First, the good news:The capture of senior Afghan Taliban leaders in Pakistan represents the culmination of months of pressure by the Obama administration on Pakistan's powerful security forces to side with the United States as its troops wage war in Afghanistan, according to U.S. and Pakistani officialsBut wait, there's more good news!
A new level of cooperation includes Pakistani permission late last month for U.S. intelligence officials to station personnel and technology in this pulsating megacity, officials said. Intercepted real-time communications handed over to Pakistani intelligence officials have led to the arrests in recent days of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghan Taliban's No. 2 commander, and two of the group's "shadow" governors for northern Afghanistan.
After a fierce gunfight, U.S. Marines seized a strongly defended compound Friday that appears to have been a Taliban headquarters — complete with photos of fighters posing with their weapons, dozens of Taliban-issued ID cards and graduation diplomas from a training camp in Pakistan.In short, the Obama Administration is kicking the Talibans' pathetic asses from here to Kabul. Absolutely. Kicking. Their. Pathetic. Asses. This is unequivocally awesome, and of course the Obama Administration should be given tremendous credit for effectively fighting the war on terror (not that Republicans will give them any credit, of course). It's truly impressive.
So what's the bad news? Simple: that the successes we're seeing today against the Taliban and Al Qaeda could - and should - have happened years ago. Instead, the Bush Administration let Osama bin Laden escape at Tora Bora. Instead, the Bush Administration foolishly diverted resources from the war on terror to the war on Saddam, a scumbag no question, but somebody who had no connection to Al Qaeda, Afghanistan, or the 9/11 attackers. Instead, the Bush Administration needlessly alienated public opinion in places like Pakistan, making it more difficult to effectively do what the Obama Administration is now doing. In other words, the Republicans are all macho talk while Obama is all serious action. Finally, after 8 years of the chickenhawks and macho "mission accomplished" b.s., we've got a real commander in chief who "talks softly and carries a big stick." I know which one I prefer, how about you?
