Progressive Caucus Requests Meeting with President Obama to Rethink Afghanistan

[babylonsister]

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/15119

Breaking: Progressive Caucus Requests Meeting with President Obama to Rethink Afghanistan
By: Derrick Crowe Tuesday November 17, 2009 2:16 pm


The Progressive Caucus just sent a letter to President Obama asking for a meeting to discuss "a comprehensive rethinking of our military mission, a complete redesign of our reconstruction and stabilization strategy and a courageous reconciliation strategy for Afghanistan."

Signed by Congresswomen Lee and Woosley and Congressmen Grijalva, Honda and McGovern, the letter lists several concerns about the ongoing mission in Afghanistan, including:

* the prospect of additional troop commitments without a clear mission and without criteria with which to evaluate success;

* the failure of foreign aid to rebuild Afghan "institutions, infrastructure, and individual capacity";

* the lack of legitimacy of the Afghan government, demonstrated and worsened by the stolen election, corruption in aid distribution and "foreign intelligence and security alliances."

The letter comes as the president prepares to announce his decision regarding the future of U.S. policy in Afghanistan.

This is the latest of several high-profile attempts by current and former U.S. officials to push back against calls for another troop increase in Afghanistan:

* Matthew Hoh recently resigned his post as the top civilian official in Afghanistan’s Zabul province in a letter widely circulated by Ambassador Holbrooke;

* U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, recently sent a now-public set of cables to Washington, D.C., cautioning the president against sending more troops to support the corrupt Karzai regime;

* Congressmen Obey and Murtha recently expressed their discomfort about troop increases to the press;

* Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi repeatedly expressed her discomfort with sending more troops to Afghanistan.

There’s political space for the president to refuse to increase troops, and growing public support for bringing them home. If the president put his considerable public charisma behind a policy of de-escalation, he could relieve his presidency of a burden that threatens to sink it.

[Kermitt Gribble]

1. Maybe they'll put their foot down

like they did on the robust public option... :eyes:

[C_Lawyer09]

2. I'd much rather see conviction than public charisma

If he surprises me I'll happily make a crow stew, but thus far he's struck me as Clintonesque, in that Clinton was more about appeasing the masses and political expediency than he was about leadership on tough issues, most notably the Darfur genocide. I feel it is more inherent on Obama to speak strongly and be resolute, because of the actions taken by Eikenberry and Hoh

[khal02]

3. Ummm

Isn't this what he's already doing?

[jbnow]

4. "Rethink" is funny phrasing isn't it. Would make sense

if he just agreed to extra troops due to campaign promises...

I hope they are able to meet with him, that's good.
Just the phrasing