RE: Obama, Brzezinski and the AQ Khan Episode
My fellow blogger David Isenberg noted below that Senator Obama should reject the advice of Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter’s national security adviser. The basis for David’s statement is the advice Brzezinski gave Carter in the 1970′s on U.S.-Pakistan relations. Brzezinski urged Carter to prioritize Pakistani assistance for U.S. efforts in Afghanistan over nuclear proliferation concerns.
With the benefit of hindsight I am sure that there are some things Brzezinski would do differently if, knowing what he knows now, he was given a mulligan. Of course, unlike the game of golf, national security issues rarely allow for a do over on such critical issues, nevertheless I do feel that David was a bit unfair in his critique of both Brzezinski and, frankly, his rhetorical linking of Khan with Senator Obama.
Regarding Brzezinski, yes it is true that his decision to put nuclear proliferation on the back burner of U.S.-Pakistani relations was an important moment in the AQ Khan time line. However, the trade off from his point of view was a compelling one – an opportunity to cripple the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Frankly, the trade off is one that most analysts would have agreed with at that time. To discount Brzezinski’s present day advice on a range of important issues on the basis of this one call (which even in hindsight is a tough call) from the 1970′s does not seem reasonable. This feeling is bolstered when when one considers that it was only one key point in the long AQ Khan timeline, for instance during the 1990′s Khan flitted back and forth to North Korea without any meaningful action from the U.S. Administration.
The more I think about it the more I believe that for David to discount Brzezinski as a credible foreign policy advisor based on the Pakistan proliferation call, without recognizing the failures of U.S.-Pakistani policy over the last 30 years, is a stretch. Particularly when you consider that the current Administration has spent the years since 9/11 implementing a disastrous U.S.-Pakistani foreign policy that has led to the rise of fundamentalism in Pakistan and on that on the proliferation side has even failed to secure AQ Khan for questioning.
Finally I thought that it was odd for David to link Obama and AQ Khan in the opening part of his post. An analysis of Obama’s foreign policy proclamations is reasonable. A stand alone in-depth critique of Brzezinski looking at his whole record or even the Pakistan call in context is fair game but to jump from Obama to Brzezinski to AQ Khan….I’m just not convinced that there is merit to that.
Related posts:
I comment remark here now, rather than waiting until my next post because by then everyone will have forgotten about this. That said, here goes.
With all due respect Raj Purohit needs to take a big breath and relax. He also needs to understand the difference between serious criticism and lighthearted ribbing.
Did I link Sen. Obama and A. Q. Khan? Yes and no. The title would certainly infer it. But then again most people recognize that headlines are designed to raise interest, nothing more. As for the rest of it Sen. Obama is linked to Khan in the same way that people find only six degrees of separation from themselves and Kevin Bacon.
As for my “critique,” if that is what you want to call it, a careful reading would show that my criticism was aimed directly and primarily at the overall policy of the U.S. government over decades. As the books I cited document, U.S. policy towards Pakistan had many opportunities over the years to have taken steps to give Pakistan reasons not to develop nuclear weapons in the first place, and subsequently to slow down its efforts in that regard.
But instead, at several key points the United States actually took steps to turn a blind eye towards Pakistan and actively suppressed and punished people who took their antiproliferation respnsibilities seriously.
When people sit down and think about it the parallels betwween U.S. policy towards Pakistan’s nuclear program and U.S. government efforts to distort and politicize intelligence prior to the invasion of Iraq are astonishingly similar.
Was Brzezinski the only one responsible for this? Of course, not. But he was one of the earliest and one of the biggest, and as such hepled set the U.S. policy for many years, if not decades, to come.
I’ve read Brzezinski’s explanations on the subject previously and find them as unconvincing now as I did then. In fact, as time goes by his own writings on the subject are increasingly revisionist. For example, in his most recent book “Second Chance” he writes (p. 101), “As early as 1993, the U.S. administration realized that its policy of one-sided sanctions against Pakistan were not effective.” That sentence totally ignores, as I noted in my previous post, his own efforts to remove sanctions against Pakistan during the end of the Carter years; over a decade earlier
Let’s face facts here. When Brzezinski was national security adviser he was laboring under the long shadow of realpolitik gris eminence Henry Kissinger, and as such, was doing everything he could to show that he too was a toughminded realist, just as capable of ruthlessly moving pawns on the geopolitical chessboard as Henry was. As such it can only be deemed ironic that a socalled realist who, by definition, is supposed to take the longterm view could be so oblivious to the likely impact of his policies.
Furthermore, Brzezinski has always called himself a supporter of containment, as formulated by George Kennan. As such, he should have bothered listening to Kennan. Writing shortly after the Afghanistan invasion, Kennan questioned the official logic; he expressed doubt that the invasion threatened western security. While acknowledging that the invasion was illegal—“The pretext offered [for the invasion] was an insult to the intelligence of even the most credulous of Moscow’s followers”—Kennan insisted that the action reflected “defensive rather than offensive [Soviet] impulses.” Afghanistan, he emphasized, was “a border country of the Soviet Union,” and it represented a natural security concern for the Soviets. Documentary evidence that has become public in the years since then have confirmed Kennan’s view.
And technically I did not call say that all of Brzezinski’s advice should be disregarded, though the more I think about it the better it sounds. If we are supposed to rely on his wit and wisdom then let him actually put some advice forward that is more than stale chestnuts a la “The Grand Chessboard” or “The Choice.” Any man who writes that America must establish a “co-optive hegemony” is not the kind of adviser that the Obama campaign needs. I sincerely doubt that this is the kind of “change” the senator is seeking to bring about.
Finally, Senator Obama is an adult who did not just enter politics yesterday. He knows that when you take on an adviser you also take on his or her’s ideological baggage. As such I doubt that he or his campaign is bothered by my views. If they are, then what are they going to do if he is the Democratic nominee and the Republican attack machine goes into full gear?
Comment on January 9, 2008 @ 8:47 pm
I Got What America Needs Right Here
By Jimmy Carter
January 9, 2008 |
The Onion Issue 44•02
Sometimes I’m a little stupid, maybe, a little slow in the head, so I’m wondering if you can help me get something straight. Maybe you can help me understand one fucking thing right now, America, and explain to me what in the Christ is going on here. ‘Cause, unless I’m missing something, this country is in the middle of a motherfucking shitstorm, and I have no fucking idea what you’re gonna do to get out of it. I mean, are you seriously considering voting for one of these shitbags you got here in ’08? Fat fucking chance.
Way I see it, America needs a president who’s gonna somehow un-royally screw up the Middle East, do some serious cleaning up after you dropped your pants and took a steaming dump all over the fucking environment, and—boom!—restore dignity, honor, and all that shit to these United States.
See, I got solutions to all your problems—I got ‘em right here in my big, hairy ballsack.
You better get down on your hands and knees and kiss Jimmy Carter’s rosy-red Georgia-peach-picking ass and beg me to run your fucking country again, because there’s no way I’m ever gonna come to you fuck-knobs and politely ask you if I might please be a presidential candidate in your precious fuckin’ election. So you can just bite my cock. I’ve had it with you jerkoffs and your jerkoff candidates.
You actually seem to think one a’ these assholes is gonna prance in and wave a magic wand and make everything all nice again. Look at you, sitting there like a common fucking schnook and eating all their bull about bi-fucking-partisanship, and how they have all the goddamn answers. Let me tell you something: These fags are dogshit compared to Jimmy fucking Carter, all right? I was arbitrating Mideast crises when this bunch was still sucking on their mamas’ titties.
But who comes to me, huh? Fucking nobody. Why ask old Jimmy anything? What the fuck could he know about peace in the Middle East? It’s not like he fucking won the Nobel Peace Prize for that shit. You myopic pricks. Back in ’79, I sat Sadat and Begin right down and made those two dicklicks shake hands. It was beautiful—I had all the pieces lined up and I smiled and waved in my best fucking suit and tie right there on TV. And what do you do, you pieces of shit? You screw the whole goddamn pooch.
Cocksuckers.
Oh, what’s that I hear? The weather’s all screwy? You got a global warming problem? Boo-fucking-hoo! I was telling you morons to turn off your lights and unplug all your shit at night to conserve energy in 19-fuckin’-75, for chrissake. Gee, I wonder what woulda happened if we’d all switched to solar power like I fucking did back when we had a fucking chance to do something about it. Think we’d still be sucking Saudi Arabia’s dick like a five-dollar whore? I sure as fuck didn’t get no fancy Oscar for that little spiel, though, did I? No. But Al Gore, that cum-sucking pig, steals the shit from me and now he’s the greatest thing since Jesus Christ made a fucking sandwich.
Well, he can lick my asshole right after George W. Bush, that fuck.
You want compassion? Somebody who’s looking out for the little guy? Why don’t you take a look at Jimmy Carter, ’cause unlike, oh, every motherfucking candidate out there, he spent the last fucking quarter-century building houses for the homeless. And what does he get for it? A fucking hernia. Some fucking gratitude, you selfish twats. You talk to me about compassion? I’ll shove a crucifix so far up the Democrats’ asses they’ll be asking me to buy them dinner and kiss them good night.
Funny thing about me: I actually fucking know shit! Not like these goombas trying to weasel their way into the White House. I practically wrote the book on collapsing bridges, inflation, and the working poor, fuck-o. I even got a degree in nuclear engineering or some shit. You know how easy I could swoop down right now like a guardian angel and solve all your fucking problems? Snap. Bam. Do it in my fucking sleep. Just fucking try me.
So you want me to run for president again? Yeah, sure, absolutely, I’ll do it. I’d be honored to do it—with my fucking dick in your mouth, you worthless scumbags.
You had your chance with Jimmy Carter, and you fucking blew it. So get fucked. Fucking country.
Comment on January 12, 2008 @ 7:35 pm