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Bishop: Afghanistan exit strategy needed
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President Barack Obama must provide Congress with an exit strategy for the war in Afghanistan, Rep. Tim Bishop said last Thursday.
For the U.S. military 2009 has been the deadliest year of the eight-year war against the Taliban, and media reports suggest the sacrifice has done little to win the hearts and minds of Afghanis, or to establish a state strong enough to resist Islamic extremists on its own.
Citing rising popular domestic opposition, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) has called for a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan. Bishop, when asked if he would support a defined schedule for withdrawal, said he "would go so far as calling for an exit strategy" from the president, at an interview at Times Beacon Record offices Sept. 3.
In fact, the congressman already has. He voted for an amendment to a spending bill requesting the president submit to Congress a plan detailing a process for eventual disengagement in Afghanistan. However, he does not blame Obama for the faltering war effort. "I think the president inherited a mess," Bishop said. "I think he is doing the best he can to get the war on the right path there."
However, the congressman added, "at a certain point, if it's not working, we just have to recognize it's not working." Bishop argued that battling Islamic-extremist terrorists abroad does not increase domestic U.S. safety, as proponents of the mission contend, and the experience of the Iraq war suggests that Middle East occupation can actually diminish U.S. security. The Iraq conflict has attracted more followers to terrorist organizations and led to the creation of al-Qaida in Mesopotomia, in addition to destabilizing Iraq and removing its traditional counterweight to the expansion of Iranian power in the region, he said.
Bishop described loss of popular support for the Afghanistan war as "simply fatigue ... rooted in the sober recognition of how little our engagement in Iraq accomplished for us." However, he predicted that Congress would agree to augment the roughly 68,000 troops already in Afghanistan with another 12,000 to 15,000 at the president's request.
The congressman also called for "real engagement" with Iran to thwart its development of nuclear weapons,
suggesting heightened diplomatic efforts and economic sanctions, "none of which has been pursued to any extent by the previous administration." However, he stopped short of advocating military engagement if nonviolent measures failed. "Unless we're attacked, we should exhaust every nonmilitary manner of resolving a dispute," Bishop said.
The major domestic issue of the moment, health insurance reform, is unlikely to win bipartisan support no matter what concessions Democrats make, according to Bishop, a proponent of most of the reform proposals. However, he does not support pushing the measure through on party line voting and budget reconciliation in the Senate. "Ramming it through" would alienate constituents and not prove successful in the long run, he said. Bishop predicted that reform measures would eventually be implemented, although they would be "less ambitious" than those sought by progressives and the Obama administration.
To accomplish meaningful reform, which Bishop defined as lowering the cost of purchasing insurance and ensuring those already buying it will receive the benefits their provider promises, Democrats must have greater success winning the rhetorical battle. "We have not done a good enough job of laying the groundwork for why this is so important, and how these reforms will improve health care delivery," he said.
President Obama must also take a more active role in shaping the health insurance legislation, he said. "I think the president needs to exert presidential leadership," Bishop said.
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