casca, that’s dumb. Goebbels was Nazi propoganda minister. This is a civic discussion of politics in a free democracy. What a dumb comment.
I challenge you to rebut: Obama is a realist who is taking conservative foreign policy positions. So we can be clear on what ‘conservative’ means, building nation states in the Middle East is not CONSERVATIVE. Nor does it seem to be working out too well.
surveyor, I don’t know about the “bomb that hit Pearl Harbor”. I find it really hard to believe a graduate of Columbia (I am one), and Harvard Law (cum laude) as well as US Constitional Law professor doesn’t know the history of Pearl Harbor. Sounds to me like you’re making shit up.
As for the ‘surge’, it hasn’t worked. The purpose of the surge was to provide breathing room for the Iraqis to make political progress. That hasn’t happened. We did our part, they didn’t do theirs. This was predicted and has occurred.
What is our mission in Iraq, exactly? Is our goal is to have a permanent military presence and be the police force for the state of Iraq? It isn’t feasible nor is it strategically desirable.
As for the facts on the ground in Iraq, I find it hard to believe an extra 30,000 troops has made a good deal of difference. It is more likely due to changes that have resulted from Petraus’ command, changes in our tactics, additional emphasis on non-military aspects, re-alignment of internal Iraqi politics, paying off the tribes to lay low (for the time being), separating ethnic factions with security barriers, etc.
Larger point: hanging the direction of our overall Middle East foreign policy on the outcome of something as tactical and targeted as “The Surge” misses the forest for the trees.
Our chief enemy remains Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as East Africa, with support from Saudi Arabia and other gulf states. Where the fuck is Bin Laden? Zarqawi? Resurgent Taliban. More troops killed in Afghanistan than Iraq last month. Until this fundamental problem with our larger Middle East policy is addressed, the whole Iraq debate is of little consequence.
Obama is a foreign policy realist and a conservative compared to Bush/McCain. I suspect we would make more actual progress in terms of American interests.
Thanks for the comments. Open to more discussion and debate.
