Letters to the Editor Policy

Obama Nominated For Nobel War Prize

Yes, it's true. President Barack Obama has been nominated for the Nobel War Prize. In 2009, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. If he wins the War Prize, he will join a select company of only four laureates who have won the prize twice and be the first person to receive the War Prize.

At first it seems paradoxical that a Peace Prize laureate should be nominated for the War Prize. But Obama continues to pursue peace but through war - five of them.

Obama's war No. 1: Afghanistan. Obama campaigned for president on a peace platform. But when elected president he escalated the conflict by 21,000 troops and later with 30,000 troops.

This year America's longest war will cost $113 billion. The cumulative cost might reach $4.4 trillion, according to a recent Brown University study.

However, the real cost of this war is measured in fatalities. In American lives, it's 1,486; in Afghan lives, it's between 11,500 and 34,000.

A majority of Afghans want the U.S. to leave their country. Sixty-five percent of Americans want the U.S. to withdraw no later than this month. Yet there is no indication that we will leave despite the fact that the two purposes for the invasion have been achieved.

Obama's goal was “to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan.” Leon Panetta, then Director of the CIA, estimated there could be as few as 50 al Qaeda left in Afghanistan. Chasing down those 50 we have 100,000 U.S., 40,000 NATO, and 170,000 Afghanistan troops.

The other reason we invaded was to capture terror mastermind, Osama bin Laden. But two U.S. bullets sent him to Islamic heaven to meet the 70 virgins promised to the faithful in the Koran.

Obama's war No. 2: Iraq. Though technically no longer a war, the occupation still exacts a fearsome price in dollars and lives.

The casus belli for the second Iraqi war was the supposed threat that Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction posed to the U.S. However, the underwhelming weight of evidence proves this threat was illusionary. And Hussein? He ended his days at the end of a rope. But no Islamic bevy of beauties for him; Hussein was an agnostic.

But still we plod on with 45,000 U.S. troops in country where 82 percent of the populous are “strongly opposed” to foreign troops.

The total cost so far is $786 billion. In lives? More than 4,780 U.S. and 600,000 Iraqis according to research by John Hopkins and MIT.

Obama's war No. 3: Libya. Although the administration baulks at the term “war” and prefers “kinetic military action.”

First, that pesky question: Why are we bombing Libya? Well, Muammar Kadafi threatened widespread massacres against the “rats” and “cockroaches” who took part in the uprising against his regime. Nothing too unusual here. Kadafi was just another run-of-the-mill Mideastern crazycrat.

Nevertheless, the U.S. waded in last March with humanitarian bombings to save the people. Obama stated that it would be over in “days, not weeks.” That was three months ago.

On the first day of the “kinetic military action” the U.S. launched 112 cruise missiles at $1 million per bang. Thus far the tally is $715 million. And mission creep has morphed from saving lives to shelving Kadafi.

The conflict now appears to be a stalemate with Kadafi still in power and the U.S. left with no way out.

Obama's wars Nos. 4 and 5: Pakistan and Yemen. They are robotic wars not mano a mano but mano a drone, i.e., remotely controlled planes.

The number of drone attacks on Pakistan increased dramatically under Obama. From 2004 to 2007 there were 168 strikes. During Obama's first year as president in 2008 they rocketed to 633.

In Yemen, our puppet President Ali Saleh was in trouble. But nothing that a few drones firing Hellfire missiles wouldn't fix. The U.S. began the attacks in 2009.

As in Pakistan, the number of civilian causalities in Yemen increases with the number of strikes. So does mission creep. Fighter jets have joined the drones and a CIA base is being constructed suggesting a long-term, open-ended military commitment in Yemen.

But will the aerial attacks in Somalia fuse an alliance of al Qaeda, the Al Qaeda In The Arabian Peninsula (a.k.a., AQAP), Saleh discontents, and Islamic militants (al Shabab) in Somalia?

If such a four-party pact forms in Somalia, then that nation might be the presumed Nobel War Prize medalist war No. 6.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

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