George McGovern: Calling a Time Out (on war)

[babylonsister]

Calling a Time Out

By George McGovern
Thursday, January 22, 2009


As you settle into the Oval Office, Mr. President, may I offer a suggestion? Please do not try to put Afghanistan aright with the U.S. military. To send our troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan would be a near-perfect example of going from the frying pan into the fire. There is reason to believe some of our top military commanders privately share this view. And so does a broad and growing swath of your party and your supporters.

True, the United States is the world's greatest power -- but so was the British Empire a century ago when it tried to pacify the warlords and tribes of Afghanistan, only to be forced out after excruciating losses. For that matter, the Soviet Union was also a superpower when it poured some 100,000 troops into Afghanistan in 1979. They limped home, broken and defeated, a decade later, having helped pave the way for the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It is logical to conclude that our massive military dominance and supposedly good motives should let us work our will in Afghanistan. But logic does not always prevail in South Asia. With belligerent Afghan warlords sitting atop each mountain glowering at one another, the one factor that could unite them is the invasion of their country by a foreign power, whether British, Russian or American.

I have believed for some time that military power is no solution to terrorism. The hatred of U.S. policies in the Middle East -- our occupation of Iraq, our backing for repressive regimes such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, our support of Israel -- that drives the terrorist impulse against us would better be resolved by ending our military presence throughout the arc of conflict. This means a prudent, carefully directed withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and elsewhere. We also need to close down the imposing U.S. military bases in this section of the globe, which do so little to expand our security and so much to stoke local resentment.

We cannot evade this reckoning. The British thought they could extend their control over Iraq even while pulling out their ground forces by creating a string of bases in remote parts of the country, away from the observation of most Iraqis. It didn't work. No people that desires independence and self-determination wishes to have another nation's military bases in its country. In 1776, remember, 13 little colonies drove the mighty British Empire from American soil.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/21/AR2009012102489.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

[Serial Mom]

1. He is so right...

"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia,..." ~~Vizzini, The Princess Bride

[Serial Mom]

2. This needs to stay on top... so I am K & R

GEORGE MCGOVERN - OUR PEACE CANDIDATE!!

[Overseas]

3. K&R! Yes please. //nt

[LeftishBrit]

4. k&r

[newtothegame]

5. Good read n/t

[Martin Eden]

6. Obama needs to assess our chances in Afghanistan

Of course we'd like to establish a stable democracy there, but which is more likely -- a stable democracy or another 7 years of wasted blood and treasure before the inevitable pullout?

[MISSDem]

7. This is the wisest suggestion I have heard for our economy,

for our anti-terrorism effort, for our standing in the world and just in general the right thing to do.

[PurityOfEssence]

8. We habitually ignore our greatest voices

McGovern has been wasted by this country; he's a treasure: an insightful voice of reason and sense, a true war hero (the raids of Ploesti were sheer audacious hell) and a decent liberal of the true sense.

Afghanistan cannot be won by any method we're willing or able to employ; it would take MASSIVE numbers of troops, and the logistics are almost insurmountable to do so. There's virtually no benefit to pacifying it, and our motives are as suspect as they are unclear.

This all smacks of grandstanding and a need to disprove assumptions of weakness, and it simply won't work. Here we go again.