The (Coming) Surge In Afghanistan: Brought To You By Kim And Fred Kagan?

[laststeamtrain]

The (Coming) Surge In Afghanistan: Brought To You By Kim And Fred Kagan?
Justin Elliott | September 28, 2009, 11:39AM

Frederick Kagan, the neoconservative think-tanker best known as the architect of the surge in Iraq, continues to have access to Gen. Stanley McChrystal as an adviser after serving as part of a team producing the recent assessment of the Afghan war, a spokesman for the general tells us.

It had been reported that Kagan and his wife, military historian Kimberly Kagan, were part of the group that advised McChrystal on the high-profile assessment that warns of "mission failure" if more troops are not sent. But it wasn't previously known that Kagan's work with McChrystal extended beyond the review.

It's striking that Kagan, who writes for the Weekly Standard, guest blogs at National Review, and advised the Bush Administration on Iraq, is now advising President Obama's top commander in Afghanistan.

<snip>

There's little doubt the Kagans were strong proponents within the assessment team of sending more American troops to Afghanistan. They argue in a co-bylined Washington Post op-ed and a new report for the American Enterprise Institute, where Fred is a resident scholar, for 40,000 to 45,000 new U.S. troops in 2010. Fred also signed on to a letter from conservatives to Obama beseeching the president to approve an escalation in Afghanistan.

He held forth at an AEI panel earlier this year on Iraqis' tolerance, relative to Afghans, for civilian deaths caused by American forces, saying that Iraqis were "not bitching about collateral damage." Reducing civilian deaths in Afghanistan has been declared a priority by McChrystal.

... http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/the_coming_surge_in_afghanistan_brought_to_you_by.php

[ShortnFiery]

1. If American Enterprise Institute, AEI, has any part in the decision making ...

It's going to be palatable - purely logical - but VILE.

They (AEI) could sell a man a shit sandwich and force him to say "It's delicious."

AEI is composed of very intelligent individuals who, IMO, have no soul nor an inkling compassion for humanity. They serve the multi-national corporations who wish to rape the entire ME of all their natural resources.

[tuckessee]

2. I thought President Obama was Commander and Chief??????

If so, whatever happens in Afghanistan is brought to us by him and him only.

[TayTay]

3. The Kagans might want to do this, but times have changed

since the Iraq surge argument in late 2006. That surge in Iraq was designed to give the political forces in Iraq time to settle their differences and enact political measures to move their country along. That did not happen. US forces did what was needed in military and non-military ways to keep a window open for a small period of time, but the Maliki government has not followed through. The US is leaving Iraq on a timetable and the counter-arguments, that are still being made by the way, that want the US to stay longer are still being made.

Afghanistan is not Iraq. What worked, albeit temporarily at best, in Iraq are not methods that might work in Afghanistan. Times have changed and I wonder of Gen. Kagan and his wife understand that. We don't have the troops, the money or the internal political support to sustain a surge in Afghanistan.

The argument is often made that the US, having invaded and bombed Afghanistan, now has a moral obligation to stay and fix the country. Rory Stewart, a British authority on Afghanistan and author of the book, "The Places in Between" about his travels in Afghanistan, was recently on Bill Moyers show on TV. He made the entirely cogent point that the US has no moral obligation to fix something that is beyond their ability to fix. We can't be morally responsible to do something that is beyond our ability to do. We cannot fix Afghanistan. No surge or number of troops available to us can fix this. We have the moral obligation to do what we can actually do.

[sattahipdeep]

4. neocon

We followed up by asking if it was accurate to describe the Kagans as "McChrystal advisers" -- as the AP and NPR have in recent days AP mentions both Kagans, NPR only Fred. Sholtis responded:

"If you're just going to say they're advisers in some kind of neutral way, then yes. If by saying they're advisers you're going to imply that we're in some kind of neocon thrall, then no. Like I said, he takes advice from all sides."

....
Obama is taking ownership of this conflict.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6606468

“Some people on the right think Afghanistan is hopeless, some people think this is Obama’s war and want to do to Obama the same thing the left did to Bush with Iraq,”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/world/asia/03policy.html?hp