{"article":{"id":229975,"heading":"VIDEO: The "Safe Haven" Myth","author":"Prof. Stephen Walt","created":"2009-08-28 14:48:44","modified":"2009-08-28 14:48:44","last_modified":"Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:48:44","article":"

Obama's \"national interest\" argument is that another 9\/11 will occur if we do not defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan.

\"You have to unpack the argument and judge whether our national interest is really at stake. Afghanistan is a mountainous country with a weak central government. We don't have a good record in occupying and running countries we don't understand. Social engineering is dubious. Occupying countries helps the Taliban narrative and Taliban recruiting. The Taliban is heterogenous; many do not share the Jihad desire to overthrow the West..\"

to hear Prof. Stephen Walt on Democracy Now, click on

http:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2009\/8\/25\/the_safe_haven_myth_harvard_prof<\/a><\/p>\n","contact":"mbatko@lycos.com","link":"http:\/\/www.democracynow.org","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"President Obama defended the expansion of the war by calling it a "war of necessity."\r\nHarvard Prof. Stephen Walt takes on Obama's justification for escalating the Afghanistan war.\r\n","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2009\/08\/229975.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}