Wolf wants Afghanistan-Pakistan study group

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., is calling on President Obama to establish a study group to evaluate the war in Afghanistan and clarify the U.S.’s goals in the conflict....Wolf was behind legislation in 2005 that led to the creation of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan group of officials charged with reviewing U.S. efforts in the country."

Talk about out a ruling class that's out of touch. The "Iraq Study Group" wound up being the laughing stock of the country. And that's at best. At worst, it provided cover for people who wanted to lose the war. People don't understand just what a RINO this guy is: http://removerinos.com/WolfFrank.html

The Iraq Study Group was composed of Realists/Pragmatists from both parties. The ISG report merely said what everybody already knew. That the the US was stuck in Iraq with no way out and Afghanistan was spinning out of control.

Bob Gates went from ISG to Sec of Defense. He was the point man of the Realist boarding party taking Bush's foreign policy away from the NeoCons. It was after that fact that the Iraqis came back to the table and negotiated the Status of Forces Agreement that replaced the UN mandates as the US's legal basis for being in Iraq. Even today, Obama is following SOFA on the troop drawdown.

You may find it interesting that Bob Gates worked for NSA Kissinger, then NSA Brzezinski under Carter, then for NSA Scowcroft under GHW Bush.

Ben Rhodes is an up and coming young Realist. As a student at Rice, he was associated with the James Baker Institute. Then he worked for the Gulianni re-election campaign. Then he worked for democrat Lee Hamilton. Then he got a job on the Iraq Study working for James Baker where he wrote most of the final report. In 2009, Obama hired him as a speech writer, then promoted him to deputy NSA.

With all due respect, it’s not difficult to devise a way of withdrawing troops after you’ve won a war. We’d be doing fine in that regard, had there been no Iraq Study Group. On the contrary, the only reason we won the war is that Bush and Petraeus ignored the main recommendations of the Study Group and devised the surge, against the advice of the Study Group. It’s interesting to note that Richard Lugar used the Iraq Study Group as a means of calling for a “change of course” alternate to the surge, before the surge had even reached full strength. The Dems immediately pounced on the call: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT0MLQO0YSg&feature=player_embedded . For whatever Bush’s weaknesses may have been, I’m just thankful our president had enough foresight and courage to ignore the Study Group’s main points (unlike the G.O.P. chair of the Foreign Relations Committee). However, I do agree with you on one point: the study group concluded “the US was stuck in Iraq with no way out.” That’s largely why they now have egg on their face. Because indeed we found a way out.

Committees, study groups, and seminars do not win wars, but this one damn near lost one for us (which is why the media initially loved the study group...until it became an embarrassment to them too). I agree with Varon...a study group to determine why Barney Frank talks the way he does, would be more meaningful.

You linked me to two articles, one written by a neocon and the other by a neocon leaner. Do you think it is a revelation that the neocon would criticize Lugar and or Warner, who are realists.

Both of those articles were written in 2007, after the neocons had been demoted. They had(and still have) a lot of resentment towards the realists and towards Bush. And later the neocon resentment grew worse when Bush abandoned neocon Scooooter Libby to die on the political battlefield.

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