Tuesday, November 29, 2011

A Strategic U.S. Doctrine of Silence (Commentary)


Doctrine of Silence -- Roger Cohen, New York Times

LONDON — The Obama administration has a doctrine. It’s called the doctrine of silence. A radical shift from President Bush’s war on terror, it has never been set out to the American people. There has seldom been so big a change in approach to U.S. strategic policy with so little explanation.

I approve of the shift even as it makes me uneasy. One day, I suspect, there may be payback for this policy and this silence. President Obama has gone undercover.

You have to figure that one day somebody sitting in Tehran or Islamabad or Sana is going to wake up and say: “Hey, this guy Obama, he went to war in our country but just forgot to mention the fact. Should we perhaps go to war in his?”

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My Comment: I tend to never agree with Roger Cohen, which is why I had to post this commentary piece from him. President Obama has embarked on a war strategy that encompasses numerous nations and is costing countless lives everyday. But because most of the lives lost belong to the enemy and/or foreign civilian non-combatants .... not Americans .... there has been very little (if any) discussion on this back home.

Will a public discussion on this course of action be discussed and debated now or in the future .... probably not. The fact is that the pursuit of extrajudicial killings enjoys overwhelming support in the U.S., and with a compliant media and US Congress there will be little if any further discussions on this topic. What concerns me .... and Roger Cohen .... is that such a policy cannot continue indefinitely. There will be blow-back one day, and it is going to hit us hard .... maybe even harder that what happened on 9/11 .... a sobering thought when one realizes how dangerous the world really is out there.

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