McCain's "experience" helped get us 2 more "Vietnams"!
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Tags: Afghanistan, dipconsult, Election, Experience, G W Bush, Iraq, McCain, Obama, opium, President, Taliban, Vietnam
Tags: Afghanistan, dipconsult, Election, Experience, G W Bush, Iraq, McCain, Obama, opium, President, Taliban, Vietnam
Senator McCain, with his Vietnam and senatorial experience, was perhaps the one US politician who might have stopped the Iraq adventure.
We Cassandras foresaw in 2002 (and went on public record) that just one of the major reasons why the US and UK must not invade Iraq was precisely because that would risk not one, but two more "Vietnams" ("Can't stay, can't leave" situations) - one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
If McCain, claiming to be the "experienced" presidential candidate, didn't see that obvious risk (although many of us life-long diplomatic and military experts were shouting about it) then his "experience" is so stymied by bad judgement that it counts for nothing.
As for Afghanistan, leaving it as G W Bush's unfinished business, to go into the Iraq maelstrom, alienated that wide 2002 international backing on whose money and support any hope of giving Afghanistan a chance to recover from the Soviet and Taliban years, was lost.
For what Afghanistan needed while the Taliban were quiescent licking their wounds was a realistic world-backed development plan to rebuild, continue the Taliban's no opium policy, and make Afghanistan a reasonably none- too-poor society - much as I saw it in 1970.
Yes - I'm afraid it's too late now. But then as Sweden's brilliant Count Oxenstierna told his would-be diplomat son in 1648 - "Do you not realise, my son, with what little wisdom the world is governed?" Especially with the Bush/Blair team in charge!
Obama, though, has the pragmatism, high intelligence, and common sense to work hard to mitigate the catastrophic folly of President G.W.Bush. He's the only one who could possibly handle this double "Vietnam" challenge.
For more on the current US electoral situation see our www.dipconsult.eu
We Cassandras foresaw in 2002 (and went on public record) that just one of the major reasons why the US and UK must not invade Iraq was precisely because that would risk not one, but two more "Vietnams" ("Can't stay, can't leave" situations) - one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
If McCain, claiming to be the "experienced" presidential candidate, didn't see that obvious risk (although many of us life-long diplomatic and military experts were shouting about it) then his "experience" is so stymied by bad judgement that it counts for nothing.
As for Afghanistan, leaving it as G W Bush's unfinished business, to go into the Iraq maelstrom, alienated that wide 2002 international backing on whose money and support any hope of giving Afghanistan a chance to recover from the Soviet and Taliban years, was lost.
For what Afghanistan needed while the Taliban were quiescent licking their wounds was a realistic world-backed development plan to rebuild, continue the Taliban's no opium policy, and make Afghanistan a reasonably none- too-poor society - much as I saw it in 1970.
Yes - I'm afraid it's too late now. But then as Sweden's brilliant Count Oxenstierna told his would-be diplomat son in 1648 - "Do you not realise, my son, with what little wisdom the world is governed?" Especially with the Bush/Blair team in charge!
Obama, though, has the pragmatism, high intelligence, and common sense to work hard to mitigate the catastrophic folly of President G.W.Bush. He's the only one who could possibly handle this double "Vietnam" challenge.
For more on the current US electoral situation see our www.dipconsult.eu
