Obama’s U.S. ambassador to The Mayor of Kabul Afghanistan doesn’t think much of the White House caving in to CENTCOM’s surge. It’s a little inconvenient that General Eikenberry commanded the NATO troops in Afghanistan 2006-07. But Team Petraeus knows a Defeatist Wanker when they see one. It ain’t nothing but a thang. President Petreaus will not forget. Besides, Gorbachev agrees with the crank. Exactly.
It unfortunately gets worse. We found another gem in the Bunker Library to share on point. It’s an original (and beautiful) copy of the “United States Operations Mission to Afghanistan” plan for 1958.
It’s charming for a number of reasons. First, it’s a beautiful piece of AgitProp. We mean it. One almost should scan the whole thing. The document radiates the tail end un-ironic stylings of American political sloganeering “New Deal”, “Fair Deal”, etc. All possible only pre-Dallas 1963. These were times when a World’s Fair meant a big deal – New York’s in 1964 would be the last. Obama would give his eye teeth to have this kind of simple optimism.
Second, on the analytical and substantive levels, State/AID could just fax it in with minor editing — like adding the small detail we’ve conducted semi-random violence in the country since Nov. 2001 to increasingly bad effect. Add that, a few rhetorical flourishes about narco-economics, and cut. It’s a take.
All the proposed solutions in 1958 are a smooth transition with the general bureaucratic cave to CENTCOM’s escalation. Whether Obama has an AID Director or not. Everything’s already here in 1958: ending corruption/good government, getting out of the way to encourage Afghans to take the lead, and even our current surge’s familiar Helmand Province is front and center. NRO could blog for weeks with this stuff.
What’s old is new. Odd to hold a bromide in one’s hands.
inquire says
Hunter: Well played sir, well played.
Hunter says
@inquire:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWEnqC1uPu0
inquire says
Not that this is terribly important, but GWB did spring training for his new life as a private citizen/spokesmodel for $400/plate dinners at several Canadian cities before he did any public appearances stateside. We (i.e. Canadians with two functional braincells) were not amused (particularly since ‘the taxpayers’ provided the requisite lavish security arrangements befitting a war criminal).
Comment says
Mousavi has along history – his not the hipster many of the more liberal laptop revolutionaries over here think. We Americans alwsays create cartoon characters in foreign lands –
Dr Leo Strauss says
Mousavi with the Sandanistas – perfect. 1985 was the height of Morton Kondrake the ‘reasonable’ liberal/moderate going along with youngster Barnes and the then-unrepentant McLaughlin. We were in the tank, too, back then. Coincidentally today we came across our ‘thank you’ for assisting the 50th American Inaugural – along with a now ultra famous Republican figure and boogeyman for the DailyFireMemo crowd. What did the NYT have to say back then?
All of that is like a late night cable boomer nostalgia infomercial – Borge, the Ortegas, Pastora. And the Wavy Gravy types picking coffee in their Birkenstocks. Too funny. We also spent some time in region and then dealt with a bunch of over weight ‘freedom fighters’ lounging around pools in Miami. Even then the Neocons never let reality get in the way of great AgitProp. Now everyone just thinks they opened for the Clash or something. Kids.
Comment says
Btw – Warlord’s “Institure” will be headed up by that genius Glassman who wrote stupid book Dow 36000 that encourages poor people to lose all their money in stocks and then he went on to polish up the US image in the middle east.
Comment says
Warlord’s speech at SMU was just incredibly dumb – It said nothing and every non point was met with a highly coded applause. For example, one line was “We had some good days and we had some tought days” – This was met woth huge applause as if it were , in itself, a rebuke of Obamaism.
On a side note. we just picked up an old 1985 NY Times Mag article about the Sandanistas by Mario Vargas Lllosa – As we read we see Mir Hussein Mousavi make a cameo turing a Cuban built sugar plant.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Euskal, my apologies if the preceeding comment may have appeared here briefly under your member name. Had earlier reposted your comments about the military from the photo page on the first graphic to the main post and Word Press apparently kept the settings. Even after all these years WordPress can surprise us.
Dr Leo Strauss says
re Warlord in retirement
We’ve been waiting for the fanatical historical fanzine about his Time of Courage to appear at Barnes & Noble (Borders we assume is even closer to bankruptcy). You know, the type that have articles like 48th Panzer Corps’ Desperate Battle to Secure Kirovsky Farm Against 5th Guard Tank Army, or How Germany Could Have Won The War With JDAMs, etc. It’s the kind of obsessive compulsive attention to detail while completely missing the house for the front lamp post that NRO couldn’t sustain.
We’ll have to suggest it to some Warlord rear guard troops. But even Grover’s Wednesdays meetings are chaotic. Imagine Michael Steele doing impromptu stream of consciousness babble going on oblivious to cues to wind up (3-4 minutes are the usual for a speaker, it’s been protocol since, well, forever). Perhaps the Warlord would be better off with a Facebook page to start . . .
Comment says
Just heard the Warlord give a dumb speech at SMU – thunderous applause when he re-assured his audience that he came back to Texas with his “values intact” – wtf? A total coded non sequitor. As if that was sort of the point of his years in office,
Comment says
This is kind of funny because Klein and Frum both know a lot about American politics, but they spend their whole time debating things they know nothing about.
http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/23823?in=00:25&out=05:51
Comment says
Leo, was the Eikenbery anti ‘surge’ in AfPak leak a tit for tat to countre McCrystal’s leaking? Is there a leak war? Sometimes a good leak is a good thing.
Comment says
You mean to say that many of these war pundits, magazine writers, and neocon theoreticians are not staying up at night concerned about the welfare of someone (and their family) heading back on their 4th deployment? Hmmm. Yeah – they do not give a s***. It’s just a sad fact. They don’t really know anyone involved – It’s just an abstraction, like a movie – not even.
Dr Leo Strauss says
A fascinating question – a mercenary army supported by contractors waging war in the name of an utterly dissolute meme-besotted ‘society’. On a political science/sociological approach that would make a valuable contribution to . . . the meme babble. Lord save us all.
The Army was without a doubt nearing a breaking point in late 2006 human-capital wise. A change in rotations and deployments in Iraq helped some but the burden those serving carry along with their loved ones here in the States is crushing still. The culture and values gap between the military community and the Jon & 8 Plus Kate civilians has only grown from what we have observed.
It’s a good thing someone wrote on Obama’s forehead with a Sharpie ‘Exit Strategy’. Oddly, the most immediate beneficiaries are the troops. The same bloated civilians who never served but love to sniff military jock straps
Fred Kagan, Eliot Cohen et al.who got them into Iraq are working overtime to dump them again into another meat grinder.Euskal says
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091112/pl_afp/usafghanistanmilitarycrimeshooting
Gates Appalled about the leaks.
What do you guys make of these leaks? The lack of professionalism in the Pentagon is troubling…
The Arm forces seems to have reached a breaking point. Can we sustain any measure of presence in Afganistan?
Comment says
Obama is following our advice given on this page a few weeks ago – He is asking the military for things like exit plans and anti-corruption plans etc — But these are impossible plans since an exit plan would require winning and that would take at least a million troops and 10 years etc and the whole place is a drug den. So this a promising sign that Obama is beginning to set new parameters and add some premises to reframe the debate a bit.
McCain – poor guy – just ir pro bombing and war. But had he won, he’d be bogged down in Georgia or Crimea by now, so ironically he’d wanna leave Afganistan too – If only to attack Iran or N. Korea – but maybe just hit the Afgan talibs with some sucker punches on the way out the door.