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9/29/2009
Rahmlow: Feingold flipping out on Afghanistan
It must be an election year. Russ Feingold is setting a familiar tone as he ramps up efforts to run for reelection.
Already voters are being reminded that Feingold prefers to be called a “progressive” or “maverick”. Stories have surfaced reminding Wisconsin residents that Feingold rarely votes with his party – only 78 percent of the time. And the junior Senator has used this session to vote against the confirmation of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and is urging the removal of troops from Afghanistan as proof of his continued “independence” from beltway politics.
Feingold is returning to these established themes even as he undermines the War on Terror in Afghanistan. The Congressman has probably made the most headlines this session by speaking out against allied efforts in Afghanistan and sponsoring a bill to withdraw U.S. forces saying, “A flexible timetable to draw down our troops from Afghanistan would help us to focus resources and attention on the threat posed by al Qaeda in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, North Africa and around the world”.
Feingold even challenged Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the subject. Gates is recommending more troops to finish the job in Afghanistan. Feingold retorted, “Devoting billions more dollars and tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan is not likely to significantly improve conditions in that country.” Lest voters forget, Feingold has been a staunch supporter of allied efforts in Afghanistan as recently as 2008.
Throughout President George W. Bush’s second term, the Middleton liberal made repeated efforts to have troops transferred from Iraq to Afghanistan.
Example one: “If we don’t strengthen our efforts to defeat the Taliban and to create long-term stability in Afghanistan and the region, Afghanistan will remain what it was on 9/11,” he told the public at a listening session in 2006.
Example two: “We must redeploy our troops from Iraq so that we can focus on serious threats to our security – in Somalia, Afghanistan and elsewhere – that have only grown while this Administration has been distracted in Iraq,” said Feingold in a 2007 press release supporting his proposal to withdraw troops from Iraq.
Example three: “The American people deserve to hear why Republicans are defending the president’s policy of keeping a massive troop presence in Iraq when our military is strained an al Qaeda and its affiliates are gaining strength in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere,” Feingold said in a statement supporting SB 2633 in 2008.
Yet Russ Feingold’s change of heart on Afghanistan was predictable. “If the U.S. withdraws from Iraq, foreign fighters will see their 'Blackhawk Down' handbook validated. All they would have to do in Afghanistan and elsewhere is simply wait for the U.S. to incur enough causalities that Congress loses its interest in fighting terror,” this writer said in a 2006 column critical of Feingold’s stance on Iraq.
With Barack Obama in the White House, Feingold finally has a sympathetic administration to work with. Put another way, Obama’s presidency offers Feingold a forum to make his case that “finishing the job in Afghanistan” requires more troops. It appears that within nine months of his party capturing the White House, Feingold’s political spine has gone wobbly once again. What does Feingold have against defeating the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan?
Ask him at his next listening session.
Mark Rahmlow is a former field director for Tim Michels 2004 U.S. Senate campaign.
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