Letters to the Editor
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this just in...
ambassador ryan crocker announced that he would step down so that he could spend more time with his wife 'n kiddies
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Good for Biden.
But, did Biden ask his question before McCain? Than it would McCain's question more likely a comparison, and a riposte.
Biden: Al-Qaeda is bigger in Afghanistan than Iraq.
McCain: Al-Qaeda is a bigger threat in Iraq than other militant groups in Iraq.
Again, I'm not saying I agree with McCain. There is no doubt that Biden owns one of the sharpest foreign policy brains and one of the smoothest tongues on the planet.
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Close, but not quite
Actually, I don't think Crocker quite made the admission you thought he made. (Disclosure: I think Crocker is full of shit whenever his lips are moving.)
But in this case, Crocker covered his and the administration's bases well. He said that as a result of the glorious surge, NOW Afghanistan/Pakistan is where Al Qaeda is the strongest. A good follow-up question from Biden would be, can Crocker ever recall a time when Al Qaeda in Iraq was a bigger threat than in Afghanistan/Pakistan.
Of course, Crocker's answer would have been meaningless, a collection of ums and ahs and do not recalls. But at least the question would have struck the issue more directly.
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Now THIS is War Room!
Thank you, Mr. Benen, for at least temporarily restoring War Room to all its former glory. You've just gained another reader for the Carpetbagger. It's nice just to hear about something besides the latest missive from the Clinton campaign.
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@paulpsd Good point, but
Given the discrepancy in funding and personnel for these two areas, admitting al Qaida is stronger in Afghanistan is relevant even with the (bogus) qualification by Crocker.
And apropos of that, kind of, I'll bet the administration "finds" Osama prior to the November election. The tactics of the Afghanistan War make little sense, unless the purpose was to draw out the War on Terror conflict to allow cover for Iraq.
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@JackSparx
I'll bet the administration "finds" Osama prior to the November election.
Either that, or Osama will find us. I'm kind of expecting a terrorist attack in the U.S. sometime shortly before the November elections. If it happens, it will be Osama trying to make sure McCain wins and continues the destruction of the U.S. that Bush started.
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was expecting some huge admission of misguided priorities
..and instead found a guy parsing his words and bullied into a brief statement about Afghanistan. Declarations like this won't be changing public policy anytime soon.
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This just in!
Front page on the New York Times website: this just in, Ambassador Crocker admits that for the last six years the war on Terror has been fought in the wrong field! The Bush administration is publicly humiliated! Biggest foreign policy blunder in U.S. history is publicly exposed!
Oh wait. I've been dreaming. Instead we get: "Hearings Rife with Political Overtones" by Elizabeth Bumiller. And that's the major LIBERAL newspaper. Nice.
To be fair, maybe the New York Times hasn't caught on to this just yet. Maybe. Though in the past they could post breaking news with split-second rapidity. Not this one, though. This one requires some thought lest (Booji forbid) they print something the Administration may not like. Hoo boy.
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Not Surprising
It's probable that every utterance by the Bush Administration concerning the war (or anything else, for that matter) is either a lie, or an attempt to spin the story so to minimize the damage to BushCo.
I cannot recall a more despicable Administration since the Richard Nixon presidency.
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Nice clip
Good work, Mr. Benen. I love watching administration weasels squirm.
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I don't suppose it occurred to any of you here...
...that the reason Crocker answered that ridiculous hypothetical the way he did is because the US Military, the Iraqi Army, and the Sons of Iraq have been kicking the living s--t out of al Qaeda in Iraq for the better part of a year, such that they're barely able to project lethal force anywhere but Mosul anymore, has it? Or that if we had not been kicking the s--t out of them for the past year, Crocker would have had to answer that question somewhat differently?
And I don't suppose it's occurred to anybody here that al Qaeda is not, by far, the only element in the war against radical Islam? That perhaps the long-term prospects for a peaceful middle east is a more important consideration than where OBL or al Zawa have found a comfy cave?
This was a laughable question with no purpose other than to excite the robots in the base (nicely illustrated by the comments on this thread, thank you). Crocker's initial answer was correct, al Qaeda is a threat wherever it appears; but it's not really even all that relevant a question.
And Salon has demonstrated yet again that Democrats are simply incapable of thinking past their own facile talking points.
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There was a moment in time....
When America waited with a catch in their throat..the august Petraeus was coming in from the front to impart his wisdom...the curtain has been parted and we now realize Petraeus is a louse just like the rest of the bunch. A shill for Bush. We knew he had to follow the script; blame Iran for his failures in Iraq, continuing to set the table for the endless war coming with Iran which will end in a conflagration of the human race with mutually assured destruction (MAD) through the use of nuclear weapons. And what did Americans do about it? Nothing. Followed like lemmings over the edge of the cliff. I guess we get what we deserve.
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Doesn't anyone actually listen to what people say anymore?
The Ambassador didn't have an untenable position from which to extricate himself. And he did not, in any way, go against Bush doctrine or dogma or talking points. He said that progress has been made in Iraq, THEREFORE the new front is in Pakistan and Afghanistan. That's what we in the rational world call logic, a way of linking facts and knowledge in a way that helps one draw deductive conclusions or predictions based on the past. At present, Al Quaida in Iraq has been badly beaten by the US. THEREFORE, the new front has shifted. Is Al Quaida our sole enemy in Iraq? Uh... NO. There are many other bands of suicidal Shia and Sunni out to kill us. The Ambassador gave an honest answer because we're actually making progress over there. That's good news. Liberals have either gotten used to finding fault where no fault exists or forgotten how to analyze texts properly. Either way, the article's conclusions are wrong and its arrogant pronouncement about the Bush administration is contradicted by the Ambassador's own statement.