Lessons for Obama
From the Blog PkColumnist.com: Lessons for Obama - Overwhelming force can win territories and cripple enemies for the time being, but it cannot win wars. From the very beginning the US invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq were cases of application of military solutions to complex political problems. The hawks in the Obama administration seek to continue the military approach, advocating the scaling up of the war in Afghanistan. One of the critical lessons learned from the US defeat in the Vietnam War was that in order to fight a war effectively the country as a whole must be united in support of the war. Today Americans are divided over whether their further involvement in Afghanistan is necessary. War-weary American citizens' demand for an end to the wars has taken on a strident note. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has observed that massive US military expenditure is one of the contributory factors to the decline of the American economy. It will perhaps no longer be possible to arrest the momentum of the process of decline that has been set in motion. It seems that the Obama administration has failed to heed the lessons of the past. The US had to withdraw its troops from Vietnam and Cambodia in the 1970s, Lebanon in the 1980s and Somalia in the 1990s. Initially, the withdrawals might have damaged Washington's credibility, but it was the best way to protect US interests in the long run. Even though Washington's commitment to these situations differed in degrees, disengagement actually proved to be the right policy for US long-term interests. The Obama administration will have to withdraw the remaining 50,000 troops from Iraq because their role in a war-ravaged country is being seen as dubious and an anathema to the establishment of peace. Iraq, a divided and unstable country, has much in common with Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon and Somalia. Similarly, the war in Afghanistan should come to an early end. The US has no justification to stay in these countries any longer. Regardless of whether regional troubles will affect Iraq and Afghanistan, it is ultimately the Iraqis and Afghans themselves who will define their futures. US decision-makers approached each intervention with the expectation that it would serve the national interests. But when the situation soured and the mounting US causalities started to appear widely unacceptable, Washington had to call it quits. The United States has already lost its moral standing in the world and no amount of explanations could wash away the stigma of cruelties which its troops committed in Afghanistan and Iraq. President Obama can no longer abdicate his role of commander-in-chief to his generals and has to reconfigure the relationship between the White House and the Pentagon. In the 2003 US documentary film The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S McNamara, the former US defence secretary had remarked that "we should always be prepared to re-examine our reasoning." This is the simple truth that President Obama and his military generals cannot appreciate and are just up against a brick wall. McNamara, who died last year, also said that "belief" and "seeing" are often both wrong. The way in which US military generals are predicting victory in Afghanistan in future makes us feel the sting of deja vu. This is reminiscent of the times when US military generals in Vietnam were promising victory to Lyndon B Johnson in the late 1960s and Soviet commanders were voicing optimism as late as 1985. Obama must understand the minefields that lie in his path. He should remember the fact that there is no "Open Sesame" mantra available. Partial withdrawals will serve no purpose. The only viable course of action open to President Obama is complete withdrawal from both Afghanistan and Iraq. International law holds that no country can occupy another country indefinitely and certainly not without the will of the people being occupied. In addition, if it ends the protracted wars now, the US will be able to recharge its batteries and live to fight another day. . Read Full Post
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