional pontificating dangerous wind bag that is the American neo-con.

[bilmardre]

02:42 PM on 09/22/2009

Amazing, isn't it?

[tnkeating]

04:04 PM on 09/22/2009

Its 9 months, and yes we expect Obama to step up to the plate and support our troops, there is no domestic issue more important than our troops. Obama needs to let the proffessionals handle the war, he couldn't find his ass in the dark, he has already replaced the commander and set policy, now he wants to revisit his decisions, sounds to me like he has no plan. In the past we had a war that the politicians tried to run, it was called vietnam, and it was an abortion. Lets not make that mistake again. Mister President do the job you took an oath to do.

[Littlewords]

04:38 PM on 09/22/2009

What he seems to be working is A) a definition of success that does support the military and the nation B) how best to execute against that definition.

The definition from the predecessor was ambiguous at best and more aimed a blowing in the wind like a reed, ever changing and ever elusive. I don't fault the president in wanting to clean up our terms of success prior to launching forward. He seem to be consulting with the military advisers on this extensively. While all want this moving faster, at present, the main thing is getting it right which is far more important to moving faster. Afghanistan is already a full blown complicated mess. On behalf of the "troops" let's focus on getting it right this time.

[factotem]

11:10 AM on 09/22/2009

Not a surprise. The smartest thing they could do is use Obama's naivete to force him into an international crisis. The domestic micro-dramas aren't changing anything.

[fallingsky]

10:51 AM on 09/22/2009

this was the GOOD war that Obama campaigned on,,, These were his handpicked generals ,,,, he is now playing politics with the troops that are there now

[jaggededge]

11:22 AM on 09/22/2009

hand-picked generals? he's playing the hand he was dealt, unfortunately with the only cards he has

[fallingsky]

11:27 AM on 09/22/2009

bs ,,, he fired the Bush guys and these are his .. And now they are telling him what needs to be done and he is playing politics,,,,, this ain't an SEIU/ACORN scandal he can deflect

[Housewife]

10:20 AM on 09/22/2009

This from the king of flip floppers. He must be looking in a mirror. I love with love. Who does that sound like?

[frappe]

09:23 AM on 09/22/2009

The neocons are a hemorrhoidal footnote on the buttocks of history.

[Littlewords]

09:37 PM on 09/22/2009

They are infected boils that continuously spew puss onto the body of the nation.