Drone ATTACKS in Pakistan

The Sunday Times: Reports that the Obama Administration is thinking of more extensive strikes in Pakistan to take out Taliban/Terrorists. This change of policy from more troops in Afghanistan to a more extensive drone attacks in Pakistan would be a mistake, the secular government of Pakistan could fall, on the one hand its looks better option that sending another thirty to forty thousand troops to Afghanistan, but its an illusion, very tempting but not real. If Obama dumps Afghanistan his Just War talk of the 08 Campaign will be seen hypocrisy of the first order, he would have lied to the American voter in 08 and as President he would have sold them a dud policy in March. President Obama has to remember one fact, if Israel thinks that Obama is weak and a hypocrite that could sell them out under enough pressure they will strike Iran. Thus in many respects President Obama created his own political box, he wanted to be POTUS and thus his Just War view of Afghanistan as compared to Iraq, now Afghanistan is biting him in the backside his West Wing hacks are wobbly and some are fighting Vietnam again, this decision will tell the West and the US voter if they have elected another Ronald Reagan or Neville Chamberlain.

Obama Administration SPLIT on Afghanistan

The New York Times: Reports on a split in the Obama Administration over Afghanistan policy, the NYT writes on the contesting forces for the Presidents ear, " ( Obama ) has discovered that the military is not monolithic in support of the plan....some of the civilian advisers he respects most have deep reservations. " This is Vietnam all over again, the question what path does Obama take, does he reverse his Just War to a War he can throw away, the West Wing is split, the VP Biden wants to reduce troops and use drones to attack Al Qaeda in Pakistan, he has a pre - 9/11 mindset, in other words throw Afghanistan to the dogs, and the deaths of NATO troops pointless, on the other hand the US military believe that they have learned from Iraq and can win in Afghanistan. As mentioned in previous post Obama linked the future of Pakistan to Afghanistan in March in his new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the only real change is the fact that old Vietnam hands are having flashbacks to Vietnam and are fighting that War again. Lets hope President Obama gets the fact that if he sells out Afghanistan, this will be the third country he has sold out, lets not forget Poland, Czech Republic, if your in Iran what would take from this decision, yes that Obama is weak, he is another Jimmy Carter or worse Neville Chamberlain thus the green light to go nuclear. Lets hope Obama does not listen to the BS of VP Biden.

Long Range Missile Test by Iran on MONDAY

BBC News: Reports that Iran has announced it will carry out a long range missile test on Monday. As Iran is meeting the USA , UK and its UN allies on Thursday this could be a show for domestic consumption while Iran gives ground on Thursday, one has to look at all the options, on the other hand it can be postulated that that Iran will give enough on its nuclear plans to drive a wedge between the USA, UK and Russia and China. At the end of the day it will come down to Israel, they will have to decide if they can wait for the Obama magic to work on Iran.

Death in Afghanistan

MOD: Reports that a soldier has been killed in Afghanistan today, the soldier was from the " 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh ". Thus since 2001 the UK has lost 218 of its Armed Forces Personnel in Afghanistan, of that total 187 have been killed in combat operations, the other 31 have died due to illness, accidents or other incidents.

McChrystal vs Obama

Fox News: Reports on a meeting between the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mullen and the US Commander in Afghanistan General McChrystal, the article states that Mullen will agree that McChrystal needs between thirty and forty thousand troops in Afghanistan. Thus President Obama has Afghanistan and Iran on his plate, never mind health care reform, am reading the McChrystal report at the minute and as stated in previous post can understand why Obama is having third thoughts, I would also, but the time for third thoughts was at the start of the Administration, that's the problem when you make one war the Just War and the other war the bad war, in this case Iraq. At the start of the Administration Obama sent out another twenty one thousand troops, taking the US forces up to seventy thousand troops in theatre, now that the US military is asking for thousands more the West Wing is getting wobbly, the major player for the reduction of troops is VP Biden, he is opposed by the Secretaries of State and Defence and the US military. As Obama has sold out Poland and Czech Republic already can he afford to sell out Afghanistan, if he does wobble Iran will know it has clear had to go nuclear, and then we have an Israeli strike on Iran. Thus the Afghanistan decision will ramifications beyond Afghanistan, it could decide the fate of Pakistan, Israel and Iran.

Obama and Iran

The New York Times: Reports that President Obama has become more hawkish about Iran, the NYT writes the following, " Mr. Obama appears to have made a leap toward viewing tough new sanctions against Iran as an inevitability. " It will be interesting to see how the Liberal New York Times plays this story, the extreme Liberal NYT would like nothing better than for President Obama to go to Iran and accept a nuclear Iran, the NYT sees no difference between Iran and Israel when it comes to nuclear weapons. Of the statements this afternoon UK time, of the three leaders it can be argued that President Obama looked more tepid, the President stated the following, " It is time for Iran to act immediately to restore the confidence of the international community by fulfilling its international obligations. We remain committed to serious, meaningful engagement with Iran to address the nuclear issue through the P5-plus-1 negotiations. " As with Afghanistan one gets the impression that Obama has a problem being tough, like LBJ he wants to be loved, than can be problem, at the end of the day the President of the United States carries the Big Stick, POTUS should be feared, Reagan was feared, Reagan ended the Cold War, one gets the impression that when it comes to the hard slog of running a Government Obama does not have the temperament, he lacks both LBJ and Reagan's skill with Congress and his fear of getting another Vietnam in Afghanistan is showing to his Allies than in a corner you cant count on Obama, just ask Poland and the Czech Republic. The liberal elite will start to argue that since Israel has the bomb the West should allow Iran to have the bomb, you heard it here first folks. The Anti War movement will added a defence of Iran to their calls for the USA to get out of Afghanistan, they will argue that the US presence in Iraq and Afghanistan is one of the reasons that the Iran wants to go nuclear. Thus we shall see if Obama can stand up to his left, if in Israel gets the planes fuelled, it seems Israel will have to protect Western security if Obama fails the test.

Secret Second Nuclear Plant in Iran

BBC News: Reports on the reaction by the USA, France and the UK on the discovery that Iran has a second secret nuclear plant. Of the three statements UK PM Gordon Brown has the strongest reaction, PM Brown stated the following, " America, the United Kingdom, and France are at one. Iran's nuclear program is the most urgent proliferation challenge that the world faces today. As President Obama and President Sarkozy have just said, the level of deception by the Iranian government, and the scale of what we believe is the breach of international commitments, will shock and anger the whole international community, and it will harden our resolve. Confronted by the serial deception of many years, the international community has no choice today but to draw a line in the sand. On October the 1st, Iran must now engage with the international community and join the international community as a partner. If it does not do so, it will be further isolated. And I say on behalf of the United Kingdom today, we will not let this matter rest. And we are prepared to implement further and more stringent sanctions. Let the message that goes out to the world be absolutely clear: that Iran must abandon any military ambitions for its nuclear program. " It can postulated that Iran will try to draw out any discussions, the hope being that while the West talks Iran can become a nuclear power. The Government in Tehran want tough sanctions, the left wing elite media will play up the result, how the sanctions hurt the innocent people of Iran. This road has one end, Israel will hit Iran and Iran will strike US forces in Iraq, its now matter of a tedious process.