Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation
I'm sure Pakistan is at the top of the policy debate and I'm equally sure that for obvious reasons it is nowhere to be seen in public comments on the debate.
I'm sure you're right on the administration not telegraphing its position. I just can't remember the last time that
Congress was discreet on foreign policy. It probably was before electricity.
So if the article summarizes what's going on in Congress, it's pretty remarkable that there isn't a faction organized around "Uh, guys . . . the nukes are in Pakistan . . . OBL was in Pakistan . . . AQ was in Pakistan . . . some subset of Pakistani officials (maybe a large set) knew AQ and OBL were in Pakistan . . . now might not be a good time to ramp up Afghanistan if it means losing leverage with Pakistan. Eyes on the prize, folks."
Maybe you're right that the above is the administration's basic stance. Unfortunately for them, they're stuck justifying that policy with one of the arguments in what's passing for public debate. Not an appetizing menu (thus the joke about getting the right outcome, with whatever public rationale)
A) Mission accomplished, return home. Screw this foreign policy stuff. (middle 60% of country)
B) Mission not accomplished. There are still people to kill. Now that we're getting results, the time is right to sell the public on another surge (Neocons)
B) Get out yesterday. The mission was wrong, anyway (Kucinich)
C) Kind of don't do anything, sell it as stay the course, carefully leaving "course" undefined
D) I want to get out, but I'm kinda scared to say it, so I'm going to argue for a deliberately paced drawdown, such that I leave wiggle room for stopping the drawdown or speeding it up if I change my mind later (the John Kerry position)