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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Geniuses Who Brought You the Iraq War Are at It Again
Washingtons bipartisan foreign policy elite are pushing for renewed influence in the next administration.
By Robert L. Borosage
TODAY 1:16 PM
The Blobthe epithet Obama speechwriter Ben Rhodes used to scorn Washingtons inbred, vainglorious, bipartisan foreign-policy eliteis striking back. In a series of foreign policy reports designed to influence the incoming administration, Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post reveals, the Blob will publicly criticize Obamas reluctance to exercise Americas military prowess and call for a more muscular, interventionist, assertive policy, from the South China Sea to the Russian border, but particularly in the Middle East. They are pumping for more war.
The names are familiarformer secretary of state Madeline Albright and former Bush national security adviser Stephen Hadley lead the Atlantic Council task force. Former Bill Clinton NSC adviser Brian Katulis and former Bush deputy secretary of defense Rudy deLeon are senior fellows at the Center for American Progress. The inescapable Martin Indyk heads a Brookings group of former top officials from Obama, Bush, and Clinton administrations. These are the apostles of American exceptionalism, from the neoconservatives who promoted the invasion of Iraq to the indispensable nation liberal interventionists who championed regime change in Libya. Virtually without exception, all supported Bushs invasion of Iraq, the most catastrophic foreign policy debacle since Vietnam. Virtually without exception, none were held accountable for that folly.
The reportsand the Blobshare two conclusions. They censure Obama for excessive timidity. Theres a widespread perception that not being active enough or recognizing the limits of American power has costs, the Post quotes Philip Gordon, a senior foreign-policy adviser to Obama until 2015. So the normal swing is to be more interventionist. And all favor ramping up US military activityon the Russian borders, in the South China Sea, and particularly in the Middle East, promoting no-fly and safe zones in Syria, more special forces, more aggressive use of air power, more military aid, and a more integrated security partnership. The objective is not only to defeat ISIS and Al Qaeda and its offshoots militarily, but to create order in war torn Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia, as well as to counter Iran and Russia in the region.
The Obama years demonstrate the dangers of restraint? Say what? The Obama administration is currently fighting wars in five countries and bombing seven. It toppled Gadhafi in Libya and left the country in chaos. Its regime change campaign in Syria ended in a brutal civil war. It backs the Saudi ravaging of Yemen. It helped spark a street coup in Ukraine, and moved military forces to the Russian border, reviving a new Cold War. It has bolstered US naval forces in the South China Sea as part of containing China. US Special Forces were active in more than 100 countries last year. Obama has signed off on more weapons sales and transfers than Bush. None of this has worked out very well, but neither did George W. Bushs damn the torpedoes policy. If Obama represents excessive restraint, may the gods save us from what comes next.
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-geniuses-who-brought-you-the-iraq-war-are-at-it-again/
Initech
(100,105 posts)America fuck yeah!
rug
(82,333 posts)Initech
(100,105 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)Buckeye_Democrat
(14,858 posts)My oldest brother worked as an engineer at Wright-Patt AFB decades ago, and his old physicist co-worker from Germany, who witnessed the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, kept predicting that the USA would have a leader like Hitler someday if they continued their military-lust like in Germany's past. He was convinced that military obsession was the leading cause of the rise of Nazism.
TheFrenchRazor
(2,116 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)bhikkhu
(10,724 posts)I don't think I would have made decisions, given the resources and reasoning available, much different from Obama, realistically. Patience and a long term plan are the best things to hold on to.
I think its important to recognize that a sense of justice is a universal human emotion, and motivates most people involved in war. People can always be deceived and indoctrinated (trump supporters are evidence), but the basic and essential position should be to be on the side of justice. Which is to believe that people everywhere are basically good, honest and hardworking, valuable to their families and communities; they should be treated as such, and people who make decisions should behave according to those principles.