Holbrooke is a Mistake

This is going to sound like heresy, considering that I worked so hard to get Obama elected, but his foreign policy so far leaves a great deal to be desired.

I disagree with his entire Afghanistan policy -- as I did before the election. I had hoped Biden might influence that for the better before Obama made a serious error. I wasn't pleased with Obama's naming Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State because, despite her many good qualities, her foreign policy views were not among them, to my way of thinking. Understanding the desire for a "coalition cabinet," I crossed my fingers.

Obama's naming Richard Holbrooke as special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan really takes the cake, however. It shows that the flawed policy remains firmly in place. Holbrooke, a neoconservative, was a Hillary supporter, so her influence might be all over this choice.

In an attempt to be rational about this, I considered what both conservatives and liberals have to say about him.

Right Web notes:

In making our predictions about Obama’s policies, many of us project our hopes and fears. Many opponents of the neoconservative agenda supported the Obama candidacy based on his opposition to the invasion of Iraq, stated willingness to dialogue with Iran and Syria, and apparent commitment to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Compared to the ideologues and fanatics who were recently in charge of U.S. diplomacy, Obama has seemed a staunch member of the antiwar camp. This explains much of the enthusiasm that he garnered among antiwar bloggers during the Democratic primaries, when he challenged then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, who had voted in favor of the congressional resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq.

But there is a certain element of wishful thinking in this image of Obama. Obama’s earlier opposition to the Iraq War corresponded to the constituency he represented as an Illinois State Senator. But he never proposed that his position on Iraq was grounded in any leftwing or progressive anti-interventionist principles. Instead, he reiterated several times during the campaign that he respected the realpolitik types who were responsible for the more traditional diplomacy of the first President Bush. In fact, the Wall Street Journal reports Obama consulted with one of these realist luminaries, former national security advisor Brent Scowcroft, about his foreign policy picks for the new administration.

Some hopes of progressive and libertarian antiwar activists were already dashed when Obama announced he would retain Robert Gates as defense secretary, and nominate Hillary Clinton as secretary of state and retired General James Jones as his national security advisor. The non-interventionists’s mood was probably not improved after reading reports about the potential role that former Clinton administration aides like Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross, or Richard Holbrooke — known for their pro-interventionist approaches — might play in the administration.

Indeed, those of us who were hoping, wishing, and praying for the making of a new U.S. foreign policy paradigm — that would disengage militarily from the Middle East, end the special relationship with Israel, withdraw from NATO, terminate military pacts with Japan and South Korea, and take a less belligerent approach towards Russia—were bound to be disappointed by many of Obama’s selections for his foreign policy team.

Stephen Zunes, in Huffington Post, calls Hollbrooke an insensitive choice.

In the late 1970s, Holbrooke served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. In this position, he played a major role in formulating the Carter administration's support for Indonesia's occupation of East Timor and the bloody counterinsurgency campaign responsible for up to a quarter-million civilian deaths.

Having successfully pushed for a dramatic increase in U.S. military aid to the Suharto dictatorship, he then engaged in a cover-up of the Indonesian atrocities. He testified before Congress in 1979 that the mass starvation wasn't the fault of the scorched-earth campaign by Indonesian forces in the island nation's richest agricultural areas, but simply a legacy of Portuguese colonial neglect.

Later, in reference to his friend Paul Wolfowitz, then the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Holbrooke described how "Paul and I have been in frequent touch to make sure that we keep [East Timor] out of the presidential campaign, where it would do no good to American or Indonesian interests."

In a particularly notorious episode while heading the State Department's East Asia division, Holbrooke convinced Carter to release South Korean troops under U.S. command in order to suppress a pro-democracy uprising in the city of Kwangju. Holbrooke was among the Carter administration officials who reportedly gave the OK to General Chun Doo-hwan, who had recently seized control of the South Korean government in a military coup, to wipe out the pro-democracy rebels. Hundreds were killed.

He also convinced President Jimmy Carter to continue its military and economic support for the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines.

Ack! ::)

Taking It Personally

This is the third and final of my Marine family trilogy today. People tend to think all military families think alike, and I wanted you to see a range of opinions.

By DONNIE MARLER
Marine Dad from Missouri

Reading through a number of recent online posts, I've been struck by how personally a good number of us have taken the results of the election. You know what? That's a good thing. It shows that at least we're involved citizens who both care about our nation and vote on Election Day!

Looking back over the last eight years of President Bush, I'm struck by how much the man has aged in such a relatively short time. It's easy to sit here and critique the decisions made by anyone. It's another thing entirely to be the one making the decisions.

I've tried to think of another recent President who faced so many crises at one time in his Presidency. Mr. Bush did not ask the terrorists to strike the World Trade Center on 9-11.

He did not ask Afghanistan's Taliban government to support that attack with both money and material. I for one believe we had every right and reason to both attack and destroy that same Taliban government. I shed no tears over the fall of the Afghan regime.

I don't believe he sought to take action against Iraq simply to “finish what his father started.” I believe he thought he was acting on the intelligence reports at that time. Perhaps he wanted to find fault with Saddam simply to justify invading Iraq. I don't think that's the case. I don't believe that General Colin Powell would have gone along with intentionally lying before the U.N. Security Council if that were the case.

President Bush has been as much a victim of circumstances as anything else. Sadly, he has become the face of failure in the eyes of many across the land.

Has he truly failed? The Taliban are back hiding in their caves and fearing for their lives. Saddam Hussein is in hell, answering for his crimes against humanity. Each day, the Iraqi people take over more and more of the responsibility for defending and protecting their land against terrorists and insurgents, many of whom are foreign born.

He has been much maligned over the “Mission Accomplished” banner aboard that ship. That ship had indeed accomplished its mission. That's all the banner was meant to say. It was not meant to imply that the war was over by any stretch of the imagination.

I have read and heard reported a hundred times that there were no WMD's in Iraq. Perhaps we did not find them, but I humbly submit that the northern Kurds know he had them, because he used them against their populace. I will never forget the heartbreaking photo of a dead mother and her infant lying on the street following the poison gas attack against their village. The mother's arms were wrapped around the baby, as if to cushion him from the fall when she succumbed to the gas. I can only imagine the horror that poor woman felt at that moment. I doubt she knew what was killing her, but I have no doubt that she knew she, and her child, were dying. I shed no tears over the fate of Saddam Hussein. He deserved a far worse death than he suffered.

I believe the United States of America cannot be defeated militarily by any force on Earth. The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong did not defeat the forces of the United States. The American people defeated the forces of the United States in Vietnam by failing to support the war on the home front. Vietnam is the most tragic example of what occurs when politicians and President's seek to run a war, rather than entrusting that responsibility to the professional soldiers who have spent a lifetime training to do just that.

Johnson fancied himself a military strategist. Johnson was a fool, and a disgrace to his office. If any President in modern times deserves to be reviled it should be LBJ, not George W. Bush.

I believe that, had John F. Kennedy lived, our involvement in Southeast Asia would have been much different, as would the outcome.

God help us all if Johnson had been POTUS during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Thank God for the courage of JFK and his resolve during those days when the world truly stood on the brink of thermonuclear war. How many times must the destiny of this land be changed by the murderous and cowardly acts of the Lee Harvey Oswalds of the world? How many lives were truly sacrificed on that terrible day in Dallas, Texas? How many promising and patriotic young men would not have died in Vietnam had Kennedy lived? We'll never know because of the actions of one misguided and delusional maniac.

I believe John McCain is an honorable man. I can't imagine the courage a man must possess to endure what he endured during his years as a POW. I can't begin to fathom the measure of honor a man possesses when he refuses to be released by his captors and be used as a propaganda tool, choosing instead to remain with his comrades in the Hanoi Hilton. America is richer for John McCain's service and sacrifice in her name.

I believe President-Elect Barack Obama will soon know the true weight of the office, and will, perhaps, better understand what his predecessor has endured for eight long years.

I trust the ladies and gentlemen of the Fourth Estate to hold him accountable for his actions during his administration. Now that the election is over, the implied “honeymoon” he enjoyed with the media is also ended. I believe that, if the media does their jobs, then we will know all we should, or could, about our new President.

I believe William Ayers should be spending life in prison without parole, not teaching young people in a university. He should enjoy the company of every member of Weather Underground during his incarceration.

Bombing Federal Buildings is not a form of protest. It's domestic terrorism, pure and simple. To my mind, William Ayers is no different from Timothy McVeigh or the fanatics who bomb abortion clinics, protesting the slaughter of innocents by slaughtering innocents.

I believe Anthony Rezko is a hood. Perhaps our new President did not know this side of the man. Many mobsters are charming. I know, I've met a few of them during my days as a union officer. I would never have suspected what they were and was shocked when the indictments came down. Perhaps I was naive? I pray to God that Obama is not naive.

I believe Bill Richardson of New Mexico would be a better choice for Secretary of State than Hillary Clinton. I also believe HRC will be SECSTATE if she wants to be.

I believe President-Elect Obama will govern from closer to the center than people think. I don't think the American people want to veer either hard left or hard right. I believe the people want the parties to work together to address some very serious issues. Cooperation is not possible from either political extreme.

I believe the United States of America is the greatest nation ever founded and preserved by mortal man.

I believe apple pie is better than peach cobbler.

I believe zebras are white with black stripes, not black with white stripes.

I believe I can make a decision and stick to it. That's why I eat neopolitan ice cream...

I believe the sun will rise tomorrow and eight years from now over the last bastion of true freedom in the world.

I believe in all the men and women serving our nation in uniform, and hope and pray the new administration treats them with the respect and consideration they deserve.

I believe we can debate the issues at hand civilly, even when we vehemently disagree.

I believe I've said enough.

Read more from Donnie on his blog, Firing from the Lip, http://kilodevildad.blogspot.com/

Hillary and Barack: FOCUS!

Watching TV analysts tear apart the Clinton and Obama missteps tonight left me wondering why we Democrats seem to manage to seize defeat from the jaws of victory.

Jim Dean, Democracy for America says:
“The Democratic race for President has lost its focus. We have John McCain to beat in November, instead we fight each other. Geraldine Ferraro. Reverend Wright. Rezko ties. Secret tax returns. If you're like me; you're sick of it.

"We have a war to end, an economy in trouble, and $4 gas.

"With hundreds of progressives to elect at all levels of office, it's time to leave the character attacks to Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly.

"America needs to know why our candidates are better than John McCain and we need to hear it from Senators Clinton and Obama. Fight McCain, not each other.

"We have an historic nomination battle, driving record Democratic turn-out and commanding the nation's attention.

"America needs to know our nominee will fight global warming with new jobs, technologies, and investment. Our nominee will expand health coverage to 10 million kids immediately, allow lifesaving research on stem cells, and work toward health care for all by the end of a first term. We will ban torture, restore habeas corpus, and build renewed respect for America around the world.

"A Democratic President will end the war in Iraq and bring our brave men and women home.

"A long primary battle is healthy as long as we make the case for how we'll win, not how the other candidate will lose. We need to fight McCain, not each other. Join me in demanding Senators Clinton and Obama keep their eyes on the ball.”
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