2011-01-04 TruthOut: Ray McGovern | Obama Should Read WikiLeaks Docs

Submitted by x7o on Tue, 04/01/2011 - 02:57

A solid, if colourful, commentary from ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern, which criticizes the Obama administration Afghanistan War strategy on the basis of information divulged in diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks. Highly recommended reading, which goes beyond the Wikileaks surface story, and puts Cablegate to genuine use, placing it in the context of press reports on Afghanistan over the last few years, and developing a credible long term overview of the Afghanistan War. Of all of the commentary we've seen, McGovern's article demonstrates the formidable public interest value of the Wikileaks disclosures when they are applied, rather than talked about.

One particularly interesting point raised is that the cables indicate that the Obama administration is developing Bagram so as to sustain military operations far beyond the projected draw out date of 2014.

From Ray McGovern | Obama Should Read WikiLeaks Docs:

Perhaps President Barack Obama should give himself a waiver on the ban prohibiting U.S. government employees from downloading classified cables released by WikiLeaks, so he can better understand the futility of his Afghan War strategy. For instance, if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has hidden from him Ambassador Karl Eikenberry's cables from Kabul, he might wish to search out KABUL 001892 of July 13, 2009, in which Eikenberry reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai is "unable to grasp the most rudimentary principles of state building." And, while he's at it, he should dig out the September 2009 cable from the U.S. Ambassador in Pakistan, Anne Patterson, in which she warns: "There is no chance that Pakistan will view enhanced assistance as sufficient compensation for abandoning support to these [Taliban and similar] groups in Pakistan." The same conclusion is contained in the recent National Intelligence Estimates on Afghanistan and Pakistan. My advice to Obama would be: Don't let anyone gist them for you; read at least the Key Judgments.

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