Barack Obama embarked on his international diplomacy tour—a key step in raising his profile on the world stage and demonstrating his readiness to take over the American presidency—with an important first major stop. The Illinois senator landed in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday as part of congressional delegation surveying the current situation in that troubled nation. The presumptive Democratic nominee also will visit Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England.
Meanwhile, John McCain was on the offensive back in the U.S., criticizing Obama for his more pessimistic take on the American troop surge in Iraq and casting him as inexperienced and out of touch.
The Swamp:
McCain, an Arizona senator, has visited Afghanistan four times and Iraq eight times since 2000. McCain, who has made national security and foreign policy the centerpiece of his campaign, has criticized Obama for calling for a 16-month timetable for withdrawal before meeting with troops and commanders in Iraq.
“When a further conditions-based withdrawal of U.S. forces is possible, it will be because we and our Iraqi partners built on the successes of the surge strategy, which Senator Obama opposed, predicted would fail, voted against and campaigned against in the primary,” McCain said in a statement Friday.
But McCain, like Obama, has also called for more attention on Afghanistan.
Obama has said the U.S. should start pulling troops from Iraq and instead focus on militants in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden and other
Al Qaeda leaders are thought to be hiding. In a far-reaching speech Tuesday, Obama said he wants to draw down U.S. troops in Iraq, end the war there responsibly and send two more brigades, or about 7,000 troops, to Afghanistan.
Obama also said he wanted to take the fight to Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying that it was unacceptable that the terrorists responsible for planning the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were still at large.
It’s a message popular with many Afghans.
“If Afghans had a chance to vote for president in America, they would vote for Obama,” said Fahim Dashty, the editor of the Kabul Weekly and a political analyst.
The capital Kabul shows just where the country is, almost seven years after the fall of the Taliban. There are more than 4 million people, about 600,000 cars, patchy roads and one working traffic light that most people ignore. City power is only available for a few hours a night, if at all—unless a customer bribes the power company or is an important official. Suicide bombs, once a rarity, are now common, along with spectacular militant attacks.
Read more
Email Newsletter
Get truth delivered to your inbox every week.
Previous item: Gramm Quits McCain Campaign
Next item: New Hampshire Takes Chavez Up on Free Oil Offer
Confronting the Terrorist Within
Email
Print
Share
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Fark
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
MySpace
NewsVine
NewsTrust
Reddit
SphereIt
StumbleUpon
TwitThis
YahooBuzz
Jump to Comments
By Maani, July 20 at 1:20 pm #
Cyrena:
“So, I guess we dont have to keep hearing about how Barack Obama has felt or voted about in respect to the War ON Iraq. According to Senator McCain here...Obama OPPOSED the surge, voted AGAINST the surge, predicted that it would FAIL...and has campaigned AGAINST it in the primary...[H]e did the SAME things before the atrocity was launched, with the exception of a vote against it, since he wasnt in the Senate at the time to cast that piece of formality.”
All true. However, since arriving in the Senate, he also voted three times to continue funding the war (he could easily have abstained if he did not want to vote “No"), as well as twice voting to re-authorize the Patriot Act. (And, of course, now voting in favor of the FISA bill giving telecomms immunity).
Let’s make sure we look at EVERYTHING, and don’t just cherry-pick.
Peace.
Report thisBy dick, July 20 at 1:03 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Both are nominees of and by the power elite, who win, while the masses loose. The wars will continue and the masses remain powerless and controlled.
Report thisBy troublesum, July 20 at 12:50 pm #
The police state will continue whether it’s Osame or McCain running it: http://www.counterpunch.com/walker07182008.html
Report thisBy Max Shields, July 20 at 11:39 am #
Obama thinks that there should be a literal WAR ON TERROR.
That’s what John McCain and George W. Bush think.
There is no nuancing this. It’s simple. It’s clear that a corporate driven full throttle war will continue with an Obama administration. One where children and civilians will needlessly be slaughtered.
Report thisBy bat guano, July 19 at 6:46 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
“Obama also said he wanted to take the fight to Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan”
This is obviously another use of the royal “he” by Obama.
He is no better than McCain, they both have zero credibility and no real plan other than more of the SOS which the MIC applauds.
Report thisBy cyrena, July 19 at 3:31 pm #
In the REPUBLICAN Senators OWN WORDS…
“...it will be because we and our Iraqi partners built on the successes of the surge strategy, which Senator Obama opposed, predicted would fail, voted against and campaigned against in the primary, McCain said in a statement Friday....”
So, I guess we don’t have to keep hearing about how Barack Obama has felt or voted about in respect to the War ON Iraq.
According to Senator McCain here, (for those that hadn’t bothered to note this) Obama OPPOSED the ‘surge’ voted AGAINST ‘the surge’, predicted that it would FAIL, (it has), and has campaigned AGAINST it in the primary.
As many of us can remember, he did the SAME things before the atrocity was launched, with the exception of a ‘vote’ against it, since he wasn’t in the Senate at the time to cast that piece of formality.
Thanks Sen McCain, for confirming these details. Not all of our readers here seem to be aware of this, though it’s difficult to fathom why.
Report this