[Peace-discuss] Support the Unholy Alliance

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The Holy Alliance (resp. the Grand Alliance) was a coalition of Russia, Austria 
and Prussia created in 1815 by Czar Alexander I. Austrian minister von 
Metternich (Henry Kissinger's dissertation subject) made it an alliance against 
the influence of democracy and revolution, as represented by the French 
Revolution. It dispersed with Alexander's death in 1825.  The coming Unholy 
Alliance in American politics, in contrast, stands for democracy and the 
overthrow of imperialist politics. It is deeply subversive of the sort of 
politics Lindsay Graham and Barack Obama stand for.]

	Graham fears left, right in 'unholy alliance' on Afghanistan
	Posted: August 1st, 2010 09:32 AM ET
	From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart

Washington (CNN) - A prominent Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee 
is praising President Barack Obama's approach to fighting terrorism in Pakistan.

However, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, is also worried that 
conservatives and liberals could join forces to undermine Obama's efforts in 
Afghanistan.

Obama has set July 2011 as the target date to begin to draw down the additional 
troops he's surged into Afghanistan. But, in an interview broadcast Sunday on 
CNN's "State of the Union," Graham predicted that conditions may not allow the 
troops to begin to come home by that date.

"[G]enerally speaking, this time next summer, we're still going to be engaged in 
one hell of a fight," Graham said. "We're going to need every troop we have 
today, I think, still in Afghanistan next year."

According to Graham, it will be clear by the end of this year where things stand 
in Afghanistan.

"If, by December, we're not showing some progress, we're in trouble," he said. 
"And the question is: what is progress? Without some benchmarks and 
measurements, it's going to be hard to sell to the American people a continued 
involvement in Afghanistan."

Asked about the growing tide of sentiment against the Afghanistan war, 
particularly among Obama's base of supporters and some Democrats on Capitol 
Hill, Graham said he is worried about conservative and liberal forces joining 
together to frustrate Obama's efforts to stabilize Afghanistan.

"You know what I worry most about: an unholy alliance between the right and the 
left," Graham said. "That there are some Republicans who are not going to take 
a, you know, do-or-die attitude for Obama's war. There are some Republicans that 
want to make this Obama's war. . . There will be some Republicans saying you 
can't win because of the July 2011 withdrawal date, he's made it impossible for 
us to win, so why should we throw good money after bad?"

Graham added that liberals could also refuse to back the president's plans in 
Afghanistan.

"You've got people on the left who are mad with the president because he is 
doing exactly what [former President George W.] Bush did and we're in a war we 
can't win," Graham said, adding: "My concern is that, for different reasons, 
they join forces and we lose the ability to hold this thing together."

But, Graham said, he thinks the president understands the consequences of losing 
in Afghanistan.

"He's got a political problem. But we've got a national security problem," the 
Republican senator said.

Graham also said that the situations in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan are 
linked when it comes to national security.

"How do you win in Pakistan if you lose in Afghanistan?" Graham said. "And I 
asked the president that. How can we be successful in Pakistan, protect that 
regime from extremists, if all goes to hell in Afghanistan?"

While Graham expressed concern about the short and long-term situations in 
Afghanistan, he offered praise for what Obama is doing across the border in 
Pakistan.

"Things generally are the best they've been with Pakistan in a long time," 
Graham said. "And this is one area where President Obama doesn't get enough 
credit. His team, in my view, have brought out the Pakistanis into the fight 
better than anybody in recent memory. They're cooperating with us more."

Graham added: "So I would say that the Obama administration has done a very good 
job at taking the fight to the enemy in Pakistan and trying to bolster the 
Pakistanis' capability to take the fight to the enemy."

In addition to sitting on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Graham is also a 
member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and 
the Veterans Affairs Committee.

Graham has served active duty in the military as an Air Force lawyer and 
continues to serve in the Air Force Reserves. He holds the rank of colonel and 
is assigned as an instructor at the Air Force Judge Advocate General School. 
Graham said he will be going to Afghanistan to do his reserve duty during the 
upcoming Senate recess in August.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/01/graham-fears-left-right-in-unholy-alliance-on-afghanistan/?fbid=h7cHyuKRrXc