Obama's Afghan Escalation In Hindsight . . .

By Kevin Zeese, VotersForPeace.US

Now, in 2012 as President Obama's first term comes to a close it is easy to say – "it should have been obvious."

In hindsight the president and Congress should have known that Afghanistan – the graveyard of Empires – was somewhere the president should have led America out of rather than further into.

Many thought the hubris of the Bush administration was behind the country when Obama was elected in 2008 but Afghanistan demonstrated that American hubris was still with the nation. Despite worn out troops from the lengthy and expensive Iraq war and occupation, despite an economic collapse greater than the United States ever saw, the Democratic president and Congress decided to up the ante in Afghanistan and Pakistan by brining in more troops, expanding the battlefield in Pakistan and emphasizing military rather than diplomatic and reconstruction solutions.

Now four years later President Obama is unlikely to win re-election. The country continues to be trapped in an Afghanistan/Pakistan quagmire that seems likely to do to the United States what it did to Alexander the Great, the powerful British colonial Empire and the Soviet Union. It has weakened the country at home and abroad and as a result America will never be the same again.

The only good news to come out of more than one trillion dollars spent on the Afghanistan war along with the loss of thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands of Afghan and Pakistani lives is that Americans are now questioning whether they should have more than 700 overseas military bases, whether they can be both an Empire and a democracy with a strong economy. The country is asking: would we be better off if we invested in the civilian economy, rather than a military Empire? Polls show Americans are ready to end a Century of American military dominance.

The last four years have seen the American economy languish and the mood of Americans growing pessimistic. A presidential administration that rode a wave of hope to the presidency has been shattered and stuck in a valley of despair. Just as LBJ was unable to promise a Great Society at home and fight the Vietnam War, President Obama has been unable to create a new economy while fighting the Afghan/Pak war. Unemployment continues in double digits, major industries flounder and the corruption of the banking system has become evident to all.

Looking back – it was all so predictable. While many in the country quietly went along with the escalation in Afghanistan buying the simplistic claim that this was the “good war” there was a lot of dissent and doubt that was muted.

- Military leaders said Afghanistan was going to be more difficult than Iraq.

- Peace advocates protested the war before the first troops of Obama’s escalation were deployed.

- Diplomats pointed out how a military escalation would undercut U.S, diplomacy and how rebuilding the country would not be possible while escalating the conflict.

- Economists wondered how the U.S. could afford another war when the country was already $10 trillion in debt and running annual deficits of more than $1 trillion.

- Strategists pointed out that a more targeted attack on al Qaeda could decimate the small network of terrorists and allow diplomacy and reconstruction win the hearts and minds of Afghans and Pakistanis.

But American hubris and a smart but inexperienced president marched forward in part afraid to say no to the war hawks in his own party, indeed his own administration as well as in the Republican Party.

Vice President Biden warned before the new administration took office that the young president would be challenged. What he did not realize was that the challenge would come from within the United States, from many within the Obama administration, rather than from enemies abroad. The self-inflicted wound of Afghanistan – an escalation of war that could have been avoided – now looks likely to be a mortal wound to President Obama’s political ambitions and the hopes of Americans.