[Peace-discuss] is anti-war a left or right position? or just common sense?

[E. Wayne Johnson]

Graham fears an "unholy alliance" between anti-war Republicans and 
Democrats

by Jack Hunter (Charleston City Paper)

That Sen. Lindsey Graham is almost universally reviled by conservatives 
for his Republican flakiness is well established. And while right 
wingers never know which way the wind is going to blow for Graham on 
most issues -- last week for example, the man once dubbed "Grahamnesty" 
decided to oppose anchor-baby citizenship -- Lindsey can always be 
counted on to be consistent on at least one issue. And it's the worst one.

Under a headline in /The Post and Courier/ reading, "Graham Stands 
Strong on War," the story noted, "Ending the war on any terms would 
answer the prayers of many. But it's Graham's worst nightmare, a drastic 
setback in America's war on terror and death for thousands of Afghans 
who have joined the fight."

The /P&C/ added, "With WikiLeaks, escalating violence, and eroding 
support turning the battlefield to quicksand, Graham stands firm in his 
support for the war. He wants Republican lawmakers to stand with him and 
not join the anti-war left." Graham also warned of an "unholy alliance 
between the Right and the Left" that "might end funding for the war in 
Afghanistan."

While Graham believes it's acceptable to form an "unholy alliance" with 
the late Ted Kennedy to promote amnesty for illegal aliens, Sen. Joe 
Lieberman to promote a national ID card and a police state, and Sen. 
John Kerry to promote cap and trade -- and that's not even taking into 
account his party-bucking support for liberal Supreme Court nominees 
Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan -- our senior senator believes any 
Republican who joins with a Democrat in questioning the wisdom of 
arguably the dumbest, and certainly the longest, war in American history 
is doing something decidedly demonic.

Graham would love to frame the war debate by equating being pro-war with 
being conservative and anti-war with being liberal. But ask yourself 
this: Why is Graham, a self-described conservative, promoting an 
unpopular war alongside a president many right wingers consider the most 
liberal in history? In Graham's mind, is Obama some kind of foreign 
policy conservative?

Was Richard Nixon joining the Left when he promised to bring the troops 
home from Vietnam? Was Ronald Reagan behaving like a liberal by pulling 
American soldiers out of Lebanon? Or were these rational correctives to 
irrational policies?

Was GOP Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) making an "unholy alliance" 
with Democrats recently when he voted against funding the war in 
Afghanistan? According to a/ Washington Post/ report, "On the eve of the 
vote, Chaffetz called families of the three men from his district who 
have died in Afghanistan since he was elected and told them he was 
considering opposing the funding. 'This was one of the toughest votes 
I've had in Congress,' Chaffetz said. 'So I asked their opinion. And to 
a T, they all agreed with me.' So Chaffetz joined a tiny bloc in 
Congress: Republicans opposed to the Afghan war."

/The Washington Post/ also reported on another member of that bloc, Rep. 
Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who said of his vote, "I can state 
emphatically that if we continue our present strategy in Afghanistan, we 
will not succeed, and America will eventually be weakened by loss of 
lives and the expenditures of hundreds of billions of dollars." 
Rohrabacher's reasoning reflects basic common sense.

And this is something Graham fears is becoming more common. About such 
Republicans, Graham says, "The way to stop [GOP dissent on war] is you 
remind Republicans the consequences of losing in Afghanistan are not to 
Obama, but to the nation ... And don't go down that road trying to make 
this Obama's war."

So, Sen. Graham, in the 2008 election, was it not George W. Bush's "war 
on terror" that "kept us safe" or did that silly campaign rhetoric 
rightfully belong to Obama and his party too? I don't remember Lindsey 
or his pal John McCain saying any such thing. The war in Iraq was 
unquestionably "Bush's war." Now, Afghanistan has become Obama's.

Just as the Left fears President Obama's sinking popularity might harm 
liberal pet projects, Republicans like Graham fear the Afghan war's 
unpopularity could hurt the neoconservative's primary project of 
perpetual war and permanent empire. Last month, conservative MSNBC host 
and frequent war critic Joe Scarborough asked, "For too long you've had 
John McCain and you've had Bill Kristol, Lindsey Graham, and Joe 
Lieberman define what it meant to be a Republican when it came to 
foreign policy."

This is unquestionably true, and Graham now fears too many Republicans 
are asking too many questions. What's "conservative?" What's "liberal?" 
Where does Afghanistan fit into all this?

As Lindsey Graham continues to vocalize his fears of an emerging "unholy 
alliance" of independent thought and common sense, something that could 
feasibly threaten the old Republican foreign policy consensus, we have 
to wonder exactly where he fits in as well.