Pastor Sanctimonious Weighs In On Afghanistan

For some strange reason, I clicked on the opinion section at the Washington War Criminal Post last night.

(Credit to Blackdogred for the apt moniker "Pastor Sanctimonious.)

Since the beginning of his swift political rise, Barack Obama has fashioned himself a unique historical figure. With his latest speech on Afghanistan, he has finally become one.

What other American president has employed a public argument so transparently political — the need to “rebuild our infrastructure” and “find new and clean sources of energy” — to explain his choices as commander in chief? What other president has deployed the words “fidelity” and “unwavering belief” — citing examples of military tenacity and courage — to announce a policy of premature retreat? What other president has more dramatically claimed “a position of strength” while more effectively conveying an impression of weakness?

There is a boldness to this rhetorical approach, which might better be called shamelessness.
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(blather blather we must stay there forever with maximum forces blather blather)
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This was not, in Obama’s straw-man description, a desire “to make Afghanistan a perfect place.”
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Obama’s meandering leadership in the Afghan war is difficult even to summarize.
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Obama is riffing on an uncertain trumpet. The surge is a success — and to be ended with its work half-done.
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Given the difficulty of the undertaking, the weariness of Americans and the erosion of support in both parties, it would take exceptional leadership to achieve a good outcome in Afghanistan. Even limping across the 2014 deadline will require some positive effort of persuasion. For years, our conflicted president has been largely silent in this task. His words were worse.

This an epic display of hypocrisy even by your standards, Pastor Sanctimonious.

Lest we forget: the United States invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, with the aim of capturing or killing Osama bin Laden. In November of 2001, the Administration let the senior leadership of Al-Qaeda escape to Pakistan during a two day airlift from Kunduz personally authorized by Dick Cheney.

Donald Rumsfeld would allow bin Laden himself to escape from Tora Bora a short time later, and the Administration would then forget about Afghanistan for the remainder of its seven years in office.

Why? Because the Administration had wanted to invade Iraq since the inaugeration of G.W. Bush, and it wasn't going to waste any more time in Afghanistan before using 9/11 and Iraq's non-existent WMD as pretexts for the war it really wanted.

Remember this, Pastor Sanctimonious?

"We cannot wait for the final proof: the smoking gun...that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."



You should, as chief speechwriter for the Administration, you wrote that propaganda.

Yet here you are, tossing around phrases like "shamelessness" and "a public argument so transparently political"...not to mention, "an uncertain trumpet" and "work half-done".


Shame on you, Fred Hiatt, and the Washington Post. We've been in Afghanistan longer than the Soviets were, and there's no reason to expect a better result. The only ones benefiting from extending this debacle are:


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