Joe Biden, V.P. Blunders
Joe Biden was picked for Obama’s VP for his war experience?
JB knows nothing about war. ALWAYS WRONG
“Wrong on every war he’s had a hand in”
“Wrong time and again”
“Biden’s Idea…won’t work”
“Recommended fighting ONLY Al-Qaida and not the Taliban” IBD
“Opposed the Vietnam War”
“Knows little about war”
“A warlord can be a Taliban, an al-Qaida, an opium trafficker or all of the above”
“Biden’s idea, as McChrystal put it bluntly, won’t work”
IBD: “Terrorists don’t wear badges and nobody calls the cops”
Biden Butts In
IBD: 6 Oct. 2009
Warfare: As the commander in Afghanistan tries to get President Obama’s attention on troops, it’s political players like Vice President Biden who have his ear. Yet the military has a record of success. Biden has only blunders.
By sending in 21,000 more troops and adding $44 billion to the war budget, the president erased doubts early in his term that the goal in Afghanistan was victory. Even more impressive, he appointed Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a successful Iraq War commander who excels in unconventional warfare, to lead the fight.
But the doubts have returned. McChrystal has merited just two encounters with Obama since taking over in June, and an Aug. 30 proposal seeking 40,000 more troops in a civilian-protection strategy has found the president unable to act. Amid the dithering, 10 U.S. soldiers were mowed down in Afghanistan over the weekend, precisely because they were outgunned and undermanned.
Obama’s reluctance to face the war and the commitment it requires has given an opening to Biden, who knows little about war but a lot about politics. Last week, Obama met with Biden and various Pentagon heavies in a long sit-down in which Biden recommended fighting only al-Qaida and not the Taliban.
This might be an acceptable strategy if the battlefield were some place like Copenhagen. But Afghanistan is a failed state where terrorists don’t wear badges (see above picture) and nobody calls the cops.
McChrystal’s long war experience has shown that protecting and defending civilians are critical to developing a state that can take on terrorists. In the fluid swamp of a failed state, loyalties can overlap. A warlord can be a Taliban, an al-Qaida member, an opium trafficker or all of the above. Biden’s idea, as McChrystal put it bluntly, “won’t work.”
His sentiment echoed comments made two weeks earlier by Gen.David Petraeus, the Central Command chief.
Both McChrystal and Petraeus have long records of military success. Biden, by contrast, has been wrong on every war he’s had a hand in.
He opposed the surge in Iraq, insisting instead on dividing Iraq into three warring fiefdoms with unequal distributions of oil.
He also opposed the Vietnam War, an opposition that led to defeat, a bloodbath of our Vietnamese friends and diminished U.S. global influence.
In addition, Biden played a role in the flawed 1999 design of Plan Colombia, which at first tried to separate a few of failed-state Colombia’s multiple enemies — in this case, drug dealers. But the strategy enabled FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, to grow strong in narcotrafficking as other players dropped off.
Iraq, Vietnam and Colombia all have implications for the war in Afghanistan. McChrystal’s record speaks for itself, while Biden has been wrong time and again. Yet it’s McChrystal who gets criticized for taking his recommendations public.