As the Bush administration prepares to ride off into the sunset, our nation faces many problems. Many of these problems are directly related to decisions made in the past eight years. While the American people seem fixated on economic issues, the foreign policy failings of the Bush administration may stand as the most monumental blunders of the past two terms. Bush's misaligned focus in the war on terror has left our military overstretched & out of position. His mistakes in Eastern Europe have led to a renewal of U.S./Russian hostilities, possibly leading to the recent invasion of the small nation of Georgia. Whoever takes the wheel of our nation next January will certainly have their work cut out for them.
If you watched the first presidential debate between Senators Obama & McCain, you noticed the discussion the candidates had about Pakistan, which has been the main focus of this blog to this point. The candidates, like me, see the need to improve relations with this Islamic nation in order to better accomplish our nation's goals in the war on terror. If you noticed, Senator McCain attacked Senator Obama for his tough talk about Pakistan. McCain went so far as to accuse Obama of "telegraphing his punches" as if it was a mistake.
Although McCain certainly has a mountain of experience in foreign policy matters, his conclusions on this particular area are simply wrong. President Bush has been attempting to improve Pakistani/American relations for six years. His efforts have cost Americans ten billion dollars. This money has had little positive effect. Essentially, Bush gave billions to former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, who used the money to solidify his own power & the Kashmir front. All the while, Pakistan denied requests to enter the countryside to chase down Taliban & al-Qaeda operatives. The Pakistani military refused to aid in strikes on our enemies in the war on terror. What's truly sad is the fact that much of our ten billion dollars in aid likely supplied this uncooperative force.
Early in the primary campaign, Senator Obama took a very different view to the solution of the Pakistan problem. Instead of handing out cash without conditions, Obama suggested that strings came attached to the money. Due to a staggering change in the Pakistani government, this message may have met with more receptive ears. The new parliament made a commitment publicly to remove terrorist sympathizers from government. In the third debate of the primary, Senator Obama went so far as to say that our entire relationship with Pakistan may need to be reevaluated if our troops did not receive the aid they need to succeed. As Obama pulled away in the polls, Pakistan began to carry out their own attacks against Taliban forces.
As goes Obama's success, so has gone the position of Pakistan. Pakistan has made a recent change of leadership in the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service. Although the selection came from the Pakistani military, not the civilian authority, he has an anti-Taliban stance to match the recent change in the ISI's mission.
Senator Obama did in a positioning statement what President Bush has failed to do with ten billion dollars & the power of the highest elected office in the free world.
So what's a lame duck to do? One would think that securing our interests as a nation by taking advantage of all these good turns would be a smart move. Instead, the Bush administration has seen fit to complicate the situation through military action, a theme constant in the past eight years. Recently, there have been strikes on the Pakistani countryside related to U.S. forces. In one instance, U.S. helicopters were blamed for firing rounds inside the Pakistani border. In others, missile strikes have been killing civilians near the Afghan border.
Does anyone think that this method of action will result in positive action from either the Pakistani government or their people? An extended war front is certainly not in our best interest.
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