Monday, September 10, 2007
Lantos on Afghanistan at the Petraeus Hearings?
Reading through some of the rapid-reaction transcripts that have been going up on the hearings in the House featuring Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker--did I see this correctly? Congressman Tom Lantos saying that U.S. support for the Islamist mujahideen in Afghanistan during the 1980s was "short-sighted"?
A fascinating admission--if only in hindsight--because it proves a point realists often make--that sometimes when you are faced with bad situations and alternatives other options might prove to be even worse.
But even after 9/11 it was very difficult to find many people who would suggest that that aid to the forces fighting the Soviets during the 1980s--or to be fair--our willingness to delegate that to Saudis who ensured that the lion's share of aid went to groups of their choosing--might have had negative ramifications for the United States in the long run.
With everyone so focused on what is being said on Iraq I am sure this point--if the transcript is accurate--will be lost, but interesting nonetheless.
A fascinating admission--if only in hindsight--because it proves a point realists often make--that sometimes when you are faced with bad situations and alternatives other options might prove to be even worse.
But even after 9/11 it was very difficult to find many people who would suggest that that aid to the forces fighting the Soviets during the 1980s--or to be fair--our willingness to delegate that to Saudis who ensured that the lion's share of aid went to groups of their choosing--might have had negative ramifications for the United States in the long run.
With everyone so focused on what is being said on Iraq I am sure this point--if the transcript is accurate--will be lost, but interesting nonetheless.
Comments:
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Has any one yet admitted that R.R. bears some responsibility for the 9/11 attacks due to his administration's actions (or lack-thereof) in regards to Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982?
# posted by 
: 12:00 PM
: 12:00 PM
No, Saint Ronald must not be subjected to criticism. After all his policy of arming radical Islamist terrorist lunatics and helping them form a global financing, recruiting, training, and logistical infrastructure won the Cold War!
To point out that these Freedom Fighters subsequently made more attacks on US soil and killed Americans on US soil than the USSR did is a dispensation of foreign policy Providence that it is impious to question. For the USSR was the focus of evil in the modern world.
The fact that Ukraine, the Baltics, and Russia are now dying off, is another dispensation of foreign policy Providence that it is impious to question.
And doing either of the above is sufficient for one to be excluded from a "serious" discussion of US foreign policy.
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To point out that these Freedom Fighters subsequently made more attacks on US soil and killed Americans on US soil than the USSR did is a dispensation of foreign policy Providence that it is impious to question. For the USSR was the focus of evil in the modern world.
The fact that Ukraine, the Baltics, and Russia are now dying off, is another dispensation of foreign policy Providence that it is impious to question.
And doing either of the above is sufficient for one to be excluded from a "serious" discussion of US foreign policy.
# posted by : 7:29 PM
: 7:29 PM << Home
