The Congressman representing Seal Beach and many other California beach communities chose Russian television as a forum to present his condemnation of the Obama Administration’s Afghanistan surge strategy. Although his opposition to the strategy is not new, Rohrabacher provided unequivocal opinions yesterday on the English language program on RT, (for Russia Today).

According to Wikipedia, “RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a globally broadcast English-language channel from Russia, and the first all-digital Russian TV network, sponsored by the state owned Russian news agency RIA Novosti.”

Rohrabacher’s interview aired yesterday, December 28, 2009. During the interview, Rohrabacher said “For about one billion dollars we could buy the good will of all the tribal leaders and all the ethnic leaders in Afghanistan.” He continued "For another billion dollars, we could put nice projects in local villages."

While referencing his experience in Afghanistan, he said "They will be as brave as it takes to defeat any foreign army that is there to force them to do things they don't want to do…Whether it’s the Russians, the British, Alexander the Great or the United States of America — these are courageous people."

Rohrabacher does not believe a strategy based on creating a strong central government in Kabul will be successful. “It’s a village tribal culture and we need to go down to work with them on that level rather than [building a central government]," he said.

Rohrabacher is sometimes referred to as an expert on Afghanistan and one of the architects of the so called Reagan doctrine. This appears to come from the fact that he did spend two months there in 1988, between the time he was elected to congress and when he was sworn into office. His web site includes the following: “ Rep. Rohrabacher has a long history of involvement in Afghanistan dating back to the 1980s as a member of President Ronald Reagan’s White House team.” Rohrabacher was a speechwriter for President Reagan, but in the extensive published diaries of his White House years, the late President does not mention Rohrabacher’s name once.

Rohrabacher does not think President Obama’s strategy in Afghanistan, which he sees as similar to the Soviet approach nearly thirty years ago, will work. During his Russian television interview, Rohrabacher said “How ironic it is that we now have an American policy that seems to be exactly what the Soviet policy was…it failed and it will fail for us as well.”

Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher represents California’s 46th District.