The former Nato commander in Afghanistan, retired General James L Jones, is testifying before Congress today on his new report urging quick action to prevent the south Asian nation from violently collapsing. But before Jones appeared, a senior US state department official made a stunning analogy about the Bush administration's terrorism priorities.
Democratic senator Russ Feingold asked Richard Boucher, the assistant secretary of state in charge of Afghanistan, whether the war in Iraq (current US troop strength: 155,000) or the war in Afghanistan (current US troop strength: 29,000) is a higher priority for national security.
Boucher replied that both were important. When pressed further to judge the threats posed by America's two wars, he said: "Sir, I mean, which of your kids do you like best?"
"I'm sorry?" Feingold said. And Boucher repeated his analogy of the two anti-terrorism campaigns to children. "[I]f the question here was neglect [of either war] I would understand what you said," Feingold replied. "But the question here, in my view, is whether or not we've neglected Pakistan and Afghanistan because of our overemphasis on Iraq."
