Carl Levin Beclowns Himself: For a "Wel-Resourced Comprehensive Counterinsurgency Strategy" In Afghanistan Before He Was Against It

He keeps waving around a letter he wrote to the President a while back, which he quotes as sage advice. (Quoting himself -- nice.) He claims the letter establishes why we can't send additional troops to Afghanistan, and must abandon the counterinsurgency strategy that worked so well in Iraq.

But the Weekly Standard has the letter. Opening paragraph:

“We support your decision to set a new course for U.S. policy in Afghanistan. We agree that the United States has a vital national interest in ensuring that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven from which al Qaeda can plot attacks against our homeland, and that achieving this objective requires that we put in place a well-resourced, comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy.”

Gee, I don't understand. Carl Levin and assorted other leftists swore up and down on a pack of Bibles to me that they really, really were super hard-ass ultra-warriors as regards Afghanistan, and that they only wanted to surrender to Al Qaeda in Iraq so they could be all the more bad-ass in Afghanistan.

And yet... now we find... not so much?

A new Fox Poll finds this is a wedge issue for the Democrats: sixty-four percent of Americans think that Afghanistan is either "very" or "extremely" important to win for the War on Terror, but a slight minority of Democrats feel that way (49%).

Overall, 64 percent of Americans support the U.S. military action in Afghanistan and 27 percent oppose it. There is a huge partisan gap, as 80 percent of Republicans support the action compared to 49 percent of Democrats. Among independents, 66 percent support it.

...

As a candidate, Barack Obama called Afghanistan a "war of necessity" and made clear his commitment to the U.S. action there. As president, 37 percent of Americans say they think Obama is doing what it takes to win in Afghanistan, while half -- 50 percent -- say he isn't.

Somewhat related: The same poll finds that 61% of Americans support military force to prevent Iran from getting the bomb.

According to a new FOX News poll released Thursday, a sizable 69 percent majority of Americans thinks President Obama has not been tough enough on Iran. That includes over half of Democrats (55 percent), two-thirds of independents (67 percent) and almost all Republicans (88 percent).

Some 16 percent of Americans think the president's actions have been "about right" and hardly any -- 6 percent -- say he has been "too tough" on Iran.

By a two-to-one margin the public thinks the U.S. will eventually need to use military force to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons -- 59 percent think so, while 29 percent think Iran can be stopped without the use of force.

Furthermore, 61 percent of Americans support the U.S. taking military action to stop Iran, including majorities of Democrats (53 percent), Republicans (73 percent) and independents (55 percent). Some 28 percent of Americans oppose military action against Iran.

Note again the close split between centrist liberals and dovish leftists.

posted by Ace at 03:47 PM

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