Sunday, September 27, 2009
Obama should sack McChrystal like Truman sacked Macarthur
Obama seems to have been bogged down in a big quagmire. Too much to do, to little time and attention span to do justice to some very very important issues that will shape the coming world. Perforce, he has to depend on his advisors. That gives ample opportunity to his advisors to use his need to their own pet schemes, lobbied by different groups, not necessarily in tune with Obama’s own world-view.
Obama had held that US should have gone into Afghanistan to fight terrorism supposedly spearheaded by Al-Qaeda, instead of Iraq. But Bush was under the thumb ofAmerica’s Israeli lobby, the Jewish Neo-con cabal. They whipped us big hysteria against Saddam, who was a big hollow drumbeater with his bogus nuclear threat. The world knew about it, US knew about it and even Israel knew about it. But for Israel Saddam’s empty boasts was enough to force Bush to go after him and get an oil rich nation as the war booty. Millions died and misplaced in America’s illegal invasion of a UN member nation, in carpet bombing of a defenseless desert country.
Now that Obama has focused his attention on Afghanistan, and blindly signs all army requests for increased troops to spread out in villages of Afghanistan and commit atrocities on poor village folks, as US troops had unleashed their criminal lust for innocent blood in Iraq, Al Qaeda has quietly left the field and move to other areas of operation in Yemen, Somalia and possibly some western countries as well.
US and NATO casualties are at all time high. And there is enormous pressure building up back in the West, especially UK and Germany to a great extent and in US itself to a lesser degree, against continuing an unending war in Afghanistan.
Obama now in the midst of deeply divisive issues like control on banking and Public Health, America’s army Chief has chosen to go in his own way. Like General Macarthur, he thinks he is bigger than the President. The scenario is exactly like the one seen by the world in Japan war. Macarthur had his own plans on carrying on his personal ego trip to expand the war and later claim nation’s endorsement for a Presidential top spot. Harry Truman was shrewd enough to get the whole picture without getting overwhelmed by the larger than life image of General Macarthur and his victories in the Pacific sector. On a fine day, out goes a Presidential order and General Macarthur is relieved of his command.
That moment seems to have arrived with General McChrystal persisting in his relentless drive to pour more and more troops into Afghanistan, regardless of the damage it is inflicting on innocent people of a foreign country made victim of propaganda by motivated media groups.
This is moment, Obama should sack McChrystal and give a much needed signal to the countries in the region, that US under Obama is not for winning friends and influencing people through drone bombings.
The US and its allies are always welcome to help Afghanistan people, through people who can genuinely give Afghanistan an effective and peaceful government and not be tainted by the artificial electoral games on the behind the scene management of foreign powers. As Obama himself admitted in his UN General Assembly speech; democracy cannot be forced on the people who have their own age-old idea of how consensus works in their societies. If it’s a Jirga that works, Jirga they should have. If it is the Taliban that works for them, Taliban they should have.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com
www.GhulamMuhammed.Blogspot.
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