Progressives Start Web Campaign To 'Get Afghanistan Right'

[babylonsister]

Progressives Launch Attack on Afghanistan
Group of Liberals Question Ramping Up Forces
By Spencer Ackerman 1/23/09 2:17 PM


Even before President Barack Obama took the oath of office Tuesday, a coalition of progressives assembled to steer him away from his long-discussed plans to increase the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan by nearly 30,000.

Starting last week, a website called Get Afghanistan Right began publishing critiques of escalation in Afghanistan, arguing that sending more troops to Afghanistan would be an expensive, bloody and ineffective approach to a war that has suffered from a lack of overall strategy. The progressives at the helm of the effort — Alex Thurston and Jason Rosenbaum of the liberal blog The Seminal; filmmaker Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films; and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation magazine — contend that their first priority in writing against escalation is to dispel the perception that a consensus exists in the country on behalf of increased troop deployments. Though in its early stages, the effort signals two broader challenges that the Obama administration will face: finding a clear and viable strategy for a war that has grown more chaotic seven years after it began; and diminished progressive patience for the Afghanistan war.

“We need at a minimum to show that not everyone agrees” with an escalation, said Greenwald, the producer of popular progressive documentaries like “Outfoxed” and a prolific viral-video creator. “We don’t need to have a solution, have an answer, or have a ten-point program, but we do have to show that many people don’t agree, and encourage others to start asking questions, which I believe the smart people in the Obama administration will do.”

The effort so far focuses on fostering a debate within progressive circles before talking to a broader and more ideologically diverse audience. It may provide a test as to how deep American support is for an Afghanistan war that has suffered from years of policy, media and public neglect — something the Obama administration will have no choice but to confront.

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http://washingtonindependent.com/27073/progressives-on-afghanistan

[Hugabear]

1. We should have NEVER gone into Afghanistan

I've said it before, I'll keep repeating it. The best way to deal with "rogue states" is through diplomatic means. We eventually got Libya to hand over the PanAm bombing suspects, no invasion was necessary. I'm sure we could have had Bin Laden by now, if we would have put enough pressure on the Taliban. Worst case scenario, we would have had them isolated. We sure as hell wouldn't have had to kill thousands of civilians, and create a new breed of terrorists in the meantime.

[JackRiddler]

4. Could have had Bin Laden that same fall...

Taliban overtures were rejected. They asked to see the famous evidence in the Blair white paper.

But that wasn't the point. The invasion of Afghanistan was planned and scheduled in advance of 9/11. And OBL had a more important role to play alive and on the loose than captured or dead.

[Oregone]

2. To be honest, there is NOTHING we can do about Afghanistan that can be right at this point.

Its all varying degrees of wrong from here. Obama stands here, positioned to attempt to battle the result of America/Russian aggression in the region, that being, a regime created by the fatherless boys of the military action in the 80s. The only problem is, at this point, that is like fighting a fire with gasoline. And of course, the flip side of leaving them alone is essentially ignoring the fallout we first created by Operation Cyclone. The damage has been done.

[G_j]

3. K&R