Obama and Afghanistan

The New York Times: Interesting article on the surge of US troops to Afghanistan, the article states the following, "..... he will own the conflict at that point. It will be Barack Obama’s war. ". The article is opposed to the sending of extra troops to Afghanistan. As stated many times in this blog, the War in Afghanistan can not be won, don't think its a great idea for UK PM Gordon Brown to send more UK troops to Afghanistan, on the other hand if the USA is sending more troops we are their closes Ally have to support such a move with our own troops. I now its a contradiction in this blog, but an Ally is an Ally, we cant afford to lose in Afghanistan, if we lose the terrorists come back and we have another 9/11 or 7/7. Lets just get some new ideas and win, if we lose the cost is beyond measure for the West and Western Military morale. Lets hope Obama has the nerve to stand up to the liberal left, he has shown some weakness over Gaza. What if we have a Tet style offensive in Iraq and Afghanistan just after the Inauguration, or Iran gets the bomb. A War breaks out between India and Pakistan, it goes nuclear, this will damage our military effort in Afghanistan and we might have to send troops in to the badlands of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan to go after the terrorists. The future is bright but there big clouds ahead, lets hope Obama and Brown are up to the job of leadership.

Obama and Gaza Part Three

The Times: Reports on the break of the vow of silence of President - Elect Obama on the crisis in Gaza. It should be noted that President Ronald Reagan with one phone call stopped a similar Israeli action in Lebanon in 1982. That is leadership, Reagan stated that the relationship between the USA and Israel was on the line, Israel got the message, it is still to early for such a call from President George W. Bush or President - Elect Obama.

Obama and the CIA Part Two

Guardian: Reports on the Obama nominee for the Director of the CIA, former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff, Mr Leon Panetta. The nomination has not gone down well with the Senate Committee that does the confirmation, it is argued that Mr Panetta has no experience of Intelligence work. As stated in previous post on this issue Bush 41 had no intelligence experience but did a good job, they named a building after him at the CIA. It should be noted that President George H.W. Bush when he become Vice - President to President Reagan argued that the Director of the CIA should have an Intelligence background (1), Reagan took a different view of the role of the CIA Director (2) . Lets see how Mr Panetta does as Director of the CIA.

Notes

1. George Bush, Chapter 9, A Heartbeat Away. My Life in Letters and other Writings.Scribner, 1999. P. 305.

2. Christopher Andrew, Chapter 12, Ronald Reagan ( 1981 - 1989 ). For the President's Eyes Only, Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush. HarperCollins, 1995. P 459.

Obama on Gaza Part Two

It seems from the news wires that President - Elect Obama has been pushed by the Elite Media coverage of the invasion of Gaza to say something, that he is " deeply concerned " about civilian deaths in Gaza and Israel. All people are concerned that is not the point, Obama has to think of the political consequences of getting to out in front of the US voter. If the Republicans see him as weak over Israel they will give him a hard time over all policy areas, Obama does not want to be another Jimmy Carter, seen by the end of his Presidency as weak, Obama does not want that impression even before the Inauguration.

Obama and the Economy 11

The New York Times: Reports that the Obama Economic Plan has no Tax Hikes for the rich. The Liberal New York Times will not be happy, they breath tax hikes for the rich. President - Elect Obama should be saluted for not pandering to the Liberal Left wing of his Party. It is the rich that invest in the economy through spending and investing in the economy. Obama should consider making the Bush Tax Cuts permanent, if there still a recession in 2010 when the Bush Tax cuts end the last thing you do is raise taxes, Obama and the Democrats will face mid term elections in 2010, the one thing you don't want is to be known as a tax hiker during a recession.

Obama and the CIA

Fox News: Reports that Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta has been asked by the President Elect to be next head of the CIA. This could be a good choice, Panetta knows how the systems works, he has been a White House Chief Staff thus should know how to get things going when it is an issue of National Security. The one downside is that the Republicans will ask a lot of searching questions of Mr Panetta about the role of the Clinton Administration before 9/11. Did the Clinton Administration see the threat and how did they react, the confirmation hearings should be fun to watch, should be an easy pass for Mr Panetta but there will be tough questions. It should be noted that President George H.W. Bush was also a Director of the CIA and he came from being UN Ambassador and Chair of the RNC. It is considered that Mr Bush did well as Director of the CIA, lets hope Mr Panetta is that successful in the post.

Obama and the Economy

BBC News: Reports on the Obama economic plan to pump eight hundred billion dollars in to the economy. It has been called the New Deal of the 21st Century, one problem, it was the not the New Deal that bought the USA out of the Great Depression of the 1930s, it was World War Two that made the USA a economic power house, the UK went bankrupt in the process and thus the end of Empire. The Obama Economic Plan will soften the fall of the USA economy but then what, all this money on public works will take time to get going, if the economy is in recession in two years time the Democrats could lose their majority in Congress. It could be argued that there is a need for capital spending on roads, schools etc, but also deep tax cuts for individuals and business and deep cuts in government spending, areas that pander to the Democratic base, thus we shall see if the Obama Plan works, out of ten it could be argued that it has 5/10 of working, if does not work Obama could lose in 2012.