Warmonger Obama
This post has been updated.
Illinois junior Sen. Barack Obama is trying to burnish his foreign policy credentials after what was seen by many as a faux pas when he agreed to meet with the leaders of rogue states Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea and Syria without precondition in the first year of his presidency.
Obama, who has proposed what would classify as a "precipitous" withdrawal from Iraq, announced today that he'd invade Pakistan.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would possibly send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists, an attempt to show strength when his chief rival has described his foreign policy skills as naive.
The Illinois senator warned Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that he must do more to shut down terrorist operations in his country and evict foreign fighters under an Obama presidency, or Pakistan will risk a U.S. troop invasion and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military aid.
"Let me make this clear," Obama said in a speech prepared for delivery at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al-Qaida leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."
Now, I must confess that I'm sympathetic to the idea of unilaterally going into the lawless frontier area of Pakistan and killing some Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists. However, I think this would probably be a bad idea with the potential to become a very bad idea.
Facts for Obama to consider:
- Pakistan is an ally.
- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been helping us in the war on terror (it's certainly debatable whether or not he could be more helpful).
- Congress has not yet declared war on Pakistan.
- The U.S. military is already stretched thin and this move would at best be putting the same number of troops that we currently have in combat -- something I thought Democrats uniformly opposed.
- Musharraf became president through a military coup. His rule is not the most stable in the world and a unilateral invasion by U.S. forces wouldn't really help his hold on power.
- Pakistan has nuclear weapons. Do you really want to do something to destabilize a country that has nukes and a substantial jihadi movement?
Democrats like to say that the Bush administration doesn't think things through. That may not be solely a Republican failing. Obama makes it seem that it's a political failing.
UPDATE
Shocker!
Courtesy of Barack Obama supporter jb1125 in the comments we discover that people who support Obama support Obama's foreign policy "plan."
Of course, none of the supportive comments address the possible dangers of violating the soverignty of an ally possessing nuclear weapons and a questionable grip on power.
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The Senator's plan has already drawn glowing reviews from leading foreign policy experts.
Lee Hamilton, former Democratic Congressman, Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission, Co-Chair of the Iraq Study Group, Member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council:
Senator Obama presented a thoughtful, substantive and comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy. This is an important contribution to the national dialogue on this leading issue.
Major General Scott Gration (USAF-Ret); Commander, Operation Iraqi Freedom’s Task Force West; Director Strategy Policy and Assessments, United States European Command:
Defending America will require taking the fight to the terrorists, and drying up support for terrorism and extremism worldwide. Senator Obama's counter-terrorism strategy shows that he is committed to developing the capabilities required to defeat terrorists on the field of battle, and that he has the vision to defeat the terrorists in the battle of ideas.
Samantha Power; author of A Problem from Hell: America in the Age of Genocide; Founding Executive Director, Harvard University Carr Center for Human Rights Policy:
At a time when Americans are despairing over the Bush Administration's handling of terrorism, Barack Obama has offered us a smart, tough and principled way forward. Where Bush overstretched our armed forces and sent them into an unnecessary war, Obama would heed the military's pleas for counterinsurgency resources and beefed-up civilian capacity. Where Bush lumped US foes together, Obama would pry them apart. And where Bush threw out the rule-book, Obama would again make America a country that practices what it preaches.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post_group/ObamaHQ/CpHR