Quagmires Make for Strange Bedfellows
Will Keola Thomas – Afghanistan Study Group
Some might say that it would take a particularly cold day in political hell (or Washington D.C. for that matter) for conservative Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA-46) and progressive Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH-10) to seek warmth under the legislative covers with one another. Well, it was a balmy 63 degrees on Thursday in our nation’s capital and yet the two congressmen did it anyway in voting together on a resolution calling for all U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of the year.
To be clear, that’s the Dennis Kucinich who regularly introduces legislation to create a Department of Peace and the same Dana Rohrabacher who told an Afghanistan Study Group media conference call Thursday afternoon, “First and foremost, I’m not a pacifist in any sense of the word,” just before he headed to the House floor to cast his vote for withdrawal.
Rep. Rohrabacher is no newcomer to the dilemmas of Afghanistan policy and has been deeply involved in the country for over thirty years. What that experience tells him is that the war in Afghanistan is a disaster.
A disaster strategically: “We have evolved into a whole different mission since the Taliban were driven out. Our mission now has become to force a centralized government…onto the people of Afghanistan…slowly but surely the conflict has become about that. And we cannot win at that.”
A disaster for national security: “I think that an ongoing effort in Afghanistan with a mission that one cannot succeed in with military action weakens us tremendously in dealing with the other challenges in the region.”
A disaster fiscally: “In terms of cost…if we’re going to balance the budget…(we’re) howling about a $50 million expenditure for some radio station, yet we just let this go by for billions of dollars worth of expenditure without having any guarantee of success.”
A disaster morally: “…it certainly is immoral for us to be sending our troops over there and putting them at risk and seeing even more hundreds of them give up their lives and give up parts of their body for a mission that can’t be won.”
Afghanistan Study Group co-founder Steve Clemons asked Rep. Rohrabacher if the upcoming vote would mark the first time he found himself in agreement with Kucinich and Rohrabacher replied, “I think 98% of the time I’m on the other side, but there is this one little area of agreement.”
The “little area of agreement” that is opposition to the failed strategy in Afghanistan grows bigger by the day. Last year Kucinich’s proposal to withdraw troops garnered 65 votes. This year it got 93.
And let’s not forget the little area of agreement among the two-thirds of the American public who want an end to this disastrous war.
You can listen to the audio of Representative Rohrabacher’s media conference call below.
Conference Call with Rep. Rohrabacher
