Obama and Iraq

Politico: Reports as predicted by others and this blog that Obama is moving on his plan for Iraq. In other words on the policy that got him the nomination is out of the window. The Liberal Left wants out of Iraq now, so Obama went along with this idea, but now he has the nomination and he faces a basic problem, Iraq is working, the surge is working. The country that Obama wants to emphasise, Afghanistan is getting hotter, in fact as reported here yesterday Afghanistan over the past two months has seen more Western losses of troops that Iraq.

If Obama wins he is not going to quit Iraq when it is working, what happens if starts to withdraw troops and the civil war breaks out, Iran comes in and he is forced back in to Iraq, his Presidency would be over, he does not want to be a one term President. Thus Obama will change his policy, he will become a hawk on Iraq. To keep the Liberal wing happy he should state that he will support gay weddings at the White House and tougher gun control. He needs to be JFK, tough on Foreign Policy but liberal on Domestic Policy.

Iran Attack ?

BBC News: Reports on the opposition by the USA military to a military option for the nuclear problem of Iran. The BBC of course does not want to see military action they want to appease Iran. On the other hand its nice to see that they are covering the problem, the USA media seems to be on the ball to a future strike by Israel on Iran.

Deaths in Afghanistan

The Times: Reports that in the past two months, the West has lost more troops in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Afghanistan was the base for those that attacked the USA on 9/11 and Pakistan was the base for those that attacked London on 7/7. The history of dealing with Afghanistan and Pakistan in the border areas is not good, even at the height of the British Empire both places had troubling hot spots. The policy makers need to come up with a new policy, the terrorists in Afghanistan have learned from their fellow terrorists in Iraq, they changed their tactics thus we have more bombs and suicide bombers. Is the West ready to make a thirty or forty year commitment to Afghanistan, I have my doubts, we need new ideas and policies we cant give up, what happened on 9/11 and 7/7 shows the failure not to take an interest in the area after forcing the USSR out in 1988. This is going to be a long and bloody war.