Posted on 10/11/2009 10:09:18 AM PDT by kristinn
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) strongly criticized Barack Obama for dithering over accepting the recommendation for troops increases in Afghanistan by his handpicked Aghan commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and blamed the delay for contributing to the deaths of eight U.S. soldiers at a small base in Nuristan that was nearly overrun by the Taliban last week.
Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, made her remarks on a panel discussion on ABC News' This Week with George Stephanopoulos this morning:
I don't know how you put somebody in who was as crackerjack as General McChrystal, who gives the president very solid recommendations, and not take those recommendations if you're not going to pull out.
If you don't want to take the recommendations, then you -- you -- you put your people in such jeopardy, just like the base in Nuristan. We lost eight of our men. We didn't have the ability to defend them, and now the base is closing, and effectively we're -- we're retreating away from it. And so I think the decision has to be made sooner, rather than later.
Feinstein participated in a meeting at the White House with Obama and other members of Congress earlier in the week. She told Stephanopoulos her take:
Well, what he revealed was his thinking up to this point, and that the fact that he wanted to hear from various members, and some of us spoke up. And I'll tell you what I said. I reviewed all of the intelligence and looked at the situation, and it was pretty clear to me that violence was up 100 percent, 950 attacks in August. The Taliban now controls 37 percent of the people in the areas where these people are. Attrition in police is running 67 percent, either killed or leaving the service.
And the mission is in serious jeopardy. I think General McChrystal, who is one of our very best, if not the best at this, has said a counterterrorism strategy will not work. The president said to us very clearly, just as you said, George, we will not pull out.
Now, if you're going to stay, you have to have a way of winning. The question is, what is that way? And I think the counterinsurgency strategy, which means protecting the people, not shooting from afar, but securing, taking, holding, and providing security for a period of time is really critical.
Feinstein also described her view of dealing with the Taliban:
I think it depends on what you mean by "Taliban." I think if you take the Haqqani network, which I gather was generally responsible for the bombing of the interior ministry in Kabul, I think they're hardcore fanatics.
If you look back, too, at Taliban control, when it had more in the earlier days, and I've got to tell you, I particularly worry about women in Afghanistan, acid in their face of children, girl children who go to school, women who can't work when they're widowed, huddled on the streets, begging, women beaten and shot in stadiums, you know, Sharia law with all of its violence, I mean, that's one element of the -- of the Taliban.
I think we need to look for those warlords that we can work with, those Pashtuns who want to work for stability, for good, solid governance. I don't think we can make the country into a Jeffersonian democracy, but I do think you -- you've got to stabilize this country.
You leave this country, and the Taliban are increasing all of the time. They're taking over more. It will have a dramatic impact on Pakistan one day. I really believe that.
She also stated she did not want U.S. forces to stay in Afghanistan for another decade or more. She thinks the American people would not support it.
However, Feinstein's sharp criticism of Obama is sure to inflame the debate at a time when both the right and left are questioning Obama's competency as president.
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Feinstein rips him a new one. You don’t want to p!$$ off a woman!
Did she vote for impeachment?
If she keeps this up the Obama is going to need another date night with his wife or a vacation.
Maybe he’ll discover he left his umbrella in Copenhagen and needs to return there to pick it up.
He may need to take a pre-survey trip to Stockholm before he receives his joke prize.
Putin smiles.
Chaves grins.
Obama dithers again and again and again . . . .
Written by Dr. Jack Wheeler
Friday, 09 October 2009
snip....
The conversations at the Cosmos Club this week were very subdued. As it has been for generations, this is where the true power elite of Washington gathers. Whether it was in the East Garden Bar, the Old Club Room, or the Members Dining Room, the savviest veterans of Capitol Hill and K Street - Democrat and Republican - had a tone of fear and seriousness you didn't hear the week before.
Something had scared them. Scared them like an earthquake had fractured their political foundations. The one whispered word you could overhear more than any other was "Copenhagen."
For them, President and Mrs. Zero flying off to Copenhagen to beg the International Olympics Committee for Chicago and being rejected was not a matter of humiliation. It was scales falling off their eyes, and in an eye-blink realizing the enormity of the mistake America made last November.
And at breakfast in the Garden Dining Room this morning (10/09), there were hardly conversations at all, just shocked silence. The consequences of giving a president afflicted with pathological egomania combined with pathological amateurishness the Nobel Peace Prize were so grave they were speechless.
These grizzled hard-nosed guys can handle egomaniacs and ideologues, for DC is overrun with such folk. What they can't handle, what actually scares them, is off-the-wall bozo sophomoric amateurs in positions of real power. And if the amateur in question is at the apex of real power and is so nutso narcissistic that he can't be educated to be less amateurish, now they start to freak out.
One basic rule that all presidents adhere to, Dem or Pub makes no difference, is they never risk the prestige of the presidency on a negotiation that could result in public humiliation. It's always negotiated by White House Sherpas in advance so it's a done deal, and the POTUS just shows up for the applause and photo-ops.
The Copenhagen Fiasco has scared every pro in Washington because it was Total Absolute Amateur City by a presidential ego run amok.
So Cosmos is quiet this morning, as everyone realizes this pathological ego is now on steroids with this farce of a peace prize.
***
You won't, however, hear any conspiracy talk at Cosmos. For that you have to go to the GOP's favorite watering hole, the Capitol Hill Club. Not a few Pub Congressistas were speculating there over a quick cup of morning coffee that George Soros must have paid off the Norwegian Nobel Committee to counter Zero's humiliation in Copenhagen and being ridiculed on Saturday Night Live.
Maybe. Becoming an object of ridicule is often irrecoverably deadly to a politician. For a long time, comedians just couldn't tell jokes about The One. Then Bill Maher on HBO had this zinger:
Yep, I’ll guarantee you this support of hers is a trade off for something...she wouldn’t buck Dumbama if getting her way on something else wasn’t much worth it to her.
I’m betting her reason is one of two...a run for the governorship, or an exchange vote possibly on health care or cap ‘n trade.
Wow, rare kudos to a Democrat. See, DiFi, I didn’t even capitalize the last three letters as I do 99.5% of the time. Thank you for seeing this clearly.
EEOP???
Do you have a link for that, please? Signed, too lazy to search. :)
Extraordinary Equal Opportunity Program?
I don’t know much about DiFi, but hard to imagine a high seniority Senator in a safe seat trying for state gov slot.
Gov is a way tougher job, and Calif looks pretty much unmanageable financially.
I’m certainly no fan of Feinstein, but she will surprise you once in a while. She’s not the same empty airhead the other California Senator is. Babwa Boxer has about as much sense than a box of rocks.
That being said, this criticism is very strident. Good for her.
unlike Boxer........I happily call this woman Senator Feinstein today....despite her democrat roots.
Feinstein is NOT an “old fashioned Democrat” as some might reflexively suggest. Think Zell Miller when you think of THAT kind of Democrat. She is a radical Leftist.
So what’s her angle, you ask? Simple. The Clinton machine is lining up for the kill. Hillary is ramping up her “public support” for Israel, her allies in Congress are criticizing Obama on foreign and military policy...It’s just starting. It’s likely this is an attempt to allow many Congressional Democrats to separate themselves from Obama for the 2010 elections, hoping to preserve the Democrat majority in both houses. I think it will work. And if it does, they’ll be solid with “The One” as soon as the election is over, and work hard and unanimously for his re-election/re-coronation for the 2012 election...
It’s all politics people. Don’t give any credit to Feinstein she doesn’t deserve. DON’T trust her — but DO exploit her words, regardless of her motives.
who would ever has guessed that Feinstein was a racist?
We can only hope.
I just watched her comments on ABC’s web site. She specifically mentioned the fate of women under the Taliban and Sharia law. I think that plays a big part in her thinking.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.