A War In Pakistan?

President-elect Barack Obama is not even in office yet, and is already talking about war. However it’s not the was in Afghanistan or Iraq, it’s in Pakistan. Obama believes it is one of out best intentions to send troops to Pakistan to find Osama Bin-Laden and end terrorism in the Middle East. Obama has even gone as to criticize President Musharraf. "I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges. But let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again," Obama said. "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."

Obama’s current plan on Iraq is to withdraw troops and to launch an aggressive diplomatic effort to reach a comprehensive compact on the stability of Iraq and the region. If Obama believes this will work with Iraq, he should also launch a diplomatic effort to Pakistan. Pakistan is a very powerful country with nuclear weapons and the last thing the American people want is another war. Fellow democrats are also against going into Pakistan. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn) said "Frankly, I am not sure what Barack is calling for in his speech this morning. But it is dangerous and irresponsible to leave even the impression the United States would needlessly and publicly provoke a nuclear power.” New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, "My international experience tells me that we should address this problem with tough diplomacy with General Musharraf first, leaving the military as a last resort. It is important to reach out to moderate Muslim states and allies to ensure we do not unnecessarily inflame the Muslim world.” Even his vice-president, Joe Biden criticized Obama on this. A statement from Biden's campaign said, "Before writing the law, Biden wrote to President Musharraf and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making clear his intent to do so.” The statement then went on to ridicule Obama for not asking Amb. John Negroponte at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in January anything about Afghanistan or the Taliban.

A war in Pakistan is the last thing we need to do right now. The most important thing Obama needs to worry about is the current economic crisis. Going into Pakistan is going to be just as worse, if not worse, than Iraq and Afghanistan. Going into both Afghanistan was at first necessary, but it has become a burden on the military and the American taxpayers. There has been little progress and we are still looking for Bin-Laden. Iraq was a giant faux pas that we cannot get out of. We went there to find WMD’s, which we never found, and do extract Saddam Hussein. We eventually got rid of Saddam, however we are still there. Many of the citizens and even other countries are angry that we are over there.

Obama is going to make a big mistake if he decides to send troops to Pakistan. American was born on principles like using military as the last resort. We need to be speaking to them, not declaring war. Words are the strongest action.