An Interview With David Bromwich About Obama, Afghanistan

Radio Open Source:

David Bromwich seems to me better yet at Obama-watching than at press criticism. He can write with penetration of Barack Obama as an American almost-literary invention, and he can make you feel you're reading Nabokov on Don Quixote or Harold Bloom on Hamlet.

Read the whole story: Radio Open Source

Comments

[Salfana]

If President Obama would oppose his generals there would be a real revolution from the military and the press. War industry creates jobs and big money. To cut troops, arms, pentagon budget or trying to change the perpetual war culture that has now sets in the collective mind of the people would be a polarizing road with a lot of fear mongering. Some kind of political suicide. Where is gone our creativity to change this war culture or merchant of death country that we are. Why do we not get into creating jobs that would advance humanity?

We are a country that has lost its press. The only tool we have to educate and inform us. We fight wars with sanitized picture in a distant land and we do not care about the people and the vast destruction of their country. You must know the majority of the population in both wars had nothing to do with 9/11.

What has become of us that we would trust again those generals who mislead us in the first place.

Besides the Tilman's cover up, Gen. McChrystal was in charge of Iraq camp Nama . The red cross was never allowed to visit. Human Rights watch has testimonies from tortured Irakis. If you do not believe just google : Torture Iraq Gen. McChrystal. It was also covered by Jeff Stein of the HP.

Mr. Bromwich, I thank you for questioning the media and the wording they use to mislead us.

[nirek]

The Afghan people have a different view of Americans than we do, they see us as invaders . We want to think we are liberators and we are wrong. If Afghanistan invaded America I would resent it and take up arms against them. Why is it any different for them?

Nirek

[biabouman41]

What bothers me most about buildup in Afghanistan is (1) lack of an exit Strategy (2) Can we trust McCrystal's veracity. He misled the Secretary of Defense in respect to the death of Tilman and he is still dancing around the whole issue on what prompted him to mislead the nation about Tilman. Was he asked by the political operatives of the Bush Administration to mislead? Was he asked by the Haliburtons of war to augment the Tilman story? What were his guide posts on Tilman?

The problem is that if he mislead us because of his politics or other similar reasons, how do we know that his recommendations to the President today are untainted by a hidden agenda? By hidden bosses? We simply cannot trust that his recommendations are solely for the stated reasons. He is the wrong person for the position. To advise the President he MUST not have any challenges to his character.

I have been inclined to agree with the President's position on Afghanistan. But Mc Crystal being the chief architect bothers me greatly.

He should do the honorable thing and resign.

[nirek]

Fanned for your honesty and intelligence!
You are right, the general has a record of misleading and inaccurate information. I do not trust him or Gates for that matter..

Nirek

[scarab23]

"For Obama to do the courageous thing and withdraw would mean having deployed against him the unlimited wrath of the mainstream media, the oil interest, the Israel lobby, the weapons and security industries, all those who have reasons both avowed and unavowed for the perpetuation of American force projection in the Middle East."

In a nutshell, there it is. Our children will continue to be shot at and killed, IED's will continue to go off in their general direction in faraway lands, and it is all about what? Money Money Money.

[nirek]

Well said!
And oil oil oil, too.

Nirek

[OliverTwist]

Good analysis.

I still believe that exposing the corruption of the military and applying the rule of law against torture and looting - while a perilous path - may be the best option for preserving the republic.

[opprobrious]

David Bromwich makes an excellent point that will most certainly be ignored or pillared but not considered.

[iceage7]

All these pundits. Afghanistan was a war of neccessity. Had bush concentrated on Afghanistan instead of iraq may be we would have been out of there by now. Obama has to start from scratch. After 8 years things have changed and no war is static. One has to adapt with changing circumstances on the ground.

[opprobrious]

That's an interesting assertion. Was Afghanistan really a war of neccessity? The Iraq War was a breathtakingly stupid idea BUT I'm not sold on the idea that, had Bush not gone to Iraq, the US would be out of Afghanistan by now. My reason? I don't think the war in Iraq truly affects the problem in Afghanistan which is that Afghanistan is a black hole where empires get their a$$es handed to them. Beyond whether Osama Bin Laden could have been captured or not, you can't nation-build where there is no nation.