Saturday, July 10,2010-ThotnasvilleTimes -AS
OPINION
Thomasville Times
MICHAEL B. STARN
Publisher
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LISA M. WALL
Editor
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ZACH KEPLEY
Sports Editor
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Stuck in
Afghanistan
BY JOE CONASON
Syndicated Columnist
There is good news
about Afghanistan.
No, really It comes from
Jonathan Alter, Newsweek
columnist and author of the
book “The Promise: President
Obama, Year One.” He thinks
the president is firmly re
solved to end our involvement
there. Based on his sources
inside the administration,
he says one thing is certain:
“We ain’t stayin’ long:”
Anyone who thinks nine
years of stalemate is enough
would like to believe Alter,
whose reporting skills are
not in doubt. But it may be
more prudent to believe ,
Gen. David Petraeus.
Reminded of Obama’s com
mitment to begin withdrawing
a year from now, the new com
mander in Afghanistan carved
out four lanes of wiggle room.
“There wiU be an assessment
at the end of this year after
which undoubtedly we’U make
certain tweaks, refinements,
perhaps some significant
changes,” he told senators.
■ So we may be leaving even
sooner than planned? Um, no.
“We’U need to provide as
sistance to Afghanistan for a
long time to come,” he said.
That’s a recurring theme.
Obama himself recently
ridiculed the “obsession
around this whole issue of
when do we leave.” The plan
for next summer, he said, is
not to leave but only to “begin
a process of transition.”
The Rockies may crumble
and Gibraltar may tmnble in
the time it takes to complete
a “process of transition.”
But Alter says his report
ing gives him confidence “a
significant withdrawal wUl
begin within, at the most,
18 months to two years.”
Not staying long? That
would put off Obama’s
original drawdown by as
much as a year. If Obama
is wUlmg to push back his
deadline by a year, why
not two years? Or five?
Harvard international
relations scholar Stephen
Walt notes that Obama has
had three chances to begin
our extrication — “right
after his election, then fol
lowing his strategic review
in the faU of 2009, and most
recently with the McChrystal
firing.” But he passed them
up. “In each case,” Walt told
me, “he’s chosen either to
deepen U.S. involvement
or he’s publicly committed
to ‘staying the course.’”
It’s possible that Obama
wUl break that pattern next
summer, just as it’s possible
that Adam Sandler wUl go
for his doctorate. But there
is no reason to bet on it.
He came into office opposed
to the Iraq war, unlike the Af
ghanistan war — and yet his
schedule for withdrawal is no
different from what President
Bush planned. Why should
anyone expect him to show
more nerve in Afghanistan?
The political Incentives
are pushing him to go along
with extending our presence
because no president wants
to be blamed for losing a
war (see: Iraq, Vietnam). It’s
politically safer to muddle
along hoping for something
that can be portrayed as suc
cess than to admit failure.
To think Obama wiU take
the risk of a major with
drawal as he’s running for
re-election assumes him
to have more backbone on
national security matters than
he has yet demonstrated.
Time after time, forced to
choose between sticking to
his commitments and ap
peasing Republicans, he has
opted for the latter — keeping
Guantanamo open, giv
ing up the idea of trying
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
in New York City, abandon
ing his campaign pledge to
leave Iraq in 16 months.
The only thing that would
spur Obama to start a pfiUout
would be major progress in
Afghanistan, which is about
as likely as a Hard Rock
Cafe in Kandahar. June was
the most lethal month for
American and NATO troops
in the entire war, and this
may just be the beginning.
A UN report says the num
ber of roadside bombings by
our enemies nearly doubled
in the first three months of
this year. So did the number
of “complex suicide attacks.”
Meanwhile, our aUies
are failing us. Corruption
has proliferated, and Presi
dent Hamid Karzai has not
captured the hearts of his
countrymen since winning
a rigged election last year.
The Afghan army suffers
from ethnic divisions, weak
leadership and an epidemic of
desertion. The national police
are plagued by illiteracy as
weU as graft. These develop
ments do not speU “victory.”
Getting out of Afghanistan
would be easy for Obama if
things were to go well. But to
get out when things are going
badly would let Republicans
. blame him and his party
ever after for what happens
next. Democrats learned
that lesson from Vietnam.
In the end, Obama is likely
to follow a well-known rule
of American politics: Fight
ing a futile war is excus
able. Ending one is not.
Steve Chapman blogs daily
at newsblogs.chicagotribune.
com/Steve jshapman. To find
out more about Steve Chap
man, and read features by
other Creators Syndicate
writers and cartoonists, visit
the Creators Syndicate web
site at www.creators.com.
U.S. Cuba policy: A 50-year failure?
VIEWPOINT
MONA CHAREN
Syndicated Columnist
After a 134-day hunger
strike, GuiUermo Farinas’
waist is so small that a dog
collar could fit around it.
This living skeleton (who
has survived this long only
because he has taken nu
trients intravenously) now
has a victory: The Cuban
government has announced
the planned release of 52
political prisoners. That
Raul Castro appears to have
buckled to uiternational
pressure is, of course, good
news — though it comes too
late for Orlando Zapata.
Zapata was a plumber and
bricklayer who committed
what the Castro brothers
consider a treasonous act
- he joined a political group
that believes in freedom, the
Alternative Republic Move
ment. After his 2002 arrest
and conviction for “disre
spect, public disorder, and re
sistance,” he was repeatedly
abused and beaten in prison.
Displaying a flair for irony,.
he demanded treatment
comparable to that which
Fidel Castro endured when
imprisoned by Fulgencio Ba
tista in 1953. Instead, he was
further mistreated and his
prison sentence was length
ened from three to 36 years.
Zapata’s only weapon was
his own suffering, but his
demand was not for himself.
He fasted for the release of 22
other fll political prisoners.
Upon his death in February,
at age 42, there was a quick
splash of negative headlines,
and he was forgotten, A few
weeks later. President Obama
lifted the travel ban for those
with relatives on the island
and lifted other restrictions
on contacts between Cuba
and the United States.
Farinas, a psychologist,
Cuban army veteran, and
political “subversive,” took
up the gauntlet with his
own hunger strike that now
seems to have succeeded.
“Seems” is the operative
word since the Castro regime
has often promised reforms
without follow through. Even
by its explicit terms, the
government’s agreement is
to release only five prison
ers immediately and the
rest over the course of the
next three or four months.
All wiU leave the country
Why the wait? Presumably,
it’s because the regime needs
time to make its prison
ers presentable. Bruises
must heal. Weight must be
gained. That sort of thing.
Here is a description
of Cuban prison condi
tions from “The Black
Book of Communism”:
“Violence began with the
interrogation... Prison
ers were forced to climb
a staircase wearing shoes
filled with lead and were
then thrown back down the
stairs.... Working conditions
were extremely harsh, and
prisoners worked almost
naked... As a punishment,
‘troublemakers’ were forced
to cut grass with their teeth
or to sit in latrine trenches
for hours at a time.”
Cuba is a last redoubt of
communism. Because Fidel
Castro clings to life and to
power, a veil stm covers the
island, Castro’s crimes have
scarcely begun to be re
vealed as he dodders toward
a comfortable death in his
bed. But enough, more than
enough, is known. Between
1959 and the present, more
than 100,000 Cubans have
suffered in Castro’s prisons
and camps (some just for
homosexuals). An estimated
17,000 were shot. Two mil
lion fled. Another 100,000
died attempting to escape.
AU of this is known and
has been for decades. And yet
the image of Che Guevara
continues to sell on t-shirts
and posters around the globe.
Now Congress seems
poised to lift aU travel bans
on Cuba and provide a tour
ism boon to the regime. A
broad spectrum of Ameri
cans approves the legislation,
including Republicans and
Democrats, farmers and busi
ness Interests. Fine. It may
serve the interests of free
dom at this point to permit
trade with Cuba (though one
suspects that the Chamber
of Commerce is interested
in the business angle). What
is galling is to hear one
and aU describe the 50-year
embargo as a “failed policy.”
In what sense did it fail?
We declined to help or sup
port a criminal regime in
any way. Yes, Castro claimed
that his island’s persistent
and desperate poverty was
due to the embargo, but so
what? Anyone with eyes
could see that Castro traded
freely with Canada, Mexico,
Latin America, Europe,
Russia, China, and virtually
everyone else. His special
relationship with the USSR
and later Venezuela is all
that kept Cubans from starv
ing like their ideological
brothers in North Korea.
The day is coming when
the true scope of Castro’s
reign of terror wUl be fully
revealed. Perhaps then we
wUl take some grim satisfac
tion in having attempted,
however unsuccessfully, to
strangle the beast.
To find out more about
Mona Charen and rea(l
features by other Creators
Syndicate columnists and
cartoonists, visit the Cre
ators Syndicate web page
at www.creators.com.
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