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Dec

5

Two from Some People Pay Me Dept.: On Afghanistan, On Political Dynasties


Two recent pieces from the Some People Pay Me Department (and many thanks to those that do – I can’t believe it’s been nearly nine years since a certain Plain Dealer writer suggested I try my hand at freelance writing).

1. Why It’s Okay to be Person Most Likely to Stand in Front of a Tank To Stop It and Continue Military Work in Afghanistan

It starts with this:

If there was a high school yearbook category Person Most Likely to Stand in Front of a Tank To Stop It, I’d be the winner hands down.

And yet, there’s no way I would support a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan post-haste. This blog entry, A Commitment Strategy to Afghanistan, by Lorelei Kelly offers a great explanation but here’s the crux for me (I recommend reading the whole column though):

The left and the right are too often defaulting to Iraq-era talking points for Afghanistan. On the right, Vets for Freedom is running anti-Obama ads, using the Iraq surge as a bludgeon against him. On the left, the California Democratic Party just adopted a resolution calling for increased humanitarian aid along with a military withdrawal.

But what if you can’t have one with the other? The consequences of a complete withdrawal would leave a violent, chaotic hole in the middle of a tense neighborhood. The US would deal a potential death blow to the world’s premier military alliance (NATO) and crackpot messiahs across the globe will claim credit. Troops need to be in the mix. Most Afghans want us there. They overwhelmingly dislike the Taliban. Girls attending school has risen to 44% since we’ve been present. Far more Afghans have access to basic health care. We need to start seeing these benchmarks as part of a broader set of objectives — all thus far achieved with the help of American troops. [emphasis mine]

A month before that, Lorelei wrote, in Commander-in-Chief, Yes He Is, a pre-emptive strike that Obama critics from any point on the spectrum would be wise to read:

It still kills me that so many neoconservatives claim to value the military, yet demonstrate so few military values. Like: looking after the general welfare, shared risk, sacrifice for common goals and longterm planning. And here’s the kicker: public service. Here are some other reminders of how progressive the military can be:

And her conclusion really says it all for me:

The idea that power comes not from dominance, but from the ability to influence change, is a lesson learned from recent experience. Contrast the tea-drinking and negotiating experience of Afghanistan with the linear, engineering mindset of the Cold War–where a rigid worldview fit nicely with hardware-heavy solutions. Low-tech is our future. Afghanistan is the test. Finally, we have a President who hears what the military has been saying for nearly twenty years now: Security is about people.

I’m going to gloss over the fact that what I hate most about our military intervention in Afghanistan is how disconnected I’ve always felt it has been from getting at those individuals and groups and influences behind who actually performed the terrorist attacks (read more about how they connect to one another) and the countries and entities that have truly given asylum to such individuals. I read Three Cups of Tea, I think the Afghanistan population, like that in many countries around the world, our own included, could benefit enormously from the skills our military can deploy when not using arms or weapons (as Lorelei notes the other things the forces do), but that’s why we have the U.N. and its derivative groups as well as NGOs.

And so, as a student of just and limited war, while it’s incredibly difficult for me to even accept that we’re in Afghanistan since we barely went after the right parties in the right way in the first place, I must insist that we now look at how deep in we are. There’s little practical value to withdrawing 100% immediately either as no objectives will have been met if we do so.

You can read the rest of my post here.

You can see comments that have been elicited by that post as cross-posted at The Moderate Voice where I’m still a contributer here.

2. Zimon Wins Council Seat (and I’m not writing about me)

Teaser, courtesy of the amazing talent of Diana Hadley (please check out her website and work):

We have a daily school-day routine when my kids come home that involves them giving me their lunch bags and all “parent” papers. One day this fall, during that chore, my son’s blank form for a student council candidate’s speech wafted out of his trapper. As I picked it up and read it simultaneously, I asked him about it.

“So are you thinking of running this year?” I asked.

“I am, but I don’t want you to read what I write.” I could tell he was firm in this assertion because he swiped the document from my hand and marched up to his bedroom, folding the paper in half and hiding it away for a week.

Eventually, my son did let me read his stump speech, but not until the morning that he would be giving his presentation. By then, nothing I could say to him would impact his campaign plan. So I just wished him luck and smiled as he left for school.

I had to pick him up that day because he had a doctor’s appointment. As I parallel-played at home all day working on my campaign, I wondered to myself how it had gone for him.

As soon as he opened the car door and slung his backpack inside, I assumed that he would burst out with, “I won!” or slump over with a, “Well, there’s always next year.”

Instead, all I got was a “did you bring me a snack to have in the car on the way to the doctor’s office?”

Huh?

You can find the Cleveland Family magazine in libraries, grocery stores and other locations where you’ll find parents or read the whole column here online.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:09 am December 5th, 2009 in Barack Obama, BlogHer, Blogging, Campaigning, Ethics, George Bush, Government, Military, Ohio, Pepper Pike, Politics, Voting, Whitehouse09, Women, Writing, Youth, democracy, leadership, peace, war 

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