Prof. Andrew Bacevich of Boston U. on his new book, Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War and John Gorenfeld reveals conflict of interest of TIME’s Kabul bureau chief. As PBC concedes the Robert Gibbs charge of being from the “professional Left”, Prof. Bacevich describes himself as from “the anti-interventionist right”. His new book is a fascinating look at the mindset of the US military’s officer corps, as it shifted from WWII to Viet Nam to Desert Storm to the Bush wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Responding to excerpt’s from Obama’s 12/1/09 speech escalating US presence in Afghanistan, Bacevich is sharply critical of the rationales offered and the embraced of the failed COIN (counterinsurgency) strategy of Gen. Petraeus, and the myth of the success of the “surge” in Iraq. John Gorenfeld is a freelance journalist, and we disclose that he also does website consulting and did the recent upgrades to this website. He reveals that Aryn Baker, TIME’s Kabul bureau chief, is married to Tamim Samee, an Afghan-American businessman with ties to the Karzai government. We discuss the recent cover photo of a disfigured Afghan woman and the WikiLeaks item about using the plight of women to shore up support for Obama’s war. Read Gorenfeld’s article here. The second segment starts at 1:05:30
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