Here’s the exchange:
SCARBOROUGH: You know, Pat, I read over the weekend that Joe Biden had a meeting with Karzai who’d basically been deified in America over the last six, seven years, where he got so angry at him he threw down his napkin–this is back when he was a senator–and went out of the room. They are obviously chilly relations between the Obama team and Karzai.
Buchanan made his explosive suggestion in response . . .
BUCHANAN: I recall Henry Kissinger’s statement back in the 1960s: it is often dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, but to be a friend is fatal. I think they’re undercutting Mr. Karzai and they’re doing it consciously and deliberately. And I think he realizes it. And I think he’s in a very–I think he’s in an untenable position. I think the Americans quite frankly want someone new to deal with. They’re concerned about his family, about corruption. They’re concerned about whether he can do the job. I tell you, if I were him I’d be reading the biography of Diem.
SCARBOROUGH: Pat, that’s cold. Of course that didn’t end very well for him.
3 Comments
Wow..I don’t know what to think, I’ve went back and forth myself over the last few years about how I feel about Karzai…
When it comes right down to it..I think he has done his best in a heck of a mess…I don’t know if he will be alive in August..I know many want him gone…desposed of one way or the other…as they say power corrupts, but on the other hand, so may things good have happened inside of Afghanistan if you pay attention or just read the article here with the link about Burden throwing his napkin down…
I don’t know…I’m just rambling on…I hope he has a book written before August though…just in case.
So may enemies…so little time.
Although Pat Buchanan isn’t exactly among my favorite people, I think he has made an astute observation here.
This nation has a history of throwing its “allies” under the bus, particularly once they are no-longer convenient.
Diem wasn’t the first to have the rug yanked from underneath him by any means, and he wasn’t the last, either. Of course, Diem didn’t really have what it took, anyway, and most everyone knew it.
I’m not yet sure about Karzai.
If Osama is as dead as I believe him to be, maybe we need to think about getting the hell out of Afghanistan.
After all, at the end of the day, it is still a Muslim country, and knowing a little about the history of same, I really don’t think it possible to “win their hearts and minds.”
-Dave
It’s a weakness (and one I don’t want to change) of having elections every 4 years.
Our fickled populace changes horses and just by virtue of politics, old allies are thrown to the curb to make room for new ones that the new administration likes.
The list of discarded world leaders is very long.