Thursday, September 10, 2009

Sarah Palin: Neocon Pawn?

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The same old hawks recruit Palin to pressure Obama on Afghanistan, while ignoring their own past.

Here come the neocons again—and this time with Sarah Palin.

A group of conservative foreign policy advocates—including a bevy of neoconservatives—this week sent President Barack Obama a letter urging him to stand firm in Afghanistan and vowing their support for him (on Afghanistan) if he did so.

The letter was organized by the Foreign Policy Initiative, a think tank put together by leading neoconservatives Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan.

Two high-profile right-wingers also added their names: Sarah Palin and Karl Rove.

The letter is reminiscent of the neocons' efforts before the Iraq War to whip up support for US military action against Saddam Hussein, an effort promoted by Kristol's think tank of the time—the Project for a New American Century.

But Palin's involvement makes this recent letter more intriguing than the usual rerun. After all, some conservative intellectuals dismissed Palin when she was Senator John McCain's running mate—partly because of her apparently flimsy knowledge of foreign policy

(she once referred to Afghanistan as "our neighboring country").

In a scathing op-ed at the time McCain picked her, Frum wrote:

Palin's experience in government makes Barack Obama look like George C. Marshall. She served two terms on the city council of Wasilla, Alaska, population 9,000.

She served two terms as mayor. In November, 2006, she was elected governor of the state, a job she has held for a little more than 18 months.

She has zero foreign policy experience, and no record on national security issues.





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