NYC Letter: Joe Biden Is An Idiot XII -- Confuse-A-Cat Redux

Day 1,122 of CHOPE

Is there a limit to how much stupid Team Barry will support? [Pause.] Surprisingly, it appears there is.

For the Afghan people, a return to Taliban rule would condemn their country to brutal governance, international isolation, a paralyzed economy, and the denial of basic human rights to the Afghan people -- especially women and girls. The return in force of al Qaeda terrorists who would accompany the core Taliban leadership would cast Afghanistan under the shadow of perpetual violence.

... And to the terrorists who oppose us, my message is the same: We will defeat you.

Mr. Obama,
being clear about defeating Ameria's enemies
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON A NEW STRATEGY
FOR AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN
WASHINGTON March 27, 2009 (White House)

Pretty simple. Taliban rule in Afghanistan is an unacceptable outcome. The United States will defeat the Taliban.

Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s critical. There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy [Ed.: Please ignore the one immediately above.] because it threatens U.S. interests.

Joe "Forgotten More About Foreign Policy
Than Most Of My Colleagues Know" Biden,
flushing a ten-year investment of blood and treasure
down the crapper
WASHINGTON December 15, 2011 (TDB/Newsweek)

Pretty dumb. The United States is fighting an enemy that is not our enemy per se. Team Barry originally fell in behind Mr. Biden's big stupid, explaining that the Taliban were part of the Afghan-led reconciliation process. Except it's not. The Taliban not only publicly rejected Mr. Karzai's 2010 big-tent National Consultative Peace Jirga, they attacked the opening session with rockets and gunfire -- during Mr. Karzai's conciliating speech.

The Obama administration has been seriously out of step with the Karzai government in its Taliban outreach. The only player with a consistent clearly stated policy is the Taliban.

AL QAEDA 'OPERATES IN AFGHANISTAN
UNDER THE FLAG OF THE ISLAMIC EMIRATE':
TALIBAN SPOKESMAN

February 18, 2012 (LWJ) - A Taliban spokesman [scil., Abdullah al Wazir] who identified himself as an "Authorized Correspondent by the Media Committee of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" said that the Taliban will not renounce al Qaeda and that the terror group operates under the command of the "Military Command of the Islamic Emirate."

... A US intelligence official who follows the Taliban said that Wazir is a member of the Haqqani Network, the powerful Taliban sub-group that operates in eastern Afghanistan and in Pakistan's tribal areas. The Haqqanis are closely tied to al Qaeda; Siraj Haqqani, the network's operational commander, has a seat on al Qaeda's council, and he and five other members of the network have been added to the US's list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists for their close ties to al Qaeda.

... Last fall, Siraj released a training manual which included portions that praised al Qaeda and urged Haqqani Network members to support al Qaeda both locally and in its international operations.

... Wazir's statement was made just two days after the Taliban released an interview with Zahibullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, by CNN. During the interview, Mujahid refused to renounce "international terrorism" or al Qaeda. Mujahid also insisted that as an initial "confidence building measure" the US must take steps including the "exchange of Guantanamo prisoners." The five Taliban detainees currently under discussion all have been instrumental in forging ties between the Taliban and al Qaeda.

It is reckless fantasy for Team Barry to think it can strip Al Qaeda from the Taliban. The Taliban is a terrorist organization, will remain a terrorist organization, and is inseparably knitted up with Al Qaeda. The newly inaugurated Mr. Obama seemed to understand this, but within months he was talking a "not victory" strategy in Afghanistan. Before the year was out Team Barry floated the fairy tale of a " good Taliban", a Taliban sufficiently plastic to be reformed and reintegrated into the Afghan polity. No surprise then that fighting an enemy who is not an enemy in a war where winning is not the objective, everything falls apart.

Which brings us back to Mr. Biden's confuse-a-cat comments.

PANETTA REFUTES
BIDEN’S TALIBAN COMMENTS
WASHINGTON February 15, 2012 (WFB)

Well not quite refute, more like muddy up the "good Taliban" fairy tale with some "bad Taliban".

THORNBERRY: One last thing here. Vice President Biden has said that the Taliban is not our enemy. And I have a quote here that supports that. Do you agree, do you believe that the Taliban is our enemy in Afghanistan, and if they are not our enemy, can we leave a secure and stable Afghanistan without addressing the Taliban and their safe havens in Pakistan?

PANETTA: Our primary enemy in that part of the world is al Qaeda. The Taliban elements, the terrorist elements that support al Qaeda are also our enemy. And there are some elements of the Taliban that support al Qaeda, and those are the ones we have been targeting.

THORNBERRY: Can we leave a safe and secure Afghanistan without dealing with those elements of the Taliban who support al Qaida

PANETTA: I think our goal is to make sure they can never again can establish a safe haven in Afghanistan from which to conduct attacks on this country. And that remains our primary goal.

Strange. Mr. Panetta's "some elements" is indistinguishable from the Taliban at large. What "elements" of the Taliban do not support Al Qaeda? [The silence of space.] Mr. Panetta does not walk back Mr. Biden's big stupid, he simply ignores it, which is as good as you'll get from Team Barry.

Meanwhile the "good Taliban" continue their pursuit of peace in their signature fashion.

'GOOD TALIBAN' LEADER FAZAL SAEED HAQQANI
KILLS 21 CIVILIANS IN KURRAM SUICIDE ATTACK

February 17, 2012 (LWJ) - Fazal Saeed Haqqani defected from the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan last June after publicly chiding the group for intentionally killing civilians. This is what he said when he defected and joined the Haqqani Network, or what Pakistani officials like to call the "good Taliban" (those who do not attack the Pakistani state):

"I repeatedly told the leadership council of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan that they should stop suicide attacks against mosques, markets and other civilian targets," Saeed told AFP by telephone.

"Islam does not allow killings of innocent civilians in suicide attacks," he said, likening what TTP does in Pakistan to "what US troops are doing in Afghanistan" and vowing to continue the fight alone against the Americans.

... Here is what he said today, while claiming credit for the suicide attack in a call to Reuters:

We have targeted the Shia community of Parachinar because they were involved in activities against us. ... We also warn the political administration of Parachinar to stop siding with the Shia community in all our disputes.

So, less than a year after he denounced the Taliban for intentionally killing civilians and defected to the Haqqani Network, Fazal Saeed decides he is justified in murdering civilians.

Last summer, when Fazal Saeed defected, the Pakistani military and government touted the development as a breakthrough in reducing the power of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan. The press uncritically repeated this line, held his defection up as yet another sign of the decline of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and inflated his position within the Taliban (the press called him the overall leader in Kurram when in fact he commanded several hundred fighters).

These are the guys Team Barry thinks will reform and play nice.

CHOPE.

"Confusers attend to the van and fetch out -- wait for it -- fetch out the funny things."

Posted by Damian at February 18, 2012 11:45 PM