Russ Feingold: Voice of Progressive Afghanistan War Criticism
As Jeremy Scahill notes in his excellent interview of Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Feingold is pretty much the only man on Capitol Hill willing to take on the Obama administration’s Afghanistan war policy. Really, read the whole thing, but here’s a bit that Feingold says about how he’s pressed both Richard Holbrooke and Adm. Michael Mullen on lacunae in either strategy or resources:
“„“This is something I’ve been trying to hammer away at,” Feingold tells The Nation. “They admitted that it’s a problem, but where’s the follow-up? This administration is almost whistling past the graveyard on this issue.” Feingold added, “How is it that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and our special envoy to this region both agree that this could be a problem and that it is not talked about as a serious mistake if we’re going to keep increasing troops and increase that effect? This is, in my view, the central flaw in what is otherwise a policy that is better than the Bush administration’s. This is the central flaw in the thinking of the administration on this issue, and it needs to be pursued.”
Holbrooke, recall, answered Feingold that “I am only sure that we are aware of the problem.”
