WASHINGTON — Most Americans approve of President Obama’s decision to oust Gen. Stanley McChrystal as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, and they support the White House timetable to begin withdrawing from the nation’s longest war next year.
In all, 58% back the plan to start pulling out U.S. troops in July 2011 and 38% oppose it.
So after a week in which Obama sacked one of the architects of his approach to Afghanistan, the strategy itself emerges unscathed and the president’s own ratings on the issue are positive. McChrystal landed in hot water after he and top aides were quoted in Rolling Stone magazine disparaging Obama, Vice President Biden and others. …
Fifty percent of those polled say Obama is doing a good or very good job in handling Afghanistan; 44% rate his performance as poor or very poor.
More than 2,200 people have been arrested during a 22-month investigation aimed at thwarting Mexican drug cartel efforts to distribute narcotics across the U.S. and funnel guns and money back south of the border, federal authorities said Thursday.
The probe, called Project Deliverance, focused on shutting down many of the cartels’ U.S.-based cells that smuggle drugs, including cocaine, heroin and marijuana, across the U.S.-Mexico border, collect them at major distribution points like Houston and then distribute them nationwide.
Many cells also were responsible for laundering drug profits through real estate purchases and smuggling the proceeds as well as guns back into Mexico to support cartel operations, officials said. …
In Mexico, Ramon Pequeno, head of the anti-narcotics division of Mexico’s federal police, said U.S.-Mexico cooperation has been key in arresting traffickers.
I didn’t know Malcolm Gladwell had become “uncool and the trendy thing these days, especially among journalists, is to hate on his work” until Matt Yglesias pointed it out, but I agree with him that the writing is really good. I love this stuff.
… But it was jarring to hear Lord Monckton, the British politician who has become a celebrity in the climate change skeptic community (the BBC was following him for a documentary it was filming), claim that Obama was born outside the United States.
“America!” said Monckton at the start of his speech. “Land of opportunity! You can be born in Kenya and end up as president of the United States!” …
“I have no idea where he was born,” said Monckton, who was working the crowd and signing autographs. “What I do find strange is that the public records of his Hawaiian birth have been sealed, and can not be obtained by the public. His lawyers have spent a lot of money trying to seal the records of his public life. All of those records should be open to the public, as they always were for previous presidents.”
I pointed out to Monckton that the state of Hawaii released Obama’s certification of live birth nearly two years and ago, and that the persistent challenges to his citizenship have inspired some members of the military to refuse to serve under Obama. “The effective classification of all of these documents of his early life is surely contrary to the spirit of freedom and openness in the Democratic west,” said Monckton. “It’s bound to raise questions in some peoples’ minds. However! I have no idea where he’s born, but it made a nice joke.”
Coming Soon
The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan
On air and online April 20, 2010 at 9:00pm (check local listings)
As the United States deepens its commitment to Afghanistan, FRONTLINE takes viewers inside the war-torn nation to reveal a disturbing practice that is once again flourishing in the country: the organized sexual abuse of adolescent boys.
In The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan, airing Tuesday, April 20, 2010, at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi (Behind Taliban Lines) returns to his native land to expose an ancient practice that has been brought back by powerful warlords, former military commanders and wealthy businessmen. Known as “bacha bazi” (literal translation: “boy play”), this illegal practice exploits street orphans and poor boys, some as young as 11, whose parents are paid to give over their sons to their new “masters.” The men dress the boys in women’s clothes and train them to sing and dance for the entertainment of themselves and their friends. According to experts, the dancing boys are used sexually by these powerful men. …
“It’s a disgusting practice. … It’s a form of slavery, taking a child, keeping him. It’s a form of sexual slavery,” says Radhika Coomaraswamy, U.N. special representative for Children and Armed Conflict. “The only way to stop bacha bazi is if you prosecute the people who commit the crime, and that’s what we need, because the laws are there in the books against this practice.”
In the documentary, Quraishi interviews local police officials who insist that men who participate in bacha bazi will be arrested and punished regardless of their wealth or powerful connections. Later that day, however, Quraishi’s cameras catch two officers from the same police department attending an illegal bacha bazi party.
“Many of the people who do this work for the government,” says Nazir Alimy, who compiled a report on bacha bazi for UNICEF. “They speak out against it but are abusers themselves. … I personally cannot mention any names because I am scared.”
Majority Wants Obama To Care What Foreign Leaders Think
As you probably know, a frequent refrain we keep hearing on the right is that Obama is too preoccupied with worry about what foreign leaders think about America. It’s a symptom, we keep hearing, of Obama’s obsession with projecting American weakness.
But it turns out that on this one, the American people are on Obama’s side …
A large majority, 67%, says that Obama pays the right amount or too little attention to what the rest of the world thinks. Also in the poll, 56% say world leaders respect Obama, which, judging by the reply to the question above, is seen as a positive.
By the way, polls also consistently show that people judge Obama to be a strong leader. This underscores an aspect of Obama’s presidency that gets far too little attention: He’s on the verge of redefining strength in leadership as something associated with a willingness to listen, engage, and even compromise.
The criticism that Obama has continued many of Bush’s policies has plenty of validity. But in this larger sense his presidency continues to represent a new direction — one that the American people seem to be embracing, despite the best efforts of the right.
****************************************
Update: Couple this with the fact that a recent Fox News poll found that a majority of Republicans have no problem with Obama’s bowing to foreign leaders, and it becomes obvious that this attack line is a complete bust.
Obama’s health care victory may prove a decisive pivot point in the way he is viewed both domestically and abroad and in how powerful a negotiator he is perceived to be by foreign leaders. And nowhere is that true more than in Israel, a place obsessed with American politics.
“Every time I met with an Arab diplomat or anyone from the Middle East, including Israelis, they would invariably ask me, ‘How’s health care going?’” said former Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), who retired in December to become president of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace. “And the first couple [of] times, I didn’t really realize what they were actually asking. They were asking, ‘How strong is the president of the United States?’” …
Netanyahu is not the only foreign leader whose perception of Obama’s power will have changed overnight, and a European diplomat suggested it would quell global doubts about the young American president.
The White House said Monday that two leaders, Mexican President Felipe Calderone and Saudi King Abdullah, called Obama to congratulate him on the health care victory. …
Clinton noted the House’s action on health care to some applause at the AIPAC conference, where another speaker, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, cheerfully noted that Israel offers public health insurance.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for regulation of the Internet on Saturday while demanding authorities crack down on a critical news Web site that he accused of spreading false information.
In a televised speech, Chavez said: “The Internet can’t be something free where anything can be done and said. No, every country has to impose its rules and regulations,” Chavez said. …
Chavez has regularly clashed with critical broadcasters and newspapers. One anti-Chavez channel, Radio Caracas Television, was forced to move to cable in 2007 after the president refused to renew its license. In January, cable and satellite TV providers also stopped transmitting that channel under government orders after it defied regulations requiring it to televise some of Chavez’s speeches.
Referring to satellite TV channels, Chavez said, “It can’t be that they transmit whatever they want poisoning the minds of many people – regulation, regulation, the laws!”
The last anti-Chavez channel on the open airwaves, Globovision, faces multiple investigations by government regulators for alleged violations of broadcast regulations.
Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq. thinks Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Yulia Tymoshenko of Ukraine stand ready to support Taitz’s efforts at overturning the 2008 presidential election in the United States, advocating sedition among the United States military, and calling for armed American citizens to take to the streets of the nation’s capital, invade the White House, and remove the American President in chains, or some such:
Birther Queen Orly Taitz claims the support of world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister
Yulia Timoshnko, prime minister of Ukraine has joined Prime minister of Israel and other World and National Leaders as my friend on Facebook, showing support to my plight as a dissident against illegitimate oppresive Obama regime.
I encourage this direction, Orly. Trying to get fellow citizens to overturn the government is only sedition and, since the 1950s, the United States has been extremely tolerant of seditious behavior. Treason is much more serious, so keep it up! We may see you deported yet. I only wish, but alas, as a sane person would know, Israel and Ukraine* are not going to involve themselves in Birfoonish attempts to remove the President of the United States from office. But keep trying. There are a lot of other countries out there. I suggest Russia and China next. Publicity like you wouldn’t believe.
WASHINGTON — The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials.
The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago. He ranks second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban’s founder and a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mullah Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with American and Pakistani intelligence officials both taking part in interrogations, according to the officials.
In all likelihood, you’ve never heard of Mullah Baradar. The only Taliban leader most people know is Mullah Mohammed Omar, the unworldly, one-eyed village preacher who held the grand title amir-ul-momineen—”leader of the faithful”—when he ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s. Omar remains a high-value target, with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. But he hasn’t been seen in at least three years, even by his most loyal followers, and rarely issues direct orders anymore. In his place, the adversary that American forces are squaring off against in Afghanistan—the man ultimately responsible for the spike in casualties that has made July the deadliest month for Coalition soldiers since the war began in 2001—is Baradar. A cunning, little-known figure, he may be more dangerous than Omar ever was.
In more than two dozen interviews for this profile, past and present members of the Afghan insurgency portrayed Baradar as no mere stand-in for the reclusive Omar. They say Baradar appoints and fires the Taliban’s commanders and governors; presides over its top military council and central ruling Shura in Quetta, the city in southwestern Pakistan where most of the group’s senior leaders are based; and issues the group’s most important policy statements in his own name. It is key that he controls the Taliban’s treasury—hundreds of millions of dollars in -narcotics protection money, ransom payments, highway tolls, and “charitable donations,” largely from the Gulf. “He commands all military, political, religious, and financial power,” says Mullah Shah Wali Akhund, a guerrilla subcommander from Helmand province who met Baradar this March in Quetta for the fourth time. “Baradar has the makings of a brilliant commander,” says Prof. Thomas Johnson, a longtime expert on Afghanistan and an adviser to Coalition forces. “He’s able, charismatic, and knows the land and the people so much better than we can hope to do. He could prove a formidable foe.”
AL-ASAD, Iraq — The base loudspeaker no longer wakes them up with calls for blood donors; armored trucks sit idle in neat rows. The U.S. Marines who stood at some of the bloodiest turning points of the Iraq war are packing up and leaving.
Among the first troops to invade in March 2003, and the first to help turn enemy insurgents into allies, the Marines will be the first major wave of American forces to go as the U.S. military begins a withdrawal to be completed by the end of next year. For them, as for the rest of the U.S. military, this has been the longest war since Vietnam.
At their peak in October 2008, an estimated 25,000 Marines were in Iraq, mostly in the country’s western Anbar province. Now only about 4,000 remain. They, too, will be gone shortly after the Marines officially hand over responsibility to the Army on Saturday.
“The security and stability that exists here is well within the means of the Iraqi security forces to maintain,” Maj. Gen. Rick Tryon, the Marine commander in Iraq, said in a recent interview. “You don’t need United States Marines to do this at this point. So it’s time, and it’s timely.”
Here’s a final set of numbers from our new NBC/WSJ poll that we find fascinating: 57% say the Iraq war has been successful, versus 40% who say it has been unsuccessful.
It’s a reversal from July 2008, when 43% said Iraq was successful, and 53% said it was unsuccessful.
What’s more, nearly six in 10 (59%) believe the U.S. has accomplished as much as can be expected in Iraq, and 70% say they approve of President Obama’s plan to pull most troops out of Iraq by 2011.
Washington (CNN) – Americans agree with the Afghanistan policy Barack Obama announced on Tuesday night at West Point in large measure because they agree with the arguments the president made in that speech, according to a new national poll.
In his prime time address at the U.S. Military Academy, where Obama spelled out his decision to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to the war, the president stressed that America’s safety and security are at stake in Afghanistan. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national survey released Sunday morning indicates 64 percent of Americans agree with the president, with one in three saying the country’s safety and security is not at stake in Afghanistan. According to the poll, 63 percent of people questioned also agree with Obama that the U.S. action in Afghanistan is morally justified.
“That’s one major way that Afghanistan is different from Iraq in the public’s mind,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “At the time of the Iraq surge in 2007, most Americans questioned whether that war was justified.”
The president met with military and civilian advisers for three months before announcing his Afghanistan decision. Obama said he needed that time to review the options available. Did he take too long to decide? Fifty-six percent say no, with 43 percent feeling three months was not necessary.
Two very interesting articles today on how President Obama reached his Afghanistan decisions.
I am often uncomfortable about President Obama’s failure, by all appearances, to draw on the mighty talents of General Wesley Clark. I just don’t get it. I never will. But in reading Gen. Clark’s recent Testimony before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on strategy in Afghanistan and its impact on Iraq, I am pleased to see how in line the President and the General actually are in their thinking. Maybe they talk on the phone in the middle of the night?
CARACAS, Venezuela—President Hugo Chavez is praising Carlos the Jackal, the imprisoned Venezuelan once notorious for a series of Cold War-era bombings, assassinations and hostage dramas, saying he was a “revolutionary fighter” and not a terrorist. …
In his speech, Chavez sought to defend other leaders he said are wrongly labeled “bad guys” internationally, including Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Chavez called both of them brothers and said he now wonders whether Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was truly as brutal as he was reputed to be.
“We thought he was a cannibal,” Chavez said, referring to Amin, whose regime was notorious for torturing and killing suspected opponents in the 1970s. “I have doubts. … I don’t know, maybe he was a great nationalist, a patriot.”
Rumproast: He needs to team up with Orly Taitz pronto, and we’ll finally get to the bottom of everything from who sank the USS Maine to who stole the Sphinx’s nose.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Tens of thousands of Venezuelans marched through this capital on Saturday to protest what they said was growing authoritarianism by President Hugo Chávez.
A few thousand of the president’s backers countered with a separate rally to express support for the government’s policies.
