Matt Yglesias

32 Responses to “Afghanawhere”

1. Craig Says:
   September 3rd, 2008 at 12:12 am

   I believe that Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama didn’t mention Afghanistan either. Biden and Obama may have mentioned it, but McCain and Palin haven’t spoke yet. Interestingly Gov. Palin hasn’t every written anything of substance about foreigh policy. I wonder if she has ever mentioned Afghanistan on tape.

2. Apex Says:
   September 3rd, 2008 at 12:20 am

   Why bring up war when everything is going so well in this country?

   Craig: Palin is just now having her opinions explained to her. Give them another day to tell her how to think.

3. G C Says:
   September 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 am

   I don’t have video of this (yet), but I’m trying to track it down. If you saw it, you saw how devastatingly bad it was.
   
   http://gerrycanavan.blogspot.com/2008/09/lieberman-on-msnbc.html

   Andrea Mitchell: Do you feel Sarah Palin is qualified to be commander-in-chief if God forbid, something should happen to John McCain?

   Joe Lieberman: Well…you know…let’s assume the best (chuckles uncomfortably). John’s in great shape, he’s gonna be the president and let’s assume that nothing bad will happen…why should we? But if it does…yes, she’ll be ready.

4. Asher Says:
   September 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 am

   What should they have said about it? Do you think we should even be there?

5. pseudonymous in nc Says:
   September 3rd, 2008 at 12:56 am

   Or torture. Which presumably means that McCain wasn’t tortured.

6. Don Williams Says:
   September 3rd, 2008 at 12:56 am

   I thought it was interesting that Joe Lieberman said he was putting country above party. I assume that the country he is putting above party is Israel, not the United States.

   Of course, we should expect nothing but hypocrisy and deceit from Lieberman. After all, he has drawn support from the Democratic Party for years — and now turns around and endorses McCain at the Republican National Convention.

7. Miatch Says:
   September 3rd, 2008 at 1:12 am

   I think republicans believe they have already won that war. It’s all wrapped up and all good in Afghanistan. Nothing to see here. Move along.

8. G C Says:
   September 3rd, 2008 at 4:49 am

   Here’s video: Lieberman melts down on MSNBC and all-but-admits Palin is unqualified for the presidency.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHQ8PIjKhz4

9. James Robertson Says:
   September 3rd, 2008 at 6:17 am

   Matt,

   We are still waiting to see whether any prominent Democrat will accept the idea that radical Islam is the enemy

10. nbt Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 6:33 am

    G.C. – I watched the Youtube. Lieberman’s commments to Mitchell seem innocuous. Not devastating IMO.

11. Dominique Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 6:47 am

    Afgoneistan.

12. Richard Steven Hack Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 6:53 am

    “Palin is just now having her opinions explained to her.”

    You don’t know the half of it. This broad keeps an Israeli flag in her office! What more do you need to know? Read this:

    Palin at AIPAC: That Didn’t Take Long
    http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008/09/02/palin-at-aipac-that-didnt-take-long/

    Money Quotes:

    MSNBC and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) are reporting that Gov. Palin met this afternoon with the board of directors of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Sen. Joe Lieberman to, in the words of one McCain campaign official cited by MSNBC, put “the American Jewish community at ease over her understanding of US-Middle East relations.” It’s worth noting that Palin, who has obviously been completely off-limits to reporters since she was rolled out as McCain’s running-mate in Dayton Friday, stiffed a reception in her honor sponsored by none other than Phyllis Schlafly a couple hours later. (One wonders what other lobbies have tried to arrange a meeting with Palin in the last 96 hours and with what success.)

    “We had a good productive discussion on the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship, and we were pleased that Gov. Palin expressed her deep, personal, and lifelong commitment to the safety and well-being of Israel,” AIPAC spokesman Josh Block said after the meeting. “Like Sen. McCain, the vice presidential nominee understands and believes in the special friendship between the two democracies and would work to expand and deepen the strategic partnership in a McCain/Palin Administration.”

    “She was extremely well received,” McCain campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb said, noting that Palin was interrupted by applause twice,” according to the JTA account. He added that Palin spoke about “the relationship between Israel and American national security, and the threats to Israel from Iran and others.”

    Evidence of nervousness in the McCain campaign about Palin’s impact on Jewish voters and donors was made clear when the Likudist Republican Jewish Coalition circulated a video of her Alaska office in which it found a small Israeli flag, in the words of Politico, “poking out from behind a drape.”

    “I think it speaks volumes that she keeps an Israeli flag on the wall of her office,” RJC’s executive director, Matt Brooks, told Politico in an e-mail. “It clearly shows what’s in her heart.” Politico’s analysis is well worth reading. As I noted Friday, a Nexis search of the two years previous to her selection as McCain’s running-mate failed to find a single published article in which Palin ever mentioned Israel. I suspect it may make it into her acceptance speech Wednesday night.

13. Richard Steven Hack Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 7:01 am

    And by the way, Arnaud de Borchgrave confirms the rumor that Israel intended to use two Georgian air bases to conduct an attack on Iran.

    Commentary: Israel of the Caucasus
    http://www.metimes.com/Security/2008/09/02/commentary_israel_of_the_caucasus/f5e1/

    Money Quotes:

    Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili evidently thought the United States would come to his side militarily if Russian troops pushed him back into Georgia after ordering an attack last Aug. 8 on the breakaway province of South Ossetia. And when his forces were mauled by Russia’s counterattack, bitter disappointment turned to anger. Along with Abkhazia, Georgia lost two provinces.

    Georgia also had a special relationship with Israel that was mostly under the radar. Georgian Defense Minister Davit Kezerashvili is a former Israeli who moved things along by facilitating Israeli arms sales with U.S. aid. “We are now in a fight against the great Russia,” he was quoted as saying, “and our hope is to receive assistance from the White House because Georgia cannot survive on its own.”

    The Jerusalem Post on Aug. 12 reported, “Georgian Prime Minister Vladimir Gurgenidze made a special call to Israel Tuesday morning to receive a blessing from one of the Haredi community’s most important rabbis and spiritual leaders, Rabbi Aaron Leib Steinman. ‘I want him to pray for us and our state,’” he was quoted.

    Israel began selling arms to Georgia seven years ago. U.S. grants facilitated these purchases. From Israel came former minister and former Tel Aviv Mayor Roni Milo, representing Elbit Systems, and his brother Shlomo, former director general of Military Industries. Israeli UAV spy drones, made by Elbit Maarahot Systems, conducted recon flights over southern Russia, as well as into nearby Iran.

    In a secret agreement between Israel and Georgia, two military airfields in southern Georgia had been earmarked for the use of Israeli fighter-bombers in the event of pre-emptive attacks against Iranian nuclear installations. This would sharply reduce the distance Israeli fighter-bombers would have to fly to hit targets in Iran. And to reach Georgian airstrips, the Israeli air force would fly over Turkey.

    The attack ordered by Saakashvili against South Ossetia the night of Aug. 7 provided the Russians the pretext for Moscow to order Special Forces to raid these Israeli facilities where some Israeli drones were reported captured.

    At a Moscow news conference, Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Russia’s deputy chief of staff, said the extent of Israeli aid to Georgia included “eight types of military vehicles, explosives, landmines and special explosives for clearing minefields.” Estimated numbers of Israeli trainers attached to the Georgian army range from 100 to 1,000. There were also 110 U.S. military personnel on training assignments in Georgia. Last July 2,000 U.S. troops were flown in for “Immediate Response 2008,” a joint exercise with Georgian forces.

    Details of Israel’s involvement were largely ignored by Israeli media lest they be interpreted as another blow to Israel’s legendary military prowess, which took a bad hit in the Lebanese war against Hezbollah two years ago. Georgia’s top diplomat in Tel Aviv complained about Israel’s “lackluster” response to his country’s military predicament and called for “diplomatic pressure on Moscow.” According to the Jerusalem Post, the Georgian was told “the address for that type of pressure is Washington.”

    Haaretz reported Georgian Minister Temur Yakobashvili — who is Jewish, the newspaper said — told Israeli army radio that “Israel should be proud of its military which trained Georgian soldiers” because he explained rather implausibly, “a small group of our soldiers were able to wipe out an entire Russian military division, thanks to Israeli training.”

    The Tel Aviv-Tbilisi military axis was agreed at the highest levels with the approval of the Bush administration. The official liaison between the two entities was Reserve Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch who commanded Israeli forces on the Lebanese border in July 2006. He resigned from the army after the Winograd Commission flayed Israel’s conduct of its Second Lebanon War. Hirsch was also blamed for the seizure of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah.

    Israeli personnel, working for “private” companies with close ties to the Israel Defense Forces, also trained Georgian soldiers in house-to-house fighting.

    That Russia assessed these Israeli training missions as U.S.-approved is a given. The United States was also handicapped by a shortage of spy-in-the-sky satellite capability, already overextended by the Iraq and Afghan wars. Neither U.S. nor Georgian intelligence knew Russian forces were ready with an immediate and massive response to the Georgian attack Moscow knew was coming. Russian double agents ostensibly working for Georgia most probably egged on the military fantasies of the impetuous Saakashvili’s “surprise attack” plans.

    Saakashvili was convinced that by sending 2,000 of his soldiers to serve in Iraq (who were immediately flown home by the United States when Russia launched a massive counterattack into Georgia), he would be rewarded for his loyalty. He could not believe President Bush, a personal friend, would leave him in the lurch. Georgia, as Saakashvili saw his country’s role, was the “Israel of the Caucasus.”

    The Tel Aviv-Tbilisi military axis appears to have been cemented at the highest levels, according to YNet, the Israeli electronic daily. But whether the IAF can still count on those air bases to launch bombing missions against Iran’s nuke facilities is now in doubt.

    Iran comes out ahead in the wake of the Georgian crisis. Neither Russia nor China is willing to respond to a Western request for more and tougher sanctions against the mullahs. Iran’s European trading partners are also loath to squeeze Iran. The Russian-built, 1,000-megawatt Iranian reactor in Bushehr is scheduled to go online early next year.

14. Richard Steven Hack Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 7:02 am

    And what does that agreement between Israel and Georgia mean for the US? Well, it means the US has caved in to Israel and will attack in the coming weeks.

    September Surprise
    Get ready for it…
    http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13401

    Money Quotes:

    For months, I’ve been warning in this space that an American attack on Iran is imminent, and now I see that the Dutch have reason to agree with my assessment. Their intelligence service reportedly has pulled out of a covert operation inside Iran on the grounds that a U.S. strike is right around the corner – in “a matter of weeks,” according to De Telegraaf, a Dutch newspaper.

    As the story goes, the Dutch had infiltrated the purported Iranian weapons project and were firmly ensconced when they got word that the Americans are about to launch a missile attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. They wisely decided to close down the operation and pull out.

    Remember, the Israelis have been threatening to strike on their own for months: what’s changed is that now, apparently, the U.S. has caved in to what is a blatant case of blackmail and has agreed to do the job for them.

    We haven’t heard much about Iran lately, at least compared to the scare headlines of a few months ago, when rumors of war were swirling fast and furious. The Russian “threat” seems to have replaced the Iranian “threat” as the War Party’s bogeyman of choice. What we didn’t know, however, is that the two focal points are intimately related.

    According to this report by veteran Washington Times correspondent Arnaud de Borchgrave, the close cooperation of the Israelis with the Georgian military in the run-up to President Saakashvili’s blitz of South Ossetia was predicated on a Georgian promise to let the Israelis use Georgia’s airfields to mount a strike against Iran.

    The main problem for Tel Aviv, in making its threats against Iran at all credible, has been the distance to be covered by Israeli fighter jets, which would have a hard time reaching and returning from their targets without refueling. With access to the airfields of “the Israel of the Caucasus,” as de Borchgrave – citing Saakashvili – puts it, the likelihood of an Israeli attack entered the world of real possibilities. De Borchgrave avers:

    “In a secret agreement between Israel and Georgia, two military airfields in southern Georgia had been earmarked for the use of Israeli fighter-bombers in the event of pre-emptive attacks against Iranian nuclear installations. This would sharply reduce the distance Israeli fighter-bombers would have to fly to hit targets in Iran. And to reach Georgian airstrips, the Israeli air force would fly over Turkey.

    “The attack ordered by Saakashvili against South Ossetia the night of Aug. 7 provided the Russians the pretext for Moscow to order Special Forces to raid these Israeli facilities where some Israeli drones were reported captured.”

    Reports of anywhere from 100 to 1,000 Israeli “advisers” in Georgia do not bode well for the situation on the ground. With the Israelis already installed in that country, the logistics of carrying out such a sneak attack are greatly simplified. Israeli pilots would only have to fly over Azerbaijan, and they’d be in Iranian airspace – and within striking distance of Tehran.

    Faced with this fait accompli – if the Dutch are to be believed – the Americans seem to have capitulated. In which case, we don’t have much time. Although de Borchgrave writes “whether the IAF can still count on those air bases to launch bombing missions against Iran’s nuke facilities is now in doubt,” I don’t see why the defeat of the Georgians in Saakashvili’s war on the Ossetians has to mean the plan to strike Iran via Georgia has been canceled. Indeed, reading de Borchgrave’s riveting account of the extent of the Tel Aviv-Tbilisi collaboration, one finds additional reasons for all concerned to go ahead with it:

    “Saakashvili was convinced that by sending 2,000 of his soldiers to serve in Iraq (who were immediately flown home by the United States when Russia launched a massive counterattack into Georgia), he would be rewarded for his loyalty. He could not believe President Bush, a personal friend, would leave him in the lurch. Georgia, as Saakashvili saw his country’s role, was the ‘Israel of the Caucasus.’”

15. bob h Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 7:03 am

    But note the news of a big, unprecedented American commando raid across the border into Pakistan. Obviously a high value target. Did Bush try to nail bin Laden or Al Zawahiri just to boost the Republican convention?

16. El Cid Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 am

    There is no need for Republicans to mention any war in Afghanistan until there’s a SURGE ™ which will make everything all perfect & good again, at which point, it will be mentioned.

    (Democrats mention Afghanistan a lot, but have not yet gotten to the stage of arguing that increased U.S. forces, etc., will actually make the situation any better, and I’m not sure that day will ever arrive.)

17. pseudonymous in nc Says:
    September 3rd, 2008 at 10:10 am

    We are still waiting to see whether any prominent Democrat will accept the idea that radical Islam is the enemy

    ‘the enemy’? What is this, a bad fantasy novel?

    Scary Muslims are going to steal White Flight Jim-Bob’s lawn tractor! Oh noes!

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