Self-Inflicted Wounds In Afghanistan

Hamid Karzai and Asif Ali Zardari meet with President Obama today. The recent focus has been on Pakistan, where a breakdown of the cease-fire in the Swat Valley presages open warfare between the military and the Taliban, with hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire. But recent events in Afghanistan have conspired against American efforts to turn the tide in that conflict. Another errant bomb strike left as many as 100 dead in a small district in the west of the country, further inflaming local communities against the US presence. And then images of crusading US soldiers really hurt in the battle for hearts and minds.

Of all blunders to commit, this one is beyond the pale and only sure to arose the ire of the Islamic world unnecessarily. US soldiers at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan have been filmed with local language Bibles and urged to be "witnesses for Jesus" despite anti-proselytizing rules.

In the video obtained by Qatar's Al Jazeera, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, is shown telling US soldiers that as followers of Jesus Christ, they all have a responsibility "to be witnesses for him."

"The special forces guys - they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down," he says.

"Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business."

Jeremy Scahill has more.

Until these twin body blows, Administration officials acted like their biggest problem in Afghanistan was the leadership of Hamid Karzai, who with his top Presidential rival withdrawing from upcoming elections and his consolidation of support by bringing warlords back into the government will surely continue as the leader of the nation, vexing any change in strategy American officials would like to see (I guess they'll try to bypass him in some form). But these threats to the public morale of Afghans, and their acceptance of a continued occupation force in their country, are a much bigger problem. Especially because we've showed no interest in leaving anytime soon.

If This Were A Prizefight, It'd Be Called.

This is the endgame right here:

The McCain camp today disputed rumors that presumptive vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was ever registered with the secessionist Alaska Independence Party by releasing years of voter registration history . . . but it looks like that doesn't apply to her husband.

This afternoon, the director of Division of Elections in Alaska, Gail Fenumiai, told TPMmuckraker that Todd Palin registered in October 1995 to the Alaska Independence Party, a radical group that advocates for Alaskan secession from the United States.

Besides a short period of a few months in 2000 when he changed his registration to undeclared, Todd Palin remained a registered member of AIP until July 2002 when he registered again as an undeclared voter.

She is married, figuratively speaking, to Tim McVeigh. The AIP is linked to militia movements and has as their goal secession from the United States.

At some point the McCain camp will get their butts up to Wasilla and discover this. They can call it a smear all they want, but understand: when Sarah Palin was the mayor of a small town, her husband was a member of a party that advocated secession.

Most of the focus so far has been on babygate:



But it's the radicalism that's going to get her. Here's why the theocrats are agog over the pick:

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

Religion, however, was not strictly a thread in Palin's foreign policy. It was part of her energy proposals as well. Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska's governor asked the audience to pray for another matter -- a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. "I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.

And there's video.

They're already starting to hide her away.

Wow. Epic FAIL.

UPDATE: None dare call it treason... except New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone!

In a message to Congress on July 4, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln said about attempts by the Southern States to secede that, "the States have their status in the Union, and they have no other legal status. If they break from this they can only do so against law and by revolution."

Allowing the potential Vice President of the United States, next in line to the presidency of our republic, to be someone that believes states have a legal right to secede from our union would be akin to allowing a member of the Parti Québécois to become Prime Minister of Canada or a Scottish National Party member to become Prime Minster of the United Kingdom.

While it may sound alarmist and overly dramatic, as someone who has sworn an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic," I find it extremely troubling that the country Ms. Palin would presume to lead as next in line to the Presidency, apparently wasn't good enough for her to be a part of. It is this, more than anything else, which speaks to her lack of qualification to be Vice President of the United States.