SO WHY IS THE RIGHT SIDING WITH KARZAI?....

[Emit]

SO WHY IS THE RIGHT SIDING WITH KARZAI?.... We talked yesterday about an odd phenomenon. As Afghan President Hamid Karzai becomes increasingly erratic -- he reportedly began threatening to hook up with the Taliban this week -- and causes consternation within the White House, leading right-wing voices are taking Karzai's side.

Here's Liz Cheney, speaking this week to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference:

"Afghan President Karzai, whose support we need if we are going to succeed in Afghanistan, is being treated to an especially dangerous and juvenile display from this White House. They dress him down publicly almost daily and refuse to even say that he is an ally. There is a saying in the Arab world: 'It is more dangerous to be America's friend than to be her enemy.' In the age of Obama, that is proving true."

Putting aside the fact that Afghanistan is not, in fact, Arab -- try to keep up, Liz, you used to cover the Middle East at the State Department -- the fact that Cheney is siding with Karzai instead of the U.S. leadership strikes me as peculiar. That she and others are publicly backing Karzai, even while he's appearing less sympathetic and less reliable to the West, makes it that much more confounding.

I reached out to a few foreign policy types yesterday, hoping to get a better sense of why the far-right would do this, especially now. I received some interesting responses and a range of possibilities...

Cont'd: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_04/023289.php

[rfranklin]

1. Undemine Obama and the Dems...the same modus operandi constantly in effect...

This is the same playbook that they used against Clinton. Do everthing possible to denigrate and obstruct the Democratic President and the Congress. It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to have the general effect of making people turn against the Dems. As long as it beneifts the Republicans, it doesn't have to be good for the U.S.A.

[Cresent City Kid]

4. I second that

If Obama is pro-zig, they're pro-zag. If Obama had said what Liz Cheney said, the logic would be Obama = Karzai = Taliban.

[Stevepol]

13. ANSWER: Because Obama expressed hesitation in supporting Karzai.

If Obama had wholeheartedly supported Karzai, the right would have been strongly oppposed.

[John Q. Citizen]

2. Big oil sticks together.

[ck4829]

3. Karzai could kill American troops, and they would blame it on Obama

[NNN0LHI]

5. So they can have the Marines dig him out of his spider hole when they regain power

Just like Saddam.

And they will hang him too. Right along with his brother and any other family members they can locate. Our media will love it. Big ratings.

Don

[G_j]

8. that may be prophetic nt

[Submariner]

6. Simple....it is the opposite position of President Obama...period

that's the MO of the repukes. The party of NO.

[crim son]

7. To condemn him is to condemn everything we've "accomplished' in Iraq

i.e. to admit the truth.

[customerserviceguy]

9. It's not about cozying up to Karzai

It's about trying to make the President look inept in dealing with Afghanistan. At some point, we will effectively withdraw from both there and Iraq, and it will be a clusterfuck, a la Vietnam. Right now, the reich wing is trying to put "I told you so's," down for that day.

[Robb]

10. It's a bit complicated, for a change, from the GOP's perspective.

The simplest answer is as said above: Dubya put him in place, for all intents and purposes, so it fits their broader agenda for him to be there.

The more complex answer is the overtures the Obama administration has made to some of Karzai's ministers in terms of, if not actually ascending, then simply exerting more power from their positions, threaten to help speed an end to the conflict. A viable Afghanistan could be a reality before Obama's first term ends, especially if people like Omar Zakhilwal and Mohammad Hanif Atmar are allowed to implement some of their economic and reconciliation notions (they are the current ministers of finance and interior, respectively).

In order for them to do these things, Karzai must appear weak -- and fortunately Karzai's letting himself get played. Siding with Karzai, from a Western perspective and especially from the GOP's, is something of a last-ditch effort to throw a wrench in the works.

The good news is, Karzai managed to act like an idiot well in advance of this administration's efforts to empower those ministers became public knowledge, at least in the popular Western press. So the GOP is playing catch-up, putting them at a disadvantage.

[SoCalDem]

11. He was installed by the Bush family

and he's just another corrupt oil-guy

[Enthusiast]

12. They have a secret agreement

with KARZAI. He will do his best to cast doubt on Obama's effectiveness in Afghanistan.

[RagAss]

14. Karzai is bought by PNAC.