Obama’s War: he told us “yes we can” end the war, but he either can’t or won’t

During the Presidential campaign, Obama rallied millions in America who hungered for change with catchy, uplifting slogans: “yes we can”, “change we need”, and “hope”.  For anyone who believed him to be some kind of savior, President Obama’s speech at West Point should be a sobering wake up call.    Obama announced his  “comprehensive, new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan”: escalating the war in Afghanistan in order to negotiate a less humiliating exit.  Sounds a lot like Vietnam.  With this announcement, Afghanistan has become fully Obama’s War.

While he rejected General McCrystal’s call for 80,000 more troops, he did order 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and adopted many of McCrystal’s recommendations for a counterinsurgency strategy that included reconstruction and development initiatives designed to pacify Afghanis and turn them against Al Quaeda and the Taliban.   This is ‘winning hearts and minds’ stuff, as many have noted, eerily reminiscent of Vietnam, where the strategy didn’t work.   Joseph Gerson writes:

While the President denied comparisons to Vietnam, his approach mirrors that of Vietnam era Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Presidents Johnson and Nixon: “coercive diplomacy.” The mistaken “logic” underlining the contradictions of massively increasing the number of U.S. warriors sent to Afghanistan with the vague commitment to begin some withdrawals in late 2011 is to increase his bargaining leverage with the Taliban. Obama wants to augment U.S. power and influence in Afghanistan before the U.S. approves Karzai negotiations with the Taliban or publicly begins them on its own

Obama began his speech recounting his consultative process:

My Administration has heard from our military commanders and diplomats. We have consulted with the Afghan and Pakistani governments; with our partners and NATO allies; and with other donors and international organizations.

But he didn’t listen to Matthew Hoh, a former Marine captain turned diplomat, who resigned in protest of the U.S. policy in Afghanistan.

He didn’t listen to his anti-war “base”, six of whom were arrested for blocking the gate to West Point while another three hundred protested as he delivered his speech.

Nor did he listen to Afghan voices calling for peace like former Afghan member of Parliament Malalai Joya, who writes:

His speech may be long awaited, but few are expecting any surprise: it seems clear he will herald a major escalation of the war. In doing so he will be making something worse than a mistake. It is a continuation of a war crime against the suffering people of my country.

Raise our voices in protest of this tragic course.   There are demonstrations planned in many different locations.  United for Peace and Justice and World Can’t Wait has a listing of actions.   In Honolulu, World Can’t Wait is organizing a demonstration at the Federal Building at 4:00 – 6:00 pm today.  In Hilo, Malu ‘Aina is making its weekly peace vigil at the Hilo Post Office into a rally against the Afghanistan war escalation, Friday, December 4th, 3:30 – 5:00 pm.

Afghanistan is now Obama’s war.   He told the world “yes we can” be the change we desire, “yes we can” change the way Washington does business. He promised to bring the troops home as his first priority (“and you can take that to the bank!”),  but it seems he either can’t or won’t.