Bacevich on Newshour last night re: AfPak War: transcript

[laststeamtrain]

White House Hones its Strategy in Two-Front War

<snip>

You know, in the wake of 9/11, the idea somehow got planted that we're called upon to determine the fate of nations in the greater Middle East. I think, based on the evidence of the past seven-and-a-half years, that's not a good idea. We lack the capacity, the power, the wisdom to do so, and so it baffles me why this new president at the beginning of his term persists in thinking that we can determine the fate of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

<snip>

My problem is that the Obama administration seems to think that further militarizing U.S. policy in Afghanistan is going to produce results that are much different from the results achieved by the Bush administration, and those results were not very impressive.

<snip>

The question is whether or not our actions in Pakistan actually impede or encourage that recognition of the Taliban threat. And I'd argue that the program of targeted assassinations that we have been conducting in Pakistan with our UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) attacks probably actually encourages anti-Americanism and plays into the hands of the Taliban, so our policy...

<snip>

...the strategy is one of deterrence and is of containment. That strategy has worked in the past. It can work again. And we should begin now to be putting in place the building blocks of that strategy, should the worst case occur in Pakistan.

<more>

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/jan-june09/waranalysis_05-06.html

[Bigmack]

1. His book.."Limits of Power" is great!

He's a retired Army Colonel and he has all the foreign policy chops you could ask for.

Why does Obama think a military solution will work in Afghanistan?

[laststeamtrain]

2. MIMC.

Military-Industrial-Media-Complex.

Ask real people if they want foreign involvements; the answer is no. But most people don't have lobbyists offering them money for their votes.

Who wants a solution? That would dry up the money for the development of weapon systems, etc.

War is a racket.