Flower

Buying time in Afghanistan

I still haven’t had a chance to read Time, but the story is really the photo on the cover.   I’m guessing that this photo alone will buy Obama an additional two years to find victory (or at least the appearance of victory) in Afghanistan.

Why is that important?  And why would Time Magazine want to help prolong our presence there?

Rightly or wrongly, the war in Afghanistan is perceived as Obama’s war.  Iraq was Bush’s war, but success or failure in Afghanistan will belong to Obama.  Ever since the invasion of Iraq, the Dems maintained the mantra, “We should never have ever gone there; we should have focused on Afghanistan instead.”  It was their way of trying to appear to be anti-war (in Iraq) and pro-security (in Afghanistan) at the same time.

Now that they control the government, the Dems are trying to navigate between (a) the American public who heard them say for so many years that we should be in Afghanistan, and (b) their own base, the fringe left, who expected Obama to bring all the troops home on January 21, 2009, no matter what.  For whatever reason, they’ve decided to stay.  For now.  And now that they’re in, Obama really needs a victory (or at least something that they can claim is a victory).

However, to achieve victory, Obama needs time to prosecute the war before political forces pushing for withdrawal become irresistable.  That’s where Time Magazine comes in.  They are heavily invested in their guy Obama, and they will do anything they can to make him appear to be successful.  The photo is a powerful argument to do what’s necessary to make sure young women like Aisha don’t have to live in a country governed by barbarians.  It’s an argument to give President Obama more time.

It is facinating to see how the press selects the photos it will use based on the public policy objectives it wants to support.  The press hated LBJ and Nixon, so they published photos of war violence that diminished public support for US involvement in Vietnam.  They hated Bush, so they published photos of war violence that suppressed public support for the war in Iraq.  But now they love Obama, so they publish a photo that will actually increase public support for Obama’s war.

Of course, it is a powerful photo.  It certainly refocused in my own mind what’s at stake in Afghanistan.  For myself, I hope we do everything possible to bring peace and justice to this corner of the world.  Not only for Aisha’s sake, but for many more just like her.  Taliban barbarians are a cancer that needs to be eradicated.  I say publish the photo.

What do you say?

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4 Responses to “Buying time in Afghanistan”

  1. August 3rd, 2010 at 9:52 pm

    Sheila says:

    I read this article while having physical therapy. OPen the magazine and read the editor’s letter at the beginning of the magazine. It is striking how the editor defends using this photo and even gives warning to parents who have childern but feels they should see this photo. The parallels to using abortion photos are incredible. I would suggest anyone with graphic images of aboriton to send them in to Time magazine right now. The timing is here. The editor wrote out the best defense for graphic images I have seen in ages. When people SEE the violence change happens.

  2. August 4th, 2010 at 11:18 pm

    PDSG says:

    Yup. The picture definitely gets your attention and forms an opinion in your head before you read a word. It draws out compassion and protection.
    Pictures of helpless infants slaughtered in the womb do the same—especially when the fetuses shown are so young and yet so detailed (as in the 10 week gestation fetuses in some of CBR’s photos). They show that this child suffered and was butchered. No words can argue in favor of the slaughter logically, sanely, or honestly.

  3. August 4th, 2010 at 11:31 pm

    Robert says:

    The cover is propaganda to help Obama.

  4. August 10th, 2010 at 8:55 am

    Time Magazine Endorses ProLifeOnCampus says:

    […] published the photo to support Obama’s Afghanistan policy (see earlier post).  But more relevant to our pro-life work was the statement by Richard Stengel, Managing Editor […]

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