It seems that Barack Obama's tough talk may be entirely warranted.
(SALEM, Ore.) - As the Democratic contenders Clinton and Obama slug it out from the podium, a reexamination of the comment that started the nastiest side of the debates between the two is warranted; Pakistan is the country that is the actual homeland of thousands of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama went at it over foreign policy and the problems relating to corporate influence as they tried hard to wrangle the support of organized labor at the AFL-CIO forum in Chicago.
But the biggest showdown between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton came over his earlier remarks about Pakistan, and his threat of a military strike against terror targets in Pakistan, which he said he would seek with or without the permission of that nation's government.
Clinton's take on Obama is that he is naive. She says his suggestion could destabilize Pakistan and raise the risk of an Islamic fundamentalist takeover in that country, which has a nuclear arsenal.
"I find it amusing that those who voted to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me for making sure that we are on the right battlefield and not the wrong battlefield in the war against terrorism," declared Obama, alluding to Clinton's vote authorizing force against Iraq.
Fire Base California in the Pesh Valley a remote outpost near the Pakistan borderThe thing that Clinton appears to be missing, is that the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is uncontrolled. Not only do militants flow freely into Afghanistan, other Anti-Coalition Military forces target American and Afghan bases and encampments along the Pakistan border.
When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, millions of people there fled to neighboring Pakistan to avoid the bloodshed that would claim over a million and a half Afghan people.
Today the sons of those who fled are those who largely comprise the Taliban. Those young men join the Taliban because they are told it is the purest expression of their faith, and they return to their parent's homeland to fight the Coalition forces.
When I was in Afghanistan earlier this year, I spent two days in the border region where combat is a daily occurrence. Camp Joyce: Remote Fire Base Near Afghanistan-Pakistan Border (VIDEO) The region is packed with people intent on killing American and Afghan troops, and much of the region's combat activity fails to be reported.
As our soldiers die in this part of the world, it seems almost ludicrous that the United States government has not taken adequate measures to seal the border. As Americans talk vehemently about building fences to keep hard working Central and South Americans out of the U.S., the Pakistan border sees thousands of deadly fighters intent on killing Americans pass freely into Afghanistan regularly.
It seems that Barack Obama's tough talk may be appropriate, since the Pakistan president's only plan to control the border involves the planting of more new land mines, which already plague Afghanistan more than any other country in the world. The mine strategy hasn't worked.
Clinton's reaction, that "You can think big, but remember, you shouldn't always say everything you think if you're running for President, because it has consequences across the world," were actually booed by many of the 10,000 in attendance at the Chicago Bears' Soldier Field.
Democrats are known for ignoring some aspects of a story, and the ignorance about Pakistan that Clinton conveys is a ripe example. Another is how they failed to address more than 120,000 civilian contractors serving in Iraq and Afghanistan when they talked about troop withdrawal. The United States currently has over 20,000 "trigger pulling" mercenaries in the two wars.
Aziz is in the Afghan National ArmyHe fights with Americans along theAfghan border with PakistanOther Democrats like Senators Joseph Biden and Christopher Dodd seem to side with Clinton in her roasting of Obama. They both say his comments about Pakistan are ill-advised.
It could be an interesting turn of the page for the young black legislator intent on the country's top post, and a wake up call for many who realize that his statements may be right on target for a person who wants to see Americans live and address terrorists for what they are.
This is another report I filed from the Pakistan border region earlier this year. In this case, soldiers from a remote base are seen helping local families with humanitarian aid and how it is to live in a place where a home is a cave constructed of old railroad ties. They Call It The Lumberyard, A Forward Operating Base in Remote Afghanistan (VIDEO)
The video report below titled "Rough Road to Pesh Valley in Afghanistan (VIDEO)" is another example of the tension that exists for Americans along the border Pakistan shares with Afghanistan, and that won't be easily resolved by any candidate, any time soon.
Obama's Comment on Pakistan was Right on the Money (VIDEO)
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