Gingrich, on Fox News Sunday today, said that, in recent months he has come to the conclusion that any war for the United States in that region cannot be won.
Newt: I’ve reached the conclusion, frankly about the entire region, that is much more pessimistic than Washington’s official position. When you look at Pakistan and you realize that they had been hiding Bin Laden for at least 7 years in a military city within a mile of their national military university, and their reaction wasn’t to find the people who had been hiding him, it was to find the people who helped the Americans. There is something profoundly wrong with the way that we’re approaching the whole region, and I think that it’s going to get substantially worse, not better, and I think that we’re risking the lives of young American men and women in a mission that may, frankly, not be doable.
After a follow-up question by Chris Wallace, Newt amplified his comments: I think it’s very likely that we have tragically lost the lives and suffered injuries of a considerable number of young Americans on a mission that we’re going to discover is not doable. By not doable, I mean. You’re not going to get Afghanistan, Pakistan, frankly we watch what’s happening in Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood, look at the things that are going on within the region, and then ask yourself, is this in fact, a harder, deeper problem that is not going to be susceptible to military force, at least military force on the scale that we’re prepared to do, and, if that is true, that is part of the reason why I’ve decided to make energy independence a major part of my campaign….
Hallelujah. The emperor may be finding his clothes. For most of a year, we’ve heard Republicans running for President all (with the exception of Ron Paul) blindly claim that the Afghan War is winnable, if we just had another Commander in Chief. Now, apparently, if we read Newt’s comments correctly, he does not want us to engage in any military action in that region, which I assume includes such other nations that we’re currently beating drumbeats of war, including Iran and Syria. So, at least one of the candidates is willing to say that these decade-long excursions are not just silly, they are stupid.
The following guest, John McCain, clearly disagreed with this view. He became florid when he defended the Israeli position of threatening war, and claimed that we should align ourselves with Israel. We should act in concert with Israel if it finds itself threatened by Iran’s words. Yeah, that war will work out well. I’m guessing that nobody in that region will be upset at all that we engage in yet another long war, merely because a blustery socialist blowhard claims that we should.
March 11th, 2012 at 9:37 am
Probably right, only because of the half-ass PC World way that righteous nations like ours fight modern warfare. But in the details, I get pissed when politicians like Newt focus on bin Laden as if has been important in the past 10 years. Really stupid example he used.
March 11th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
In modern warfare, without uniforms, there are few effective methodologies.
Either kill every living, breathing human, or leave.
When you enter a city and you don’t know the enemies from the friendlies there is no way to wage war.
I pity the young people that try to make these decisions every day.
March 11th, 2012 at 1:13 pm
The way Obama has been running the war in Afghanistan, its a wonder we have not been asked by the Afghans to leave already? Oh, I forgot! That what they’ve been shouting on the streets of Kabul for weeks now!
Yes, Newt has seen the light. Sometimes it takes a while. As I often say, we do best when we bomb. This nation-building thing has turned into one big, corrupt mess. Seems that more time, money and effort are being used to prop-up a failed, corrupt Afghan government, and maybe build roads for moving opium and mineral treasures around.
Time to exit and bring our troops home!
March 12th, 2012 at 11:55 am
We learned the same thing the British and Soviets discovered.
Why don’t politicians read history books?
March 12th, 2012 at 1:38 pm
What the military planners always fail to consider is that liberals will undermine any war effort, resulting in more difficulty winning and more dead American soldiers. They never learn from Vietnam.
March 12th, 2012 at 2:01 pm
“What the military planners always fail to consider is that liberals will undermine any war effort, resulting in more difficulty winning and more dead American soldiers. They never learn from Vietnam.”
This is a replay of the argument that the military is not allowed to fight the war the way it should be fought.
As I said earlier, in this age of no uniforms, there is no way to fight an effective war unless you are fully prepared to kill every human being.
If you don’t know who the enemy is, everyone is a potential enemy.
There are only two options now. Either don’t engage, or kill everyone.
What is the other option?
March 12th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
You never read Greek history?
Surround the town, tell them to give up their bad guys and throw down all the weapons, or we kill all of the adult men. Read Thucydides. You don’t do the killing first without giving people a better option. That would be immoral. This was the principle behind the atomic bombs that were dropped in Japan. On the second one, the locals finally got it.
March 12th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
“. On the second one, the locals finally got it.”
Yup, proof the proof that there are no real democrats alive anymore
March 12th, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Buzz, we didnt want the land.
Big difference.
Its not winnable but it is manageable.
And it will always be umanigeable as long this theology is the ideology.
We wanted ubl and to stop the flow of radicals across the middle east establishing militia training camps.
Its just not about Afghanistan anymore. Different denominations of these ass hole groups are popping up everywear whove never heard of bin laden.
Blow up all their opium and just leave, ungrateful ass holes
March 12th, 2012 at 8:06 pm
No one ever wins at Whack-A-Mole.
March 12th, 2012 at 8:06 pm
The mole, however, does get a headache.