Feingold: White House is Whistling Past Afghan Graveyard

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Feingold: White House is Whistling Past Afghan Graveyard
By Jeremy Scahill

July 24, 2009


In 2001 Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold famously and courageously stood up as the lone senator to vote against the Patriot Act. On July 21 he did it again, casting the lone vote opposing Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman's amendment to the 2010 Defense Authorization bill that immediately authorizes an expansion of the military by 30,000 troops. In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Feingold says he "did not believe it was in the best interest of our troops or our national security." The measure passed 93-1.


"Well, it's never easy," Feingold says of his solo stance opposing the measure. "People might try to distort what you're doing and suggest you don't think the troops should be supported, which I do--I feel very strongly. But I don't think putting more and more of our troops into a situation that may not make sense is a way to support the troops or protect our country. It's a tough role to play. It's a role that I feel I'm obligated to play."

Feingold said he is increasingly disturbed by the war in Afghanistan, where troop levels are escalating by the month, US casualties are mounting and the insurgency is expanding. "It appears that no one even asked the president about at his press conference after apparently thirty or thirty-one Americans were killed in Afghanistan last month. How is that possible?" Feingold asks. "People have to wake up to what's going on in Afghanistan, and my vote is a request that people wake up to what's happening, which is we are getting deeper and deeper into this situation in a way that I don't think necessarily makes sense at all and may actually be counterproductive."

On July 23 Vice President Joe Biden told the BBC that "in terms of national interest of Great Britain, the US and Europe, is worth the effort we are making and the sacrifice that is being felt.... And more will come." Feingold said Biden's statement and requests from Defense Secretary Robert Gates for more US troops in Afghanistan are making him "very worried that this is heading into a free fall of support for something that may not make sense."

Feingold believes "the so-called surge may actually make matters worse by pushing militants into Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation which is still not effectively dealing with terrorist sanctuaries in that country." He is particularly concerned with what he calls the "balloon effect:" resistance fighters in Afghanistan being pushed into Pakistan, where "they may be safer."

As a member of the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees, Feingold has grilled both civilian and military officials. In May he asked Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, "Are we sure that when we...get up to a level of 70,000 troops, are we sure that that isn't making the situation in Pakistan potentially worse?" Holbrooke replied that the troop buildup "could end up creating a pressure in Pakistan which would add to the instability."

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http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090803/scahill2

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