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October 07, 2010

Blogging the Woodward Book
Posted by Michael Cohen

So I've finally started to slog through the new Bob Woodward book and this passage in particular really jumped out at me. It comes from an interview between Woodward and National Security Advisor Jim Jones and it is his take on why the war in Afghanistan matters:

"If we're not successful here," Jones said, "you'll have a staging base for global terrorism all over the world. People will say the terrorists won. And you'll see expressions of these kinds of things in Africa, South America, you name it. Any developing country is going to say, this is the way we beat [the United States], and we're going to have a bigger problem." 

A setback or loss for the United States would be a "tremendous boost for jihadist extremists, fundamentalists all over the world." 

"It's certainly a clash of civilizations. It's a clash of religions. It's a clash of almost concepts of how to live." The conflict is that deep, he said "So I think if you don't succeed in Afghanistan, you will be fighting in more places."

"Second, if we don't succeed here, organizations like NATO, by association the EU, and the UN might be relegated to the dustbin of history."

How did a President who ran as a candidate on the message that he would "change the mindset" of American foreign policy end up with a national security advisor completely mired in conventional, unnuanced, Cheney-esque thinking about American power? And keep in mind this is one of the people in the Administration who was opposed to the Afghan surge.

You know a few months ago, Spencer and I got in an interesting back-and-forth after I complained that this Administration has a real dearth of strategic thinkers.

After reading this passage . . . well . . . I win.

 

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Comments

Michael, it's simply the Domino Theory, which has long been recognized to have validity. I think Bush-43 might have mentioned it during one of his two trips to Vietnam, which were long after the war of course.

thank you very much to do this for us, that is very useful.

I think Bush-43 might have mentioned it during one of his two trips to Vietnam, which were long after the war of course.

Jim Jones, who lived through the Vietnam War, seems to have forgotten the real leason of that war, which was even after the fall of Saigon, America's strategic position remained strong in Europe and Asia. If the United States does leave Afghanistan, I seriously doubt that its relationship with the EU, NATO, and the UN will suffer any short or long term consequences. Unfortunately the foreign policy elite always assumes that military victory or might is what solidifies alliances and not common economic or political interests.

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