NEWSHOUR - Analysis 6/10/2011

Includes comments on the NATO storie of 6/10/2011

"Shields, Brooks on Gates' Legacy, Gingrich Campaign 'Meltdown,' Weiner Fallout"
PBS Newshour 6/10/2011

Excerpts from transcript

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): And now to the analysis of Shields and Brooks, syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks.
----
DAVID BROOKS: Well, he's making a profound point.

First of all, I think he's the best secretary of defense maybe in the country's history, so he's probably worth listening to -- a rare combination of personal modesty, but also forceful policy views.

And he's pointing out the fact -- he mentioned that he was a child of the Cold War. And he mentioned that the NATO alliance, the Western alliance, has been a beacon and an enforcer of Western values for all of our lifetimes. And that's very much in doubt going into the future, the fact that, as he said, he can't sustain really troops in Libya -- or not troops in Libya, but an action in Libya. That is really a relatively minor action.

The fact that Western European defense budgets and maybe Western European values don't support, can't support military action fundamentally undermines what has been really the core of global stability since World War II. And so that's sort of a profound thing to put at risk.

JEFFREY BROWN: Well, you know, Mark, in terms of context, I was struck when he also said, if you had to go to the American public -- taxpayer, and if dollars were part of this, as well as power...

MARK SHIELDS: Yes.

And I really think that David's respect for the secretary, which is real and, in many respects, justified, the reality is that there is no -- diminishing popular public support in the Congress and in the country for the United States' policies.

I mean, you can say it's economically attributed or originated. But Susan Collins in Leon Panetta's hearings this week to be secretary of defense asked the question: Tell me how this ends?

And nobody can tell. There is no definition of victory. There is no prospect of victory. And I think, in part, his exhortation is that the drawdown, which is coming from the United States, is to try and keep NATO from even making theirs a more dramatic cutback in the Afghan...

JEFFREY BROWN: Yes. Do you sense that this debate over the drawdown is -- I mean, something happened this week. It got stronger this week, didn't it?

DAVID BROOKS: The call for the drawdown?

JEFFREY BROWN: Yes. Yes.

DAVID BROOKS: Well, the -- the politics has changed a little.

The poll -- the polls have bumped up a little for the Afghans. But I think, if you look at the polling, people are -- people are suspicious of it. The country's hurting economically. Why are we spending money over there?

But I think Gates' argument, I think he says there has been progress in Afghanistan. If we can sustain fighting on this pace and make this progress at this pace for another fighting season and maybe a little longer, then the Taliban will be weakened enough so they will have an incentive to negotiate.

And so that's his strategy. And I think it's a plausible strategy. I think he's to be trusted maybe more than anybody else. And so I would pay a lot of attention to what he said. And I think the president will have political running room to do that, because while people are suspicious of Afghanistan, they're not on the streets about it, and I think they will defer to expert opinion, which Gates certainly represents.

JEFFREY BROWN: What do you think of that? What is happening within the administration now?

MARK SHIELDS: Well, I think, first of all, the question is whether the Taliban or the American public will be the first to come to the conclusion the war can't be won.

Part of this is to keep the Taliban, to try and -- the only hope is for a negotiated settlement. There's not going to be a V.A. day celebrated, a victory in Afghanistan, or a victory over the Taliban celebrated in American history books.

And I think -- I think the administration, it is in very tough negotiations right now as far as the deficit reduction and the debt. And that -- this has to come into that, into play. We're talking about large sums of money beyond the troops and the number that we have committed there.

So, I think it's -- I think it's got a political traction to it right now. There's fewer and fewer Republicans who are blindly committed to United States engagement around the world. It's not -- it's a respectable Republican position now in the Congress to question, even to criticize and to oppose, United States -- extension of our mission in Afghanistan.