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Wikileaks: More Than Just an Embarrassment
Jules Witcover
The perusal of WikiLeaks' massive dump of U.S. diplomatic cables has mostly focused on gossipy and indiscreet observations about foreign leaders. More notable are those that reflect an ever-broadening view of official corruption in
The cables indicate this corruption continues to be at the core of the American effort to pursue the war there. It also has been a major negative in the nation building that has grown haphazardly out of the original rationale for the U.S. presence in that forlorn country.
At the center of the poisonous condition is Afghan President
One cable written after a meeting with AWK, as he is known, says that the challenge is "how to fight corruption and connect the people to their government when the key government officials are themselves corrupt."
President Karzai himself has contributed to the lack of confidence in the American diplomatic community with criticisms of the increasingly visible U.S. involvement in
Eikenberry cables in
Other documents have discussed widespread embezzlement of funds intended for U.S.-bankrolled construction work in
All this negative publicity has countered cautiously optimistic reports on the war's progress from Secretary of Defense
Administration sources have said the strategy remains on track for a start to American troop withdrawals next July, but with increasing emphasis from both Gates and Petraeus on a beginning only. At the recent
But all the reports of corruption give critics of the war and of continued American military and huge financial involvement in the country more grounds to press for an earlier resolution.
Obama's acquiescence in the last year's troop surge into
Ever since his election, the president has been haunted by his 2008 campaign pledge to get
In the current climate of austerity at home and both public and Republican demands for major deficit-reduction, one obvious route would be declaring the Afghan engagement a qualified success next summer, and bringing the bulk of Americans home.
Such a decision, absent much greater progress in the war, would no doubt create a furor among defenders of the war. But polls continue to indicate most Americans believe the heavy U.S. commitment was a mistake. So ending it after a decade of sacrifice and frustration might be acceptable after all with voters desperate to turn more effectively to their own immediate problems.
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Wikileaks: More Than Just an Embarrassment
(c) 2010 Jules Witcover