Category: Foreign Policy

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Election 2008 Iraq McCain Obama Politics

Iraq insists on withdrawal timetable

How does McCain respond to this?

My bet is that he does the only thing he can – ignore it, until he cannot ignore it any longer.

He cannot insist on keeping American troops in Iraq if the Iraqi government is demanding they be withdrawn.  He cannot insist on an open-ended commitment to Iraq if the Iraqi government refuses to sign any agreement that would allow American to remain troops in Iraq.  Or at least he cannot do either of these without explicitly demonstrating that America is acting as an empire in Iraq, rather than as a partner.

Barack Obama, in the meantime, can point to the fact that he is willing to adjust his position to account for a change in circumstances – and allow the Iraqis to set a date for the withdrawal of American troops. Neither Bush nor McCain can very well insist we are creating a democracy in Iraq if they also refuse to accept the demands of the democratically elected Iraqi government.

This is a good development for Barack Obama politically.

More important, it is a good sign for Iraq itself.  Presumably, if the Iraqi government is insisting on this, they do not anticipate chaos to accompany an American withdrawal.  Also – it is about time that they began to assert their sovereignty.

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Foreign Policy Life Politics

Quote of the Day

Commenting on Europe’s low birthrate and the high rate of men and women in their twenties living with their parents, David Willets, the British politician said:

Living at home with your parents is a very powerful contraception.

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Election 2008 Foreign Policy Iran National Security Politics

A Warning from Secretary Gates: “Our grandchildren will be battling our enemies here in America” if we strike Iran.

From Seymour Hersh’s newest piece on the gradual escalation to a war with Iran:

A Democratic senator told me that, late last year, in an off-the-record lunch meeting, Secretary of Defense Gates met with the Democratic caucus in the Senate. (Such meetings are held regularly.) Gates warned of the consequences if the Bush Administration staged a preëmptive strike on Iran, saying, as the senator recalled, “We’ll create generations of jihadists, and our grandchildren will be battling our enemies here in America.” Gates’s comments stunned the Democrats at the lunch, and another senator asked whether Gates was speaking for Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. Gates’s answer, the senator told me, was “Let’s just say that I’m here speaking for myself.” (A spokesman for Gates confirmed that he discussed the consequences of a strike at the meeting, but would not address what he said, other than to dispute the senator’s characterization.)

Continue reading “A Warning from Secretary Gates: “Our grandchildren will be battling our enemies here in America” if we strike Iran.”
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Election 2008 Foreign Policy New York City

A Night With Chuck Hagel

Chuck Hagel

[digg-reddit-me]

Update: The Hagel event has been postponed due to vote that the Senator will need to be present for on that date.  I’ll let you know when the event is rescheduled to.

Senator Chuck Hagel, long-shot potential Vice President for Obama, likely Cabinet member for McCain or Obama, and the independent maverick that McCain claims to be, will be doing an event in Manhattan next Monday.  It’s well worth going.  The event should be relatively small – so it will allow participants a decent chance to ask a question or to talk to the Senator.

It is being sponsored by the American Business Forum on Europe and has been organized by my good friend, Tobias Dose.  If you can make it, you really should go:


The American Business Forum on Europe

Sven C. Oehme, President
Henry G. Meyer-Oertel, Exec. Director

cordially invites you to a discussion with


The Hon. Chuck Hagel

U.S. Senior Senator from Nebraska (R)

on

America and Europe in Today’s World

The Major Political and Economic Challenges We Face

Senator Hagel is the author of the just released book “America: Our Next Chapter”

Monday, July 7, 2008
Reception: 6:00 p.m. Presentation: 6:30 p.m. (promptly) <
Networking Reception following the presentation and at the McCann-Erickson Building, NYC, 622 Third Avenue between 40th & 41st Streets
Please RSVP and send payment by 7/2/2008

There will be a charge of $35 for non-members
(This amount can be applied to a $180 annual ABFE membership)

Fax Response sheet is enclosed or e-mail to mailto:[email protected]

_________________________________________________________________
The Hon. Chuck Hagel, Nebraska’s senior U.S. Senator, is serving his second term in the United States Senate. He is a member of four Senate committees: Foreign Relations; Banking; Housing and Urban Affairs; Intelligence and Rules. Senator Hagel is the author of “America: Our Next Chapter”, a straight-forward examination of the current state of the United States. The book provides substantial proposals for the challenges of the 21st century. Alan Greenspan says, “America: Our Next Chapter should be required reading,” Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn declared the book “a must read.” Journalist Tom Brokaw states, “this is a book for people who care about their country”.

The American Business Forum on Europe, 405 Lexington Avenue, 37th Fl., New York, NY 10174

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Election 2008 Foreign Policy Iran Israel McCain National Security Obama Politics

Bush to Attack Iran as an October Surprise?

After the past seven years, would you put it past this administration?

Andrew Sullivan is on the case:

Could Bush bomb Iran before the next election and create a sense of international crisis that could cause voters to swing back to McCain? From everything we know and Bush and Cheney, the answer, surely, is yes

Bill Kristol suggested on Fox New Sunday yesterday that Bush might attack Iran if it “looks like Barack Obama is going to win.”

John Bolton, also on Fox New yesterday suggests that Israel might decide to strike Iran before a President Obama took office.

Earlier this month, Israel conducted a massive war games exercise that American sources suggest was a test for an attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

The drumbeats of war are growing louder.

Continue reading “Bush to Attack Iran as an October Surprise?”
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Election 2008 Foreign Policy Iraq McCain National Security Obama Politics Post 9/11 Generation The War on Terrorism

If that’s what you believe, Mr. McCain, you’ll have to draft me.

[Photo courtesy of christhedunn.]

Senator McCain:

You have said that Islamic extremism is:

the greatest evil, probably, that this nation has ever faced…

You have said that you think:

the transcendent challenge of the 21st century is radical Islamic extremists…

You have explained that you:

think it’s clear that this [war in Iraq] is now part of a titanic struggle between radical Islamic extremism and Western standards and values…

You have said that the war in Iraq is the main front in the battle against:

the incredible evil of radical Islamic extremism…

In an interview, you explained that you would:

much rather lose a campaign than lose a war. Because [you] think there’s so much at stake.

You said, as you launched the general election campaign, that you have always:

put our country before any President – before any party – before any special interest – before [your] own interest.

Your website quotes an NPR reporter saying that you are:

of the school where if you’re going to do something you should do it right and you should commit sufficient resources…

You have traveled around the country in a bus called “the Straight Talk Express.”

I bring all this up because if you truly believe we are in this titanic struggle with the fate of our nation and our values at stake and you are willing to risk your candidacy to convince the American people of this, shouldn’t you be calling on all Americans to sacrifice to defeat this transcendent challenge to our way of life?

Why is it that the only things (those of us who aren’t in the military) are being asked to give up are some of our liberties at home and some of our national values as we turn to the “dark side” to defeat terrorism?

If the threat we face is so dire, we obviously need to marshal all of our resources to defeat it.  If we need to win in Iraq and Afghanistan, and if you know that the only thing worse than a war with Iran is an Iran with a nuclear weapons (and Iran seems determined to get nuclear weapons), and as Pakistan destabilizes and if we are truly fighting a generational war and with our military already stretched to a breaking point, and with our civilization itself apparently at stake, we cannot afford to go to war with the military we have – we need to use every societal resource to make sure we have the military we need.  We obviously will need a draft.

Mr. McCain – I believe that we face a very real threat from Muslim extremism.  I remember waking up on the morning of September 11.  I work in the Chrylser Building in Manhattan, and I am aware of the threat of terrorism as I travel the subways at rush hour.  I believe that military measures are necessary as part of an overall strategy to deal with the threat of Muslim extremism – especially in the area of the world where, according to experts, many of these extremists are gathered – from Chechyna, from Al Qaeda, from the Taliban – the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.  I believe it is likely that Al Qaeda will strike America again.  I take this threat seriously.

But I don’t believe you are being straight with us.

Why haven’t you laid out some plan, aside from staying in Iraq indefinitely, to marginalize and defeat Muslims extremism?  Why isn’t this plan one of the centerpieces of your campaign?  If we can’t afford to lose this war, why do the measures you propose we take seem so half-hearted?

Everyone has their own experience.  I don’t know what you believe – but I do know that I love my country.  I was a big supporter of yours in your 2000 campaign – sending far too many emails around to my relatives, pasting a bumper sticker onto one of my school notebooks, and trying to convince my friends to support you.  I counted you as a personal hero when you stood up to the Bush administration as it authorized torture, when you stood up to Bush’s irresponsible tax cuts, when you condemned the Swift Boaters for the trash they were throwing in 2004, and when you fought for campaign finance reform.  But now you support those tax cuts and you have made it clear that you believe that the CIA should be allowed to torture.  Your line about Boumediene was shameful.  I don’t mean to be a jerk, but you’re not the candidate I once supported.

This campaign you are running now is far different from your campaign to remake Washington in 2000.  Instead you advocate the preemptive surrender of our values in war-making and the preemptive surrender of our liberties at home.  You speak of Iraq as a kind of American protectorate and confuse the extremely different enemies we face.

If you can convince me that the threat we face is dire enough, I will volunteer in whatever capacity I might be most useful.  If I believed we were facing an existential struggle for our civilization, I would join the military.  If I believed some leader had a realistic plan – based on more than naive hopes of democracy-building by invasion – I would do what I could to help.  As it is, I am doing what I think is necessary to win this war against Muslim extremism.

I believe the problems we are facing are more complex and more challenging than a repeat of the Second World War.  And I believe we need a president who can inspire us to rise to the approaching challenges, who can remain steadfast in defending American values, who will marshal our resources wisely in the fight against Muslim extremism, and who will call on Americans to serve their country to allow us to make it through these hard times and emerge stronger.  I believe we need a president who can lead our nation in this war against Muslim extremism.  That’s why I support Barack Obama.  He’s not perfect, but he understands the moment we are in and the challenges forthcoming better than you seem to.

So, Mr. McCain –

If you can’t convince me, and if you believe your own straight talk about the absolute necessity and urgency of this war, you’ll have to draft me.  And the rest of my generation.  But you’ll have to get enough votes first.

Good luck with that.

Sincerely,

Joe Campbell

Continue reading “If that’s what you believe, Mr. McCain, you’ll have to draft me.”
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Election 2008 Foreign Policy McCain Obama Politics

A Neo-Empire in the Middle East

Andrew Sullivan gets it exactly right:

[T]he critical question in this campaign is: do Americans want a neo-empire in the Middle East?

This is what this election is about more than anything else.

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Election 2008 Foreign Policy McCain National Security Obama Politics

America: Kind of Like Spider-man

Fred Kaplan of Slate asks and answers the question that McCain will keep posing to the American people for the next five months: “Is Barack Obama too naive to be president?”  Kaplan’s answer:

No matter who is elected this November, the next president will have to take extraordinary steps to translate this global reach into power and influence—to restore American leadership. One of the main challenges in this effort will be to prove to others that this leadership is desirable.

The new reality is that to a degree we haven’t seen in our lifetimes, the United States is a normal country—a very powerful country, but normal nonetheless: not a superpower. A presidential visit, in this light, is not such a big deal. Or, to the extent that some countries might still regard it as a visitation from on high, it may be just the jolt to get things moving.

Either way, not only was Obama’s remark not naive; it reflected a more instinctive understanding of the post-Cold War world than either of his opponents seem to possess.

This does seem to be the growing consensus in the world of those who study foreign policy – as Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign Relations suggests we are in an age of nonpolarity and Fareed Zakaria writes that we are now entering a Post-American world.  All of these figures believe that America still has the power – and the responsibility – to be the first among equals.  But we are no longer the single hyperpower dominating the globe or one of two dueling powers competing for every corner of it.  Instead, we are one of many – a nation with unique gifts and great responsibility.

Kind of like Spider-man.

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Election 2008 Foreign Policy Israel McCain National Security Obama Politics The War on Terrorism

Digg Lies!

[digg-reddit-me]The #2 Digg link at the moment is a lie worthy of Karl Rove: “Obama to eliminate Iran.”

Given the gap between what the article itself and the Digg description of it, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Karl Rove or some Republican agent trying to sow dissatisfaction with Obama now that he has the nomination in the bag.

But what is worse is that so many people are accepting the premise of the link as true without even following the link. Isn’t that just as bad as those idiots who read that Obama is a secret Muslim in an email and that:

We checked this out on ‘snopes.com‘. It is factual. Check for yourself.

Any intelligent person who follows the link finds that Snopes has declared the story “False.”

Now, from the other side of the political spectrum, someone – whether a cynic who saw no difference between Gore and Bush and sees no difference between Obama and McCain – or a Republican operative posts an extremely misleading headline for a link that – if you follow it, leads you to a very different conclusion. And the link becomes popular and lies are spread.

Some people even had time to post comments but not to follow the link!

As for the facts of what Obama said: He certainly is more pro-Israel than many would like. But he is also for talking with Iran. I have only seen excerpts of Obama’s speech – and I’m not sure the full text is posted anywhere yet – but given that Obama’s critique of McCain is that McCain is vowing to continue the Bush policy of refusing to engage in diplomacy with Iran, I’d have to imagine Obama’s remark was part of a message that went something like this – extrapolated from his previous statements:

I won’t stand here and pretend that there are many good options left in Iraq, but what’s not an option is leaving our troops in that country for the next hundred years – especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored.

One of those threats is the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the country that has gained the most influence and strength from the McCain-Bush foreign policy of waging war first and trying to pick up the pieces later. Iran is stronger now than it was eight years ago.

On September 11, 2001 there were vigils in Tehran as thousands of men and women crowded the streets in solidarity with the citizens of New York City and Washington, D.C. As our nation prepared to invade Afghanistan to go after the terrorists who attacked us, Iran offered us substantial assistance. As a result of these positive encounters, the Iranian leadership sent President Bush a letter offering to resolve all of the outstanding issues between our countries. The letter went unanswered.

After seven years of McCain-Bush aggression, Iran has moved away from the United States, but it’s people still maintain an affection for this country if not for our recent actions towards them. I have committed myself to engage in diplomatic relations with Iran without preconditions. I believe it is a sign of strength to sit down with our enemies rather than ignoring them. I do not pretend that this will be easy. But it is essential that we try.

We must eliminate the threat from Iran and protect the state of Israel. We must stop Iran from gaining nuclear weapons. The McCain-Bush policy of war and aggression is not the answer. But I must warn anyone who would test my resolve on this issue: I am not opposed to all wars; just to dumb wars, and I will not hesitate to respond forcefully if Israel’s or America’s existence is threatened.

But it’s easier just to post some sensationalist headline.

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Election 2008 Foreign Policy Iraq McCain Obama Politics The War on Terrorism

Obama versus McCain on Iraq

This is a political fight that I’d like to see.  And it looks like we’ve now got the chance.

From last night’s speech, excerpting the sections on Iraq:

And it’s not change when he promises to continue a policy in Iraq that asks everything of our brave men and women in uniform and nothing of Iraqi politicians – a policy where all we look for are reasons to stay in Iraq, while we spend billions of dollars a month on a war that isn’t making the American people any safer.

So I’ll say this – there are many words to describe John McCain’s attempt to pass off his embrace of George Bush’s policies as bipartisan and new. But change is not one of them.

Change is a foreign policy that doesn’t begin and end with a war that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged. I won’t stand here and pretend that there are many good options left in Iraq, but what’s not an option is leaving our troops in that country for the next hundred years – especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored.

We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in – but start leaving we must. It’s time for Iraqis to take responsibility for their future. It’s time to rebuild our military and give our veterans the care they need and the benefits they deserve when they come home. It’s time to refocus our efforts on al Qaeda’s leadership and Afghanistan, and rally the world against the common threats of the 21st century – terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. That’s what change is.

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