Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying

8:58:24 PM: There is a reason Afghanistan is referred to as the graveyard of foreign armies.

9:00:48 PM: Obama gettting ready to thread the needle on Afghan policy.

9:01:19 PM: Any Afghan policy that ignores the Pak military’s incubation of Islamists is destined for failure.

9:02:25 PM: Obama takes the stage at West Point. Here we go…

9:03:37 PM: Obama: “We did not ask for this fight.”

9:04:43 PM: Obama: “Al Qaeda…distorted and destroyed Islam…one of the world’s great religions.”

9:05:20 PM: Obama: Congressional approval to act against Al Qaeda is still in force today.

9:06:08 PM: Obama: We attacked Afghanistan after Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden.

9:06:59 PM: Obama: Iraq war pulled resources away from Afghanistan. We are now bringing Iraq war to a close.

9:07:44 PM: Obama building rationale - legal and otherwise - for escalating in Afghanistan.

9:08:18 PM: Obama: “Taliban maintains ‘common cause’ with Al Qaeda”

9:08:57 PM: Big mistake to conflate Taliban with Al Qaeda. That’s a recipe for a quagmire in Afghanistan.

9:10:19 PM: Obama makes weak argument for the current Afghan government. He says election marred by fraud but government is legitimate. WEAK.

9:11:13 PM: Obama: owe troops “a mission that is clearly defined”. Easier said than done.

9:12:24 PM: No serious person would fault Obama for taking his time making his decision. No need for him to defend deliberation time here. Ignore Cheney

9:14:03 PM: Is Obama LBJ or FDR? Still up in the air.

9:15:20 PM: Obama: “I am convinced our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” The most important line of the speech so far - crucial point.

9:16:49 PM: When Obama says “it is from here new attacks are being plotted”, he is referring to Afghanistan AND Pakistan. Nicely done.

9:17:49 PM: Obama: recently extremists were sent here from the “border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan” to commit new acts of terror.

9:18:44 PM: Obama speaking of “partners” in the region. He means Karzai and the Pak military. Both bad bets.

9:19:39 PM: Obama: goal is to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan”. Good goal, but perhaps, bad plan.

9:20:55 PM: Hmm: Obama says “to meet that goal, we will pursue the following objectives WITHIN Afghanistan”. What happened to Pakistan?

9:22:17 PM: Obama’s plan: 30,000 troops to Afghanistan to roll back Taliban and prop up Karzai. Doomed to failure.

9:23:57 PM: Flashback to Soviet withdrawal: Afghan prime minister and defence minister shell each other over skies in Kabul. I see a repeat whn US out.

9:24:52 PM: Hard to get support from Afghan people with food while there are boots on the ground killing civilians - however inadvertantly.

9:26:06 PM: The “cancer” in Pakistan is not limited to the “border regions”. Once again, American misdiagnosis of Pakistan. Same old, same old.

9:27:07 PM: Obama needs to study up on Pakistani military doctrine. Study 1971 and use of Islamist paramilitaries by Pak army. That has not changed.

9:28:05 PM: Obama says “there are a range of concerns” about Obama’s plan.

9:28:44 PM: Obama says Afghanistan is not Vietnam. He is right, but Afghanistan IS Afghanistan - and there lies the rub.

9:29:49 PM: Obama does not want to “muddle through” with current troop levels. Again, he is right. But, that again is not, and never has been, an option

9:30:36 PM: Obama rejects open-ended commitment. That is of course a good thing. But this is also why occupations are doomed in Afghanistan.

9:32:59 PM: The speech is winding down. It has been an extremely disappointing speech. In a sense, Obama punted. Disappointing.

9:35:03 PM: This is Obama trying to dig himself out of the mess GWB left him. It is not a long term strategy for South and Central Asia. Opp missed.

9:38:56 PM: Obama’s plan in a nutshell: prop up Karzai + prop up Pak army + insert 30,000 US troops = success. Plan ignores history and reality.

9:40:02 PM: Obama’s plan ignores root causes of instability in that region. Fails to excise al Qaeda from Afghanistan and stem unchecked Islamism in Pak

9:45:41 PM: Success vs al Qaeda required separating them from Taliban and creating rift between al Qaeda and their Afghan hosts. This plan does reverse.

9:51:07 PM: Closing thought on the Obama speech: The speech demonstrates a lack of vision. Clearly a product of decision by committee.

The House just reached 218 votes on the final passage of the Health Care Reform bill. Congratulations Madam Speaker for pushing hard to get this done.
Final vote tally is 220-215 as the House passes HR 3962. Well done.

A funny thing happened on the way to the exhibition.
On Sunday, Bangladeshi police descended upon Drik Gallery in Dhaka to prevent the launch of a photo exhibition on Tibet. BDNews24 reports:
Dhaka, Nov 1 (bdnews24.com)—Police prevented Drik Gallery in Dhanmondi from launching an exhibition, titled ‘Into Exile: Tibet 1949 – 2009′, on Sunday.
The exhibition was organised [...]

[Click image to see all photos from the conference]
Last Sunday I attended a conference on the Bangladeshi Genocide. It was organized by the Human Rights Institute and the Bangladesh Genocide Study Group at Kean University. This was the second such conference at Kean. The first one, which I also attended, was held in December 2007.
The [...]

8:05:50 PM: After painting himself into a corner in August and losing his base, Obama will try to reclaim the initiative. Maybe.
8:16:54 PM: A lot on the line for Obama, and the country.
8:18:46 PM: Obama says he wants to help responsible homeowners stay in their homes. So far, his program has failed miserably.
8:19:21 PM: Obama [...]

online gambling and which states allow online gambling
“… one giant leap for mankind.” - Neil Armstrong, July 20, 1969 from Tranquility Base on the moon.
Forty years ago today, long before manned space flight came to be defined as a quick jaunt around the Earth, man reached higher and further. Apollo 11 and the men who blasted [...]

Sarah Palin just resigned as Alaska governor. She announced her resignation in an odd rambling speech. Pundits in the media are speculating the resignation frees her up to run for president in 2012. Hogwash. No one resigns their first term as Governor with such a nutball speech and expects to have a national political future. She [...]

The King of Pop is dead. He was a man of unparalleled talent, a musical genius. His impact on the world of music and the medium of music videos is without equal.
Beyond the music he lived a troubled life. Today that life came to a sudden end. May he finally find peace.
Michael Jackson sang “Gone Too [...]

President Obama and Vice President Biden were at Ray’s Hell Burger yesterday for lunch. Ray’s is a burger restaurant in Arlington, Virginia and one of our lunch hangouts. I am generally not a burger lover, but Ray’s makes some awesome burgers. My personal favorite from their menu is the Big Punisher with a side of [...]

Now for something completely different! Consider this therapy:
I am sure by now all of you have heard of the Susan Boyle phenomenon. I saw it last week on YouTube. To me what was amazing was not that a so-called “frumpy” woman was singing with a gorgeous voice. To me the amazing thing was that someone [...]