Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, most famous for uncovering the Watergate scandal in tandem with Carl Bernstein 37 years ago, but also author of numerous other works, including three on Bush and his war policies after 9/11, is just back from Afghanistan, and he comes back with a warning to the nation and Barack Obama.
Woodward says it can now be said that Afghanistan is Obama’s War with the greatly increased commitment, of troops, and the growing number of US casualties, including many by suicide bombers and IEDs.Â
Woodward says this is a much harder and different war than Bush’s war in Iraq, with far less potential for progress and success despite increased US and NATO forces in that backward country.
Woodward is very perceptive, and makes one wonder when or if Barack Obama will come to realize that the battle against the Taliban is, in my opinion, an unwinnible war that will drain our ability to accomplish domestic reform and will, over time, undermine his standing with the American people.
Just as World War I ended Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom; World War II ended Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, and the Vietnam War ended Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, Barack Obama is in mortal danger of seeing his ambitious plans for what might be called "The New New Deal" or "The New Foundations" destroyed or cut short by a long drawn out, unsuccessful war in a forbidden land, Afghanistan, which helped to bring down the old Soviet Union by the end of the 1980s.
Instead of sending our young men and women, the treasure of our nation, into battle far away, better to reinforce and develop a strong Homeland Security defense system that will make America impenetrable from another 9/11 attack.   I hope that the President will come to his senses in this regard very soon, as it is important for the future of his agenda and for the nation itself.