I had hoped to post something on Afghanistan but have not so far. All I can say at this point is that President Obama needs to lead America and the West into a decades-long struggle (for lack of a better word) in support of a moderate, tolerant Islam committed to the full mobilization of its human resources (including, especially, its women) against Islamic, extremist militarists.
It is a struggle that will be intercontinental and involve military, political and economic force in which America needs to use "just enough, but no more" military power. It is a different type of struggle, I believe, than any America has engaged in.
It is no less than a struggle between civilization (both Western and Islamic) and barbarism.
It is in the context that the decision about "more troops to Afghanistan" must be considered. The Afghanistan decision is operational: it may be that other commitments of power are called for. But the overall decision to commit America to this extended and expensive struggle is strategic and must be brought home to the American people by President Obama.
I believe he needs to lead us into the most tragically necessary war America has fought since the Civil War and WWII.
Bill Bekkenhuis
Bethlehem, PA
Monday, October 19, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
References: The Continuing Global Conflict Against Islamic, Extremist Militancy
This is what I've been reading over the last few months.
No particular order than reverse chronological (as I've posted these links to Facebook).
No particular order than reverse chronological (as I've posted these links to Facebook).
THE PENTAGON’S NEW MAP by Thomas P.M. Barnett (Esquire, March 2003)
McChrystal: More Forces or 'Mission Failure'
COMISAF Initial Assessment (Unclassified) -- Searchable Document
Letter From Tehran: Iran's New Hard-Liners
This Week at War: Where is Jones? | Foreign Policy
The Purpose of the Afghan War - Council on Foreign Relations
The Cost of Commitment in Afghanistan - Council on Foreign Relations
A Muslim solution for Afghanistan - Yahoo! News
Peter W. Galbraith -- U.N. Isn't Addressing Fraud in Afghan Election - washingtonpost.com
Op-Ed Columnist - Still Not Tired – NYTimes.com
The Distance Between ‘We Must’ and ‘We Can’ - NYTimes.com
Obama considers range of Afghan war options - Yahoo! News
Rethinking Our Terrorist Fears – NYTimes.com
Rajiv Chandrasekaran -- In Afghanistan, the Middle Ground May Be Most Perilous – washingtonpost.com
Irans Nuclear Threat Heritage Foundation
Op-Ed Columnist - Obama at the Precipice – NYTimes.com
PostPartisan - Israel's Final Warning to the World?
Obama's Iran disclosure likely part of clever chess game - Yahoo! News
The Arena: McChrystal report-what now? | POLITICO.com
Op-Ed Columnist - Real Men Tax Gas – NYTimes.com
Op-Ed Columnist - Policy Has to Match the Sacrifice – NYTimes.com
The cap-and-trade bill: Waiting for the other shoe to drop | The Economist
Strife in Yemen: The world's next failed state? | The Economist
Even amid a war and a recession, Americans shouldn't adopt a misguided doctrine - By Paul Wolfowitz
David Rothkopf -- Hillary Clinton Redefining State Department and Her Own Role – washingtonpost.com
The Women’s Crusade – NYTimes.com
The Holocaust's shadow over Israel's choices - Yahoo! News
Bill Cahir, Marine sergeant killed in Afghanistan, to receive Purple Heart – lehighvalleylive.com
What to Read on American Primacy
Op-Ed Columnist - Green Shoots in Palestine II – NYTimes.com
US troops now a 'coalition of one' in Iraq - Yahoo! News
A day of reckoning for Bush's 'torture' lawyers - Yahoo! News
Op-Ed Columnist - The Losers Hang On – NYTimes.com
Op-Ed Columnist - Teacher, Can We Leave Now? No. - NYTimes.com
Obama's Favorite Theologian? A Short Course on Reinhold Niebuhr - Pew Research Center
Soldier who fought in pink boxers home for 4th - Yahoo! News
What Role Has Iraq Played in Iran?
Op-Ed Columnist - A Supreme Leader Loses His Aura as Iranians Flock to the Streets – NYTimes.com
The Next Explosion in Iran - Yahoo! News
Beyond the Banks By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Don’t Try This at Home By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Foreign Affairs - Beyond Iraq - Richard N. Haass and Martin Indyk
This Is Not a Test By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Obama Says No to Torture; Interrogators Say Yes to Obama - Yahoo! News
The Long Dance:Searching for Arab-Israeli Peace
Foreign Affairs - Change They Can Believe In - Walter Russell Mead
Friday, October 09, 2009
Troglodyte Talk-Radio Republicans
My deepest sympathies to my Republican friends whose glee at America losing a chance at hosting the Olympics has been spoiled by America's president being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Please let the rest of us know what we can do (short of putting a Republican in the White House) that will cause you to root for America again.
My first thought at 5:30 AM on hearing this was, 'Can't wait to see how Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, Coulter and the other troglodyte media-heads spin this such that President Obama receiving a prestigious international peace award for attempting to prevent a nuclear holocaust is a disgrace, confirmation of his traitorous ambitions and another indication of the illegitimacy of his presidency.'
Coming home tonight and reading some of the response, I've not been disappointed.
I would love it if some ditto-head would explain to me how Republicans ever intend to win another election in this land.
But I guess I have my answer - by hoping Obama fails and that they'll be elected by default.
That would explain, of course, why the Republicans chose, early on, not to put forward their own global reform plan for health care. (See Dems taunt GOP: Where's your health plan?)
I can only hope that the wild hope that Obama fails at anything he attempts will not carry over to his constitutional responsibility as Commander-in-Chief.
The first step back toward sanity is to take the little ear bud out of your ear and go read some articles by knowledgeable people - and I don't care if its The Weekly Standard or or Foreign Policy or the Heritage Foundation.
Anything is better than the mind-screwing you get from listening to the demagogues (and yes, that means you too Keith Olbermann - nuts is nuts whether you fall to the left of the tree or the right.)
Bill Bekkenhuis
Bethlehem, PA
Please let the rest of us know what we can do (short of putting a Republican in the White House) that will cause you to root for America again.
My first thought at 5:30 AM on hearing this was, 'Can't wait to see how Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, Coulter and the other troglodyte media-heads spin this such that President Obama receiving a prestigious international peace award for attempting to prevent a nuclear holocaust is a disgrace, confirmation of his traitorous ambitions and another indication of the illegitimacy of his presidency.'
Coming home tonight and reading some of the response, I've not been disappointed.
I would love it if some ditto-head would explain to me how Republicans ever intend to win another election in this land.
But I guess I have my answer - by hoping Obama fails and that they'll be elected by default.
That would explain, of course, why the Republicans chose, early on, not to put forward their own global reform plan for health care. (See Dems taunt GOP: Where's your health plan?)
I can only hope that the wild hope that Obama fails at anything he attempts will not carry over to his constitutional responsibility as Commander-in-Chief.
The first step back toward sanity is to take the little ear bud out of your ear and go read some articles by knowledgeable people - and I don't care if its The Weekly Standard or or Foreign Policy or the Heritage Foundation.
Anything is better than the mind-screwing you get from listening to the demagogues (and yes, that means you too Keith Olbermann - nuts is nuts whether you fall to the left of the tree or the right.)
Bill Bekkenhuis
Bethlehem, PA
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