Remember, Barak, The Horsies Go in an “L” Shape

The more I hear Barak Obama, the more I’m convinced he’s not even ready to play a game of chess, much less be Commander-in-Chief. Today, he managed to trump yesterday’s “Wait…what?” moment with an even bigger one.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday he would not use nuclear weapons “in any circumstance”.
“I think it would be a profound mistake for us to use nuclear weapons in any circumstance,” Obama said, with a pause, “involving civilians.” Then he quickly added, “Let me scratch that. There’s been no discussion of nuclear weapons. That’s not on the table.”

I don’t even think that Obama knows what he’s talking about now. Let’s try to draw a straight line through his meanderings and see where it leads.

Let’s suppose that President Obama gets a solid chunk of intelligence that says that’s an al-Qaeda jamboree that’ll happen in three days in Waziristan. The intelligence is solid enough that he mobilizes a sizeable force to go there and nab them. Let’s assume for the purposes of this post that he also survives the nigh-apocalyptic paradox storm that would envelop the Oval Office the instant Obama did the very thing he spent several years criticizing President Bush for doing.

So our soldiers storm in and, since a force that size is about as stealthy as Sideshow Bob in a mousetrap factory, Pakistan knows about it almost instantly. Three things could happen here. First, General Musharraf could just grit his teeth and take it. That’s the least likely option because the second thing that could happen is that the Islamists that Musharraf have been holding at bay for several years use the invasion to grab that last little bit of power they need to tip the balance in their favor. Musharraf falls and the Islamists take over. The third thing that could happen is that Musharraf decides to defend his country against the invasion.

In two of those instances, the Pakistani government is facing the combined military might of the United States – a military that can defeat any army in the world. Certainly both Musharraf and the Islamists realize that we could devastate their conventional forces in a nonce. But they do have one ace up their sleeve – nukes. So, their backs to the wall (If it’s Musharraf) or with a chance to strike a fiery blow at the Great Satan (if the Islamists), the nukes fly. Our invasion force is demolished and we likely face a massive rescue mission to get the survivors. Meanwhile, this will get the undivided attention of Pakistan’s neighbors, especially Iran, India, and Pakistan. They may take action or they may not. At least one of them will have to deal with nuclear fallout – a health crisis that could affect hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

One thing in that scenario has a chance of making the Pakistanis think carefully about using their nukes: our nukes. Every nation knows that we consider the use of nuclear weapons a very serious matter and if they nuke us, we’ll nuke them back, even harder.

But that won’t happen in this case because President Obama foolishly took our nukes out of the picture long before he ever became President.

What do you think that would do to all those governments in the area teetering on the edge of Islamist governments? What of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, former Soviet Republics that may or may not have a couple of old nukes left over from the 1990s? What of India? What of, God Forbid, China? What sort of firestorm does Obama think he’d unleash by giving the Pakistani government the equivalent of a “Nuke Us Free” card to use to defend itself? You think Iraq’s a mess? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

I honestly have no idea what Barak Obama is thinking, or even if he’s thinking. In no way should he be running his mouth about nuclear weapons or invading Pakistan because it’s clear he’s clueless here. If he’s going to be a serious candidate, though, he’s better get up to speed and darned fast. He’s trying to become the President of the United States, not cashier at the local Stop-N’-Gulp. He needs to start taking this seriously.

(Via Don Surber)

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Category: Featured, Huh? What??, The 2008 Horse Race