UK Surge in Afghanistan ?

The Times: Reports that the Obama Administration has asked for the UK to send an extra four thousand troops to Afghanistan. This is the time for UK PM Gordon Brown to remind the President that people can say No. There is an idea if you say no to Obama that this will have a negative effect on your support in the polls, that is just the media being in the Obama bubble. I would almost guarantee if you asked the British voter if they think its a good idea to send an extra found thousand troops to Afghanistan the reply would be in the strong negative. The the same with taking in terrorists from the American base in Cuba, does the UK want the worse of the worse, those that could would get Europe to release them due to some clause in the Human Rights Act. Thus saying No to Obama just might be a voter getter, PM Gordon Brown has to go to the electorate next year, showing some independence of the USA would be good idea, and this is the perfect way, Afghanistan is a War without End, Obama might be naive, it does not make the UK naive to say NO Mr President.

Obama and Israel

Fox News: Reports that former Senator George Mitchell, Obama's Presidential Envoy is to visit the Middle East in attempt to cool the tensions in the area. I have my doubts that the President should place his political capital on this issue so early in his Administration, in the Reagan hundred days the first issue was the Economy. If you spend your political capital or pandering to the left, closing down Gitmo and non use of harsh treatment on terrorists, and on the Middle East, a President will find that his political capital goes to different areas, Obama was elected due to the Economy, Reagan had the best first term team since LBJ.

Old Hands, New Ideas ?

The New York Times: Reports on what expect form the new Obama Administration, how history might be a guide, how this did not work with in the first term of Bush 43. At the time it seemed there was a lot of Ford Administration officials in the new Administration, there was Dick Cheney as Vice President, he had been Deputy Chief of Staff to Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld in the Ford Administration, when Rumsfeld went on to become Secretary of Defense, Cheney became Chief of Staff to President Ford. At the time it looked like a jump backwards from Reagan to Ford. Of course history was different, Cheney and Rumsfeld made Reagan almost look Liberal. Thus only after the new team has dealt with their first International Crisis will we see are they going to follow the Clinton or the Jimmy Carter Path.

Obama and Afghanistan

New York Times: Reports on the Obama plan for a surge in Afghanistan, the negatives and positives of such a policy move by the new Administration. It could be argued this is a time for Obama to sit down and really think about Afghanistan, this could be his LBJ moment, just after the 1964 election LBJ could have gotten out of Vietnam but at the end of the day sent in the troops, this could be the chance for President Obama to think outside the box, the West cant win in Afghanistan, no outside power has ever had a good time in the place, from the UK to the USSR. What about using an old Imperial policy, make a deal with Pakistan to take over control of the badlands on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, place military bases in Pakistan on the border, and then send in the planes when there is a threat of a terrorists bases in Afghanistan. This would remove the need for massive troops in the region, special forces could be sent in Afghanistan when air power will not work, the rules would have to be free and easy as to what action they could take to prevent terrorists bases. They could not work with a lawyer on their back while in combat. Also it would have positive effects on the border, NATO troops could secure the border, clean house in the Tribal areas, send out search and destroy missions to find UBL. This is just an idea, when it comes to Afghanistan any new idea should at least be looked at by the Administration.