By Tommy Jadoo 
Barack Obama’s locutions of hope and change veil a misunderstanding of the War on Terror.
Cadence and eloquence seem to be the smoke and mirrors of Obama’s bid for presidency. Supporters want hope. Supporters want change. Never stopping to question what they are hoping for and what exactly they are seeking to change. We are in the midst of a war on terror. The American casualties, estimated to be over 3,000 according to the New York Times, suffer the American people nightly. Hence, “hope” and “change” can be the winning slogans of any candidate. The more important questions are how will each candidate bring about that hope and what is each candidate’s 
vision of change.
With Obama it is unclear. Partially because his “Five-part Comprehensive Strategy for Winning the War”, which he presented to the Wilson Center in August of 2007, begins with “getting out of Iraq and onto the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” This strategy was reiterated last Wednesday at a rally in Columbus, Ohio, where Obama responded to McCain’s poignant criticisms by saying, “There was no such thing as Al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq.” It was said with Kennedy-esque cadence and eloquence. The leagues of Obama followers erupted in applause as if cadence and eloquence were proof of veracity. The applause subsided just enough for Obama to continue, “They took their eye off the people who were responsible for 9-11. That would be Al Qaeda in Afghanistan that is stronger now than at anytime since 2001. I’ve been paying attention John McCain!”
Perhaps not. U.S. air strikes in conjunction with Afghan and US Special forces mobilized against Al Qaeda targets in Afghanistan a month after 9-11. However, as George Friedman of Stratfor.com writes, “the command cell of al Qaeda escaped from Afghan forces and U.S. Special Operations personnel at Tora Bora and slipped across the border into Pakistan.” Friedman continues, “Afghanistan therefore is not — and in some ways never has been — the center of gravity of the challenge facing the United States.” Al Qaeda dispersed once air strikes began. What remains in Afghanistan is not an Al Qaeda that is “stronger now than at any time since 2001″ but instead Al Qaeda dispersees and sympathizers. Going back into Afghanistan or disrupting our Pakistani allies who are already fighting Al Qaeda is simply bad strategy. Al Qaeda operatives are dispersed across the entire Mesopotamian region and the way for the U.S. to “win the war” is not by fighting small and scattered battles (as Harvard Historian Niall Ferguson has said, “The United States simply does not have enough troops.”) but by establishing strategic strong points in the region and providing Iraqis with enough security to birth a democratic government that is not conducive to terrorism.
Perhaps this is the “hope” and “change” we can wish for, not rooted in cadence and eloquence but in sound strategic principles and understanding.
Tags: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Barack Obama, change, hope, John McCain, McCain, Obama, political, politics, presidential election, Republican
