The Politics of Interrogation

With the announcement of the formation of an interagency interrogation unit and the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate, we are seeing more of the Obama administration's misguided policies regarding the War on Terror.
 
These announcements are very disturbing. The appointment of such a prosecutor to investigate past interrogators could go in unknown directions. Even though it's intended to solely look into these people and their activities, it could spiral out of control and go after Justice Department attorneys like John Yoo among others. The real White Whale for the Democrats though is former Vice President Dick Cheney. Since they never could impeach President Bush and Dick Cheney, they will stop at nothing to go after them after they've left power.
 
The new interrogation unit also is a problem in the making. Considering it can only abide by the Army Field Manual, it cannot use many of the techniques that were vital in breaking high-ranking al-Qaeda operatives. Besides waterboarding, temperature modifications are not allowed and stress positions. This will demoralize the CIA to no end and their interrogators in particular. Also we must keep in mind how will this affect our influence and relationships with allies, especially allies in the region who may not want their participation made public. This could result in the drying up of intelligence,  and in the long run affect how we are able to conduct operations in the Middle East and other places.

President Obama and the Future of Afghanistan

Afghanistan is at an important point in its history right now. It has just had an election in which both candidates, incumbent Hamid Karzai and challenger and former foreign minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah have declared victory. There is said to be a runoff election. This, though important, is not only part of what will determine their future.
 
The other part is President Obama's choice in how to proceed in the war there. He has increased troops, and may do so again if General McChrystal asks for it, but it is not a sure thing. His problem though is that the war is starting to take its toll on the left wing of the Democratic Party. They are starting to get tired of the start of the trickling death toll that they hear on the news. Obama's problem is he is in fact a creature of this faction. He most likely shares many of their views, and they did bring him to power. Some of the more liberal in Congress want a timetable of sorts, but they do not realize this is impossible. The war in Afghanistan is a war that is primarily a counterinsurgency (COIN) campaign. These historically take longer. If President Obama takes the easy way out and succumbs to pressure he will look as if he was disingenuous when he committed, in his campaign, to fight the war in Afghanistan more aggressively. It will take courage on President Obama's part to continue and in tun support the allies we have there. It will be a long, hard slog, but what must be realized is that the alternative to leaving would result in disaster.

Give Credit Where Credit is Due

As a fair-minded person I would like to take some time out to commend Bill Clinton for ensuring the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling from North Korea. Even though we do not know the details of the release, former president Clinton should be congratulated for saving these women from years of hard labor. Granted, Kim Jong Il did get propaganda out of this, having his picture taken with him, but we must look at the human rights achievement here for now and analyze the details later.

Quick to React, But Only Sometimes

President Obama's quick reaction the "racial controversy" in Cambridge involving Professor Henry Gates and Sgt. James Crowley, shows much about him.
 
  It shows he is quick to react when it is an issue that appears easy to him, and he might know about through personal experience. The fact of the matter though is he said I don't know all the facts, but continued to say the police acted stupidly. He should have said no comment or it was a local matter and leave it at that.
 
Now you might wonder how does this relate to this blog's purpose, to analyze foreign policy. Unfortunately, it is all too connected. Even though he reacted to this question in seconds, he waited for over a week to make any comment supporting the Iranian protesters. He has shown timidity to face down thuggish dictators, but not to call police stupid. Does that make sense to you? It seems it should be the reverse. Another question we must ask ourselves is, what does this portend for the future? President Obama needs to come out quicker on these international issues, and stand up for the plight of the oppressed wherever they may show themselves.

Obama: The Undemocratic Democrat

By Johanan Raatz

When Americans elected Barack Obama they assumed they were electing someone who adhered to democratic principles. After all, Obama's flowery rhetoric was quite convincing, and "hope" and "change" were in the air.
Now however that these vacuous slogans have been filled with substance we find that the actions do not meet the rhetoric . After the fact it is starting to appear that the Democratic party has nominated and the American people have elected a rather undemocratic Democrat to the presidency.
In America his domestic policies thus far have been mostly ruinous. Unfortunately, Americans are not the only people affected by his policies. Being a leader on the world stage, what happens in America often affects politics across the globe.
Traditionally America has used it's influence to promote the ideals of freedom and democracy abroad. President Obama appears to be changing all of that though. Instead of championing the ideals of democracy he has used America's influence to oppose it. Thus far he has:

I.) Attempted to foist a Chavez like dictator onto the Honduran people: After forcibly attempting to change the Honduran Constitution in a step towards becoming president for life, Manuel Zelaya was removed from the presidency and exiled by the Honduran Supreme Court, under Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution. Obama has since condemned this legal action as a "coup" and attempted to put Zelaya back in power. Only 28% of Hondurans want him to return though.

II.) Imposed upon the Dominican Republic to remove a newly passed amendment to their constitution, banning abortion throughout their country. The vast majority of Dominicans see fetal homicide as murder and oppose it. Additionally, of the 210 members of the Congress, 171 members voted in favor of the amendment while only 32 voted against it. Apparently cultural imperialism is wrong unless one is trying to push the counterculture and its moral degeneracy down others throats.

III.) Resisted supporting the Iranian people in their democratic movement against the corrupt theocratic regime in Tehran. Ahmedinejad's recent overreach and the subsequent reaction to it was an excellent opportunity to promote democracy in Iran. However, instead of vigorously supporting the Iranian people in their struggle against a dictator, Obama took the cowardly approach and needed to be dragged by his hair to finally -and halfheartedly- take the right stand.

Though I did not vote for him I can not help feel a sense of responsibility towards the people of the world for this man's behavior. Perhaps I could have done more to oppose him while there was still time.
I believe I owe an apology towards the people of these nations for the abhorrent behavior of our current president. I only pray that in time they will forgive us. Hopefully, by then Americans will take their role in the world seriously, and be more responsible in whom they elect to the presidency.

The Democrats Declaration of War on the CIA

This week the House Democrats alongside Attorney General Eric Holder declared war on the CIA.

The House Democrats did so by the fact that the members of the Intelligence Committee signed a clearly partisan letter in which they complained that they were not informed earlier of a plan to assassinate Al-Qaeda leaders after 9/11. This is faulty for a number of reasons. First of all, the plan never went operational. It was only in the planning stages. Also the Democrats would also like more people briefed on possible covert operations, to a maximum of 40 people. That is ridiculous. How are we supposed to keep things secret with so many possible leaks? In addition,. the Democrats can't seem to help themselves. They want to be considered tough on national security yet complain about the CIA's activities.

In a related story, Atty. Gen Holder is going to allow a special prosecutor to investigate CIA operators who were involved in interrogations. This however is a slippery slope. Will it be a witch hunt that'll go so far that it'll lower morale at Langley? Or will it do this AND go further? Will it go after a number of Bush Administration officials? This is an absolutely horrible idea and hope it doesn't go to far.

They Just Don't Get It

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, she gave her support in the fact that she is supporting Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to mediate an end to the crisis. But what end is this administration after? A restoration of Zelaya to be president? In her statement that can be seen in its entirety below, she seems to support the restoration of Zelaya and to respect democracy. What she, and President Obama do not realize though, is that Zelaya sought to subvert the democratic system in his country, not uphold it. The military and Supreme Court acted in the best interest of Honduras, but it seems the people in positions of power aren't realizing the obvious.