Terror, War & Twilight (10/11/09)

This time the foolishness originates at the UN:

Richard Barrett, a former British intelligence officer now monitoring Al Qaeda and the Taliban for the United Nations, argues that Mullah Omar has learned the lesson of 2001. If the Taliban regain power, he said, “they don’t want Al Qaeda hanging around.”

He added, “They want to be able to say, ‘We are a responsible government.’ ”

Indeed, in his September 19 statement, Mullah Omar made such an assertion: “We assure all countries that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as a responsible force, will not extend its hand to cause jeopardy to others.”

Mr. Riedel, who helped devise the Afghanistan strategy now being rethought, scoffs at such pronouncements as “clever propaganda.”

Hmm - ya think?  Or, as Travis Hudson told Wolverine, "Bullshit".

This prompted AP, whether as a goof or as a serious query, to float this hypothesis:

Ask them to tell us where Osama, Zawahiri, Abu Yahya al-Libi, and the rest of the gang are hiding; if Omar and the Quetta Shura don’t have that information instantly available, they should be able to get it pretty quickly. Then they pass it to the Pakistanis and the Pakistanis pass it to us and the rest is left to the generals and drone operators. Not only would The One get a tremendous political boost, he could sell the success as proof that Biden’s light-footprint counterterror strategy is the way to go. After all, if we’re capable of liquidating most of the AQ leadership before deploying those extra troops McChrystal wants, why send them? And if the Taliban refuses his demand, whether for reasons of jihadist loyalty or Pashtun hospitality, then there’s your proof that they can never, ever be trusted not to host AQ if we leave them alone in Afghanistan. What am I missing here?

Yeah, it'd be a deft move politically.  Probably something Bill Clinton would have done.  But it also presupposes that Red Barry has enough - or any - pragmatism in his soul to bend his Ameriphobic, pacifist zealotry in one part for the sake of the whole of it.  Either that or even he doesn't believe his crazy "detente" doggerrel but is so trapped by his acute need to appease his left-nutter base that he doesn't dare take any steps that even LOOK aggressive and warlike against ANY U.S. enemy.

Two sides of the same coin, really.  And either side produces the same answer.  Take it away, Travis:

As the Obama administration reconsiders its Afghanistan policy, White House officials are minimizing warnings from the intelligence community, the military and the State Department about the risks of adopting a limited strategy focused on al Qaida, U.S. intelligence, diplomatic and military officials told McClatchy.

Recent U.S. intelligence assessments have found that the Taliban and other Pakistan-based groups that are fighting U.S.-led forces have much closer ties to al Qaida now than they did before 9/11, would allow the terrorist network to re-establish bases in Afghanistan and would help Osama bin Laden export his radical brand of Islam to Afghanistan’s neighbors and beyond, the officials said.

McClatchy interviewed more than fifteen senior and mid-level U.S. intelligence, military and diplomatic officials, all of whom said they concurred with the assessments. All of them requested anonymity because the assessments are classified and the officials weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

AP's little bit 'o politicomilitary jiu-jitsu wouldn't help Obama with the constituency he's trying to appease.  The latest polling shows a resurgence in public support for the Afghanistan war effort from Republicans, which is useless to the White House because (1) to acknowledge it would be to admit that their smears of GOPers as reflexively partisan obstructionists and "Obama-haters" is garbage and (2) it wouldn't revive the extinct breed known as "Obamicans" either next year or in 2012.  Meanwhile the Li'l President has in only nine months bumbled and antagonized his way down to the point that he retains little hardcore support beyond the fever swamps.  They don't care about nuance or trial balloons.  They want American defeat, NOW, and as far as they're concerned their god had better deliver.

It's an empty bluff, of course - calling the Taliban's bluff would call the nutters' bluff at the same time.  Where could they possibly go?  Ron Paul?  Sick Willie would already have done so by this time and be ticking down the days until the Kos-hacks, Sorosians, et al came crawling back.  But B.O.'s cowardice overpowers whatever "genius" he actually possesses.

Besides, in his heart of hearts, he agrees with them.  And gods are not allowed to change their minds in front of their disciples.