Eric Walberg: The Afghan Dust is Settling!!

Yes, it really is another Vietnam, and just as in 1972, presidential elections will make no difference. Scarcely a word is heard about foreign affairs amid US election talk, despite the many fires around the world that the US military is either stoking or trying to douse, depending on your point of view. Other than Republican contender Ron Paul, not a serious candidate for the mainstream, no one questions the plans for war on Iran, Israel's continued expansion in the Occupied Territories, or US plans to end the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The problem is that decisions about these vital American policies are not for mere presidents or presidential hopefuls to mull over. The one principled decision that US President Obama made, his first upon coming to office, was to announce that he would close Guantanamo Bay prison within a year. After all, he had voted against his predecessor's ill-fated invasion of Iraq, and it was on this basis that he was able to energize an otherwise an otherwise disillusioned Democratic base and surge past the more acceptable white alternatives Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Obama's record on foreign policy has been shocking in retrospect. His call from Cairo for a new dispensation in the Middle East soon after his vow to close Guantanamo, along with this vow, are now in history's dustbin.