As we await President Obama’s Afghanistan War speech at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, tonight, where he is expected to call for 30,000 more troops to be sent, I am saddened by the news of what he plans to say.
Obama was elected to promote “Change”, and his progressive and liberal supporters really thought we were going down a different road in foreign policy, that we had learned that we cannot be the world’s policeman, that we cannot sacrifice our young men and women to endless war that has no solution.
Afghanistan was the graveyard for the Soviet Union, the British Empire, Alexander the Great, and Attila the Hun. It is a forbidden country, landlocked, with inability to have a stable central government, living in many ways in the 14th century. It is the ultimate nightmare, and for the President to believe that we can move in and start leaving in two years seems to me to be totally delusional.
For quite a while, while three months of meetings went on at the White House of his top advisers, it seemed as if Obama had learned the message that this is a war the American people don’t want, and that many intelligent people see as unwinable.
Now it seems that Obama has betrayed the people who elected him, and is more concerned about what the Republican opposition says, as if the GOP is there to help him succeed. They have no interest in helping him, as they want him to fail, and they are now relishing the split in his coalition.
IF Obama says what we expect him to say in two hours, then the American people, and the poor souls who are sent to Afghanistan to die and be seriously wounded are the losers!
Who are the winners? The enemies of everything Obama wished to do in domestic affairs, the conservatives and their mean spirited Republican allies, are the victors.
But also, what President Eisenhower called “the military-industrial complex” is the ultimate winner! They have captured yet another American President who does not see that constant war and intervention overseas does not help America’s interests and future, but actually condemns us long term to bankruptcy and social disintegration, as we will be unable to accomplish essential domestic change. The rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer, the middle class will be knocked down to just above the poverty level, and the corporations will become ever more powerful and corrupt at our expense.
And finally, the generals, who have no interest but their own personal success, who have no threats to their lives as they send others to war, will gain ever increasing influence over the civilian branch of government!
This will make many Americans so disgusted, that they will not ever vote again or participate as citizens in our country, and our democracy, or what remains of it, will be permanently scarred beyond recognition!
This is a tragedy that calls for much weeping and a sense of sadness of what has occurred to our country!
President Obama, no matter what you say tonight, have the courage and determination to reverse course once you see that your well laid plans are going awry! Admit mistakes and bring the troops home as soon as possible, PLEASE! 🙁
Thanks for your perspective, Ron. It’s a wonderful assessment of where we stand right now. I’m writing after the speech and am in shock. The only positive thing I can say about it is that it was well-delivered. I heard shades of American exceptionalism, militarism, and long-term commitments (if not to Afghanistan to Pakistan and other hot spots around the world). The military-industrial complex will be delighted. I’m disappointed, depressed, and disgusted and want to know who kidnapped Barack Obama and replaced him with this unrecognizable person.