House Speaker John Boehner has joined forces in an odd coalition with the left to declare President Obama’s continued military action in Libya a dangerous and potentially unconstitutional power grab because Obama failed to …
Foreign Policy
The Libya Conundrum
The House of Representatives on Friday is expected to hold two votes on U.S. action in Libya. One will fail and one will pass. House GOP leaders are hoping that the Democratic-controlled Senate will take up the one that passes. …
Shorter Version: “No.”
At a Senate confirmation hearing for his new gig atop the CIA, David Petraeus was asked Thursday if he supported President Obama’s drawdown timetable for Afghanistan. Mark Benjamin parses the thicket of words and argues that Petraeus’ windiness says everything you need to know about the decorated general’s opinion.
The Risk for Obama in Afghanistan
War supporter Robert Kagan posits it:
If the war is going badly in the summer and fall of 2012, it will be because of the decision the president made this week. Everyone will know he did it against the advice of his commanders. Everyone will know he did it for political reasons. So if the war is going badly a year from now, whom do you
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The Outlook in Afghanistan
On our sister blog Battleland, TIME Pentagon correspondent Mark Thompson has a bracing take on the drawdown strategy for Afghanistan that President Obama articulated Wednesday night. As Mark writes:
Obama’s decision simply locks into place a U.S. drawdown that may doom all that has been achieved in Afghanistan over the past decade.
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What to Look For in Obama’s Speech
As esteemed Swampland alum Mark Thompson explains, the devil is in the details:
The outlines seem clear: Obama will declare some kind of success tonight and call for the 30,000 troops he sent into Afghanistan as a “surge” force over the last 18 months to come home by the end of next year. The key question is when: will they come home
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Afghanistan Speech Preview
It now seems likely that President Obama will take a modest course on withdrawal from Afghanistan, with the consensus guess that he’ll withdraw 30,000 troops by the end of the 2012 fighting season. I had hoped for a larger draw …
Reading The Afghan Draw Down Tea Leaves
President Obama spent weeks in 2009 developing an Afghan battle plan that could win consensus from his senior generals. The centerpiece was a pledge to begin drawing down troops in July 2011. But it was never clear that Obama would be able to keep the consensus as that date approached. From the beginning, many in the Pentagon, including …
Our Pakistani Allies Cont.
From the start, my worst fear has been that there would be a “colonels’ coup” in the Pakistani military, in which Islamist junior officers ousted their more pro-western superiors. That scenario seems closer than ever today, as the Times reports that Army chief Ashfaq Kayani is on shaky ground–because the U.S. was able to stage the Osama …
White House: Libya Campaign Isn’t War – UPDATED
The United States is not engaged in a war with Libya and the War Powers Resolution does not apply to U.S. military action there, according to two White House officials who briefed reporters on Wednesday. “We’re now in a …
Congress Clashes With Another President Over War Powers
The right and the left are taking President Obama to task over his involvement in Libya. House Speaker John Boehner sent the President a letter on Tuesday informing him that as of this weekend, he will be in violation of the War …
The Inscrutable Mr. Scott, America’s Least Popular Governor
Florida Governor Rick Scott was in Canada last week, trumpeting the news that three companies there are bringing operations, and more than 200 jobs, to the Sunshine State. The deals were started by Scott’s predecessor, Charlie …
Gaddafi’s Corporate Quislings
Things are looking increasingly bleak for Muammar Gaddafi, as the West and its allies continue to pressure those in his inner circle to abandon him. But Gaddafi isn’t the only uncomfortable one, as revelations continue to emerge about the massive, immoral suck-up western companies undertook during the dictator’s brief period of …