Paul Bremer Talks Afghanistan and Europe’s Future with Bellum, Our Blog Brother

Earlier today, *Bellum *posted its recent interview with former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq and former U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, Paul Bremer. *Bellum *questioned Bremer on President Obama and the War in Afghanistan, Pope Benedict’s assertion that Europe is rejecting its spiritual roots, the prospects for European stability in the face of changing demographics, and U.S.-European relations in the future.

On the Afghanistan surge, Bremer said,

[President Obama] deserves credit for deciding to replicate President Bush’s Iraq strategy by sending more troops to the fight in Afghanistan. He has been less successful in persuading our NATO allies to contribute more troops to the effort. ***It was a mistake to tie the surge to a self-imposed deadline for the withdrawal of the additional troops.*****That only encourages our enemies to outwait us.

And regarding Europe’s expanding Muslim population, he said,

The vast majority of these [Muslim] men and women are not terrorists.  But as events have shown, there are among them extremists who reject everything the West and Europe stand for—the separation of Church and State, universal suffrage, women’s education, free trade unions, a free press.  And especially democracy which the extremists such as Al Qaeda define as “a new religion that must be destroyed by war.

For more with Bremer, check out the full interview on Bellum.