Juan Cole kicks more Afghan sand in Obama face

Cole, using the pages of Salon rather than his own blog, issues some of his strongest comments yet about the idiocy of putting more American troops in Afghanistan.

First, that’s what it is, under current circumstances – idiocy.

And, the idea of hot pursuit of al-Qaeda into Pakistan is idiocy squared. Vis-à-vis the Iraq-Iran parallels, Pakistan has three times the popuation of Iran and, of course, has nuclear weapons.

Didn’t Obama himself, in his one-third idealism, one-third realism, and one-third political posturing speech in 2002, say he opposed dumb wars?

Per page 2 of the story, one-third of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier is considered “inaccessible” by the government in Karachi.

In Iraq, he is listening to what the Iraqis want. In Pakistan, he is simply dictating policy in a somewhat bellicose fashion, and ignoring the wishes of those moderate parties whose election he lauded last February.

If that’s not enough to shove the coffee under Obama’s nose, Cole suggest he talk with some old Soviet-era military veterans.