Our President is sending 30,000 more soldiers to the same dangerous deserts that Persian, Greek, Mongol, British and Russian Empires could not completely subdue.
The small number, coupled with a timeline for withdrawal will not secure freedom for Afghans or safety for the West.
What should our policy be?
Victory and vigilance.
We must strike a decisive blow and destroy the forces of terror and then be prepared to intervene if they attempt any kind of comeback.
We do not need to be a long-term occupier nor do we need to impose our culture.
We need to defeat our foes decisively, with military success and a treaty of surrender. Then we need to have our forces ready to strike at the first sign of violation.
The major mistakes in Obama’s policy are the proposed timeline ending our involvement and the passive language about our aims. “Impeding momentum” is not total victory. Al-Queda and the Taliban only understand one language: brute force.
I respect the President for attempting to gather international support. The problem is that there is no clear goal and no consensus on process shared by NATO allies or any of the 43 nations involved.
It is also disconcerting to see the blatant politics of the timing of the first troop withdrawals: just before the 2012 elections. Obama is trying to position himself as a pragmatic moderate while winking to his hard left supporters. He can blunt conservative attacks by appearing martial and presidential while “ending” a war before the next votes are cast.
Mr. President – send in the troops with a mandate to win and we will celebrate with you their rapid return.
Mr. President, stop bowing to foreign royalty and stop apologizing for American uniqueness.
Mr. President, respect the brave State of Israel and stop marginalizing her. She is the only pluralistic democracy in the Middle East and as soon as Palestinian leaders guarantee her sovereignty, she will sign a real peace accord and welcome a second Palestinian State.
You can be an outdated ideologue or a statesman. i hope you choose the latter.
P.S. One more thing, Mr. President: End this health care fiasco and stop appropriating the resources of hard working Americans. Use your bully pulpit to empower municipalities, counties and states to find public-private partnership solutions to health care and other social challenges. Your legacy could really be amazing if your will unleash wealth creation and lessen federal control. Eschew your tired playbook from your university days, read some Tom Sowell columns on economics and watch our land flourish again.
P.P.S. Go to Copenhagen and tell the fear mongers and global governance folks to take their questionable science and go home.