Hiding in Afghanistan

He'd never been before, so it made sense for Barack to start his international campaign swing in Afghanistan.

KABUL - US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan Saturday at the start of a major international tour that will also include Iraq, his office and the Afghan foreign ministry said.

Obama's office said the senator would visit some of the 36,000 US soldiers in Afghanistan as part of an international effort to defeat a growing extremist insurgency.

"He will meet President (Hamid) Karzai and they will discuss issues of mutual interest," added foreign ministry spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen, confirming Obama's arrival to AFP.

Barack is playing a game of "Good War, Bad War."

If he wins the November elections, Obama plans to commit at least two more combat brigades, up to 10,000 men, to Afghanistan, which is enduring a resurgence in fighting by the Islamic Taliban militia.

If he can find a war to support, he escapes accusations of being another Democrat who gets queasy around the idea of using the military to defend the nation. He's taking cover in Afghanistan.

"Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been."

Ah, that old mantra of the anti-war left. There's a logic problem here - this line of thinking ignores the fact of what the war in Iraq represents now, regardless of what it was when we went in.

Ironically, if you are a sincerely anti-war type and you're paying attention, Barack sounds more dangerous than McCain.

"Al-Qaeda has an expanding base in Pakistan that is probably no farther from their old Afghan sanctuary than a train ride from Washington to Philadelphia," Obama said.

"We cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary, and as president I won't."

Few will spend much time examining such realities. Barack will successfully inoculate himself with this tactic.