Sen. Russ Feingold in The Nation: White House Is Whistling Past Afghan Graveyard

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/world/141606/sen._russ_feingold%3A_white_house_is_whistling_past_afghan_graveyard_/

Sen. Russ Feingold: White House Is Whistling Past Afghan Graveyard

By Jeremy Scahill, The Nation. Posted July 30, 2009.

In an exclusive interview, Feingold argues why his lone vote to oppose expanding the military by 30,000 soldiers was the right one.

In 2001, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., famously and courageously stood up as the lone senator to vote against the Patriot Act.

On July 21, 2009, he did it again, casting the lone vote opposing Sen. Joe Lieberman's, I-Conn., amendment to the 2010 Defense Authorization bill that immediately authorizes an expansion of the military by 30,000 troops. In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Feingold says he "did not believe it was in the best interest of our troops or our national security." The measure passed 93-1.

"Well, it's never easy," Feingold said of his solo stance opposing the measure. "People might try to distort what you're doing and suggest you don't think the troops should be supported, which I do -- I feel very strongly. But I don't think putting more and more of our troops into a situation that may not make sense is a way to support the troops or protect our country. It's a tough role to play. It's a role that I feel I'm obligated to play."

Feingold said he is increasingly disturbed by the war in Afghanistan, where troop levels are escalating by the month, U.S. casualties are mounting and the insurgency is expanding.

- snip -

Feingold received a similar answer from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, in May: "Can I 100 percent certain that won't destabilize Pakistan? I don't know the answer to that," Mullen said.

"This is something I've been trying to hammer away at," Feingold told The Nation. "They admitted that it's a problem, but where's the follow-up? This administration is almost whistling past the graveyard on this issue.

"How is it that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and our special envoy to this region both agree that this could be a problem and that it is not talked about as a serious mistake if we're going to keep increasing troops and increase that effect? This is, in my view, the central flaw in what is otherwise a policy that is better than the Bush administration's. This is the central flaw in the thinking of the administration on this issue, and it needs to be pursued."

MORE

[foginthemorn]

1. A few others have tried to speak up--but the WH put the clamps on them..............

http://www.alternet.org/world/141606/sen._russ_feingold%3A_white_house_is_whistling_past_afghan_graveyard_?page=2

..............In the halls of Congress, Afghanistan remains the "good war," although little by little, legislators are speaking out, and a handful are standing up.

In June, 30 House Democrats voted against continued funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a rare moment when the collective votes of the small number of anti-war legislators mattered -- indeed, the bill almost failed. That was due in large part to the fact that Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the bill because a massive bailout for the International Monetary Fund was attached to the spending measure.

Consequently, the White House needed to persuade some of the anti-war Democrats to vote with the president instead of with their conscience or their constituents. The White House feverishly lobbied the Hill and threatened some freshmen representatives with not campaigning for them in 2010 if they did not switch their votes in favor of the war-funding bill, which narrowly passed.

The Senate, however, is a much bleaker landscape when it comes to opposing the expansion of the war in Afghanistan, as Feingold's lonely dissent underscores. In May, Feingold was one of just three senators -- and the only Democrat -- to vote against a $91 billion war-spending bill.

On a wide range of issues that Feingold has hammered away at for years, the senator finds himself confronting a Democratic president for whom he campaigned. Some of the Bush-era policies that Feingold passionately opposed are now Obama's policies.

To Feingold's credit, the change in administrations has clearly not altered his core principles. Since Jan. 20, Feingold has pressed the administration on Bush-era policies that are either being continued or expanded under Obama..............more

[foginthemorn]

5. K and R

[slay]

2. I'd like to see the cowards who un-recommend this thread stand up and say so - cause I gladly K&R

fucking cowards/barring idiocy -- Russ is right to be disturbed by the WAR in Afghanistan. I'm disturbed by those who aren't. :wtf:

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. +1

:thumbsup:

[Hissyspit]

12. self-kicking just to annoy the unrecommenders nt

[chatnoir]

3. K&R

:kick:

[slipslidingaway]

4. knr nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. “Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, .." John Quincy Adams

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." --John Quincy Adams

[bullwinkle428]

7. K&R for Feingold's inspiring courage on this issue!

[bvar22]

8. K&R

Expanding our already obscenely large military while Americans are dying from lack of Health Care is the sign of a dying empire.

Feingold is one of the very few reasons I am still a Democrat.


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone

[crickets]

9. Thank you, Russ Feingold. K&R -nt

[leftstreet]

11. "Can I 100 percent certain that won't destabilize Pakistan?"

"I don't know the answer to that."

Like hell you don't.

That's the whole point of this! Destablizing the middle east is the goal.

[jakeXT]

13. yep

* CIA drone attacks are turning angry youth from FATA into terrorists and provoking them to take revenge from US frontline ally Pakistan for their losses of both houses and their loved ones.

As a results of these drone attacks –some 700 Pakistanis have been killed so far whereas only 9 Al-Qaeda operatives are ‘allegedly ’ killed—this is obvious that agenda behind these continuous drone attacks is not what US is telling the world or to Pakistan. Drone attacks carried out on basis of information of locals, which they provide to CIA operatives for money, cannot achieve its target.

Many locals provide false information just for money because of non-availability of necessary opportunities to earn their bread and butter, so outcome of these attacks usually is death of locals and innocent people along with few militants.

This provides an opportunity to anti-Pakistan forces (Like TTP) to cash their preaching abhorrence against US and its front line ally, Pakistan.

http://asiantribune.com/07/31/cost-of-war-on-terror-for-pakistan/