Give General McChrystal Time to Succeed
As President Obama contemplates the strategy in Afghanistan, the political debate in Washington has gone viral. The usual suspects — Bob Herbert, Eugene Robinson, and even George Will — have come out with opinion pieces on why the troops should abandon the mission in Afghanistan.
However, what each of them fails to realize is that the strategy General Stanley McChrystal articulated when arriving in the country has barely had a chance to take shape after several years of failure. Furthermore, the additional 6,000 troops he initially requested have yet to arrive. It would behoove the president to give the commander on the ground the chance to succeed before pulling the rug from underneath him.
The Democrats on the Hill are also pounding their fists to depart and dissolve our commitment to the Afghan people. It is understandable that Americans question our mission in a country that has not done enough to help itself. The Afghanistan National Army is a failure, and many of the local troops who sign up are never to be seen after receiving uniforms. A testament to General McChrystal’s commitment is his resolve to realign the Afghanistan National Security Forces, which the Army falls under, to better train the Afghans to fight their own battles. There are several key law enforcement-mentored units fighting the Taliban narcotic networks that McChrystal wants to replicate to engage insurgents wreaking havoc on the local populace.
The strategy advocated by Vice President Biden is the same tired old policy of counter-terrorism that allowed Afghanistan to be a safe haven for al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The terror drone strikes he advocates for are turning the people living along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan against our efforts. Also, it is obvious that a lot of funding for the insurgency comes from Pakistan; however, relying solely on Special Forces to protect the civilians from insurgents in populated areas is difficult. The advice of the vice president was rejected earlier and should be again. With his penchant for ridiculous remarks and hasty decisions, no serious policy maker should give his thoughts serious consideration.
“The morale of the troops in Afghanistan will sour if Obama pulls the rug out from under their commander.”
Assuming he cares about their morale.
Nonsense! Where is your evidence?
“what each of them fails to realize is that the strategy General Stanley McChrystal articulated when arriving in the country has barely had a chance to take shape after several years of failure.”
The above statement is factually inaccurate. There is no failure in Afghanistan. AQ has been ran out of the country with almost 50% of it’s leadership killed. In case you have forgotten, the mission in Afghanistan is to kill people, preferably Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists. That is going very well, thank you.
What needs to be done is withdrawing the Army from Afghanistan entirely. It is a Marine mission, the Army is only there because they have no other place to fight battles. As the saying goes “It ain’t much of a war, but it’s the only war we got.”
Put 10 to 12 thousand Marines in and let them hunt terrs.
Afghanistan has never been a nation, so there is no there there as far as nation building.
Marines call it a ‘bug hunt’.
The Army approach to bug hunts is burning the building down. Exactly what isn’t needed here.
McCrystal is a glory hound and is selling mission creep so he can go down in history as conquering Afghanistan. He didn’t invent kiss up kick down but he sure has a firm grasp of the subject. Track down some of the people that served under him and have retired. Find out the real story about this perfumed prince.
“The terror drone strikes he advocates for are turning the people living along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan against our efforts.”
Again, no evidence. Since you have been caught already in a falsehood, why would anyone rational take your word?
The real issue in afghanistan is logistics. Logistics trails go thru either Russia or Pakistan, both of which are Nations that are not allies. Cut thos logistics trails and suddenly Afghanistan becomes not Vietnam but Bataan.
he maximum number of troops that can be supported by an air bridge is about 100,000.
Right now. The bottleneck is there is only ONE (1) airport that can handle big jets and that airport is surrounded by hills that offer cover for ManPADS.
McCrystal’s buildup has the potential to become the greatest military disaster in American history. And it is SOOOOO unnecessary.
You have to be a real military moron to risk so much for such a small gain. McCrystal qualifies. Another Custer or Lucus. Fendenhall? Was that the name of the General in command at Kisserine Pass?
Do you really want to watch American troops get beheaded on TV every night until we do what the Mullahs want?
General Stanley McChrystal’s job is NOT to articulate strategy, but to carry out the strategy ordered by the ELECTED Civilian leadership. He seems to have forgotten that. Congress needs to remind him.
Well we all know its so far so good. Reports back indicate that since this new president has changed the course by increasing troop strength and has increased international support for the war since taking office, which is amazing after seven years. However, unless this change of course continues there is danger of the “quagmire effect” taking hold. We must continue to focus building their armed forces and police and rebuild “the basics” of their virtually “non existent” infrastructure if we are to have any chance at success at all. And we must strive for unconditional UN/multi-lateral engagement of the west and do all we can to bring our far east friends on board to get this down from a 40 year war to a 5-10 more years. I will be amazed if the American electorate will continue to have the same patience in a few years unless progress continues. The president has already changed the direction by focusing on what really needs to be done but Republicans will have to continue to be democrats on this one and support the billions more it will take to win this one or at least get out of there with some honor. Its a long way to tipperary.
Obama addicts shouldn’t try to talk when their mouth is full. Chill out until you finish woofing down the chunky stuff.
Everyone knows that Obama has the best, smartest and most seasoned military advisors in the world; Colin Powell, Vietnam War Hero John Kerry and if need be even David Letterman.
Hence, whatever General McChrystal doesn’t matter; Obama has the situation covered and well under control.
Unlike Vietnam, the last man airlifted out by helicopter this time has executive level orders to turn out the lights. That way the news media can’t take pictures of all the women and children on the ground begging for someone to help them.
After 9/11 the US went to Af-stan and killed the Taliban in short order. Then we went into Iraq and focused most of our efforts there. The roaches ran back across the border from Iraq through Iran and into Af-stan to reconstitute, probably under the auspices of OBL. So a few years later the Taliban and AQ are making a comeback.
So my question is: How did we beat the Taliban the first time we went in and why won’t that work this time? We know this fight is much different than Iraq and a “surge” isn’t likely the strategy that will work here, so why throw more troops into the fight? Something is wrong here. My only hope is that Gen. Petraeus is top man at CentCom in the mid East and should know best.
Maybe #2 John “Birther” is on to something. Maybe, just maybe Barry has a lick of sense or getting some good advice from somewhere. But we have to win in Af-stan or else the price we have paid in lives and resources will have been wasted because with Iran-Afstan-Pakistan-Russia-China pushing things, it will be very nasty there in the next few years, especially when Iran gets nukes.
People say that Barry can’t commit on Af-stan because he is afraid of the left on the health care issue. What? The left will cut off their nose to spite their face? If Barry commits more resources to the fight, they still might get their treasured health care “reform”. To me the two issues are mutually exclusive. I think the left would rather be 1-1 rather than 0-2. At least looking at it rationally which can be a stretch when talking about lefties, I admit.
I can only hope that Gen. Petraeus is truly running things over there. He is my safety net in this.
However, what each of them fails to realize is that the strategy General Stanley McChrystal articulated when arriving in the country has barely had a chance to take shape after several years of failure. Furthermore, the additional 6,000 troops he initially requested have yet to arrive. It would behoove the president to give the commander on the ground the chance to succeed before pulling the rug from underneath him.
It’s quite obvious that 2,3 and 5 either didn’t read or understand the above orthe rest of this article.
The current POTUS agitated for the United Stated to concede Iraq to al Qaeda and Iran. He was elected despite the his advocacy of failure in Iraq. He failed in his mission to surrender Iraq to al Qaeda and Iran. He now wants to concede Afghanistan to al Qaeda and the Taliban. He’s in charge so he will succeed in this mission.
The defeat of the United Staes in Afghanistan will be a tremendous recruiting boon for al Qaeda just as their defeat in Iraq was devastating for al Qaeda.
Petraeus and McChrystal should resign and disassociate themselves from this poseur and the coming debacle. And the rest of America should prepare for the next 9/11.
And the rest of America should prepare for the next 9/11
Unfortunately, the potential for this sort of thing is moving closer to the probable. Weak horses, strong horses, and all that.
When will we come to the conclusion that the Taliban are not our enemy. Our enemy is al-Qaeda. And there’s no love lost between the two. We should be rooting out the al-Qaeda bases in Pakistan. If the Afghans don’t want Taliban running their country, that’s their business, not ours. The only Afghans who are truly anti-Taliban is the current Afghan regime. This is a terribly corrupt regime and it is precisely that corruption that has brought the Taliban into power in that country. Our military should be working out of Pakistan, keeping that country’s nuclear capability out of al-Qaeda’s hands.
The Bush administration screwed up when it failed to authorize the use of nuclear power over Tora Bora when Bin Laden was identified as the ‘mastermind’ and where he and his rat-pack were hiding. It would have ended everything right then and there and avoided this on-going Vietnam-type mess. I suspect world uproar would have been minimal, and even if it wasn’t, who cares?
As John “birther” Samford points out, turn the Marines loose to do what they are trained to do and quit putting restrictions on the use of military power. Either we’re in this to win or not, and if not, then get the troops out.
So what will be Mr. President???
This Democrat with stars on his shoulder wants our troops to wear targets. Lets not be in a hurry to give him more targets. This is part of Obama’s plan to keep US troops away from the US so they pose no threat to him.
Makes me think of the story concerning Eleanor Roosevelt wanting the US Marines wasted on bypassed Japanese held islands toward the end of WW2.
“Reports back indicate that since this new president has changed the course by increasing troop strength”
Poor citizen, you are operating under a basic misunderstanding of military affairs. Adding or subtracting troops IS NOT changing the course.
Look at it this way. Changing the course would be like turning the steering wheel. Adjusting troops levels would be like stepping on or letting off the gas.
The left completely misread “The surge”. It was not more troops that did the trick, but the change in tactics from force protection to force projection. That was done by building lots of little ‘forts’ within Iraqi cities.
Once Iraqi’s realized that the USA was there and living WITH them, they knew the only way to get us out was thru diplomacy. That meant stop with the senseless bombing. It worked as anyone with even a passing familiarity with military history knew it would. It was straight out of General Crooks playbook.
Brooker, I both read and understood it. I just don’t agree.
It is both the wrong tool and the wrong worker using that tool.
What worked in Iraq won’t work in Afghanistan. The operational approach is to ‘win hearts and minds’. The ‘hearts and minds’ of the ‘ganis are not the same hearts and minds of the Iraqi’s. We need to switch tactics. Go from the ‘fortified hamlet’ to the ‘ink blot’ tactic. They are almost the same with a critical difference. The ‘ink blot’ uses locals.
Afghanistan is a warrior culture. Winning their hearts and minds means showing them how to be better warriors. That means training and weapons. The USA is upgrading their Ballistic Protection Systems (body armor).
We need to supply the ‘ganit militis with to older gear. New boots too.
We also need to buy the 80,000 plus M1′s that S. Korea just found in the back of a warehouse. Give them to the ‘gani’s. The Garand is the perfect weapon for Afghanistan and the militias the Marines will form there. Accurate, reliable as a rock and with the effective range to handle shooting from mountain to mountain.
Now that ‘Swimmer’ Kennedy is roasting in ‘ell, there is a good chance to replace that worthless piece of sh1t stoner with a real weapon. Something in either 6.5 or 6.8 mm. That will leave lots of M-16′s for anyone foolish enough to want one.
One of the basic tenents of military art is maintainence of the objective. That means once you have decide on what to do, DON’T stop doing it 1/2 way thru the job.
That is what Mc Crystal is proposing, which is why I question his military accumn.
Yes, it will take 40 or 50 years to finish off the terrs. SO WHAT? This war on terror is multi generational. It doesn’t matter what we do. That is the nature of ‘bug hunts’. In every battle a few bugs escape. They then go someplace and breed more bugs. So the rational approach then becomes using the ‘stan as a live fore exercise range. The Marines are there because they WANT to be. They LIKE hunting down terrorists and killing them. The ‘Ganis like it too. ‘ell, even the terrs like it.
So you kick out all the journalists and let the various sides run around killing each other. Set up a place in the quite part of the Stan where those that don’t want to fight can live in relative peace and quite and then just ignore the place. The USA can train the next 2 or 3 generations of Combat Leaders there.
The strategy advocated by Vice President Biden
What? Is he advocating that we split Afghanistan into three countries?
9. strangelove…
Well said. PR and “hearts and minds” can be the strategy after the hotspots are turned into smooth green glass. For those keeping score at home… Total annihilation 2 (Burning of Berlin, Big Boy, et al)
PR war 0 (Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War I)
No 11 Johnny
Oh John,..nice try son… and how correct you would be if the “clip” of a quote from my entry was “all” I had said. Apparantly, you forgot to include the “meat” of my entry.
“we must continue…to focus building “their” armed forces and police and “the basics” of their virtually “non existant” infrastructure)…
yes…its not just about troops, guns and all that..so I think its you John operating under the basic misunderstanding, not this vet.
We elect a president because somebody has to be the final arbiter of strategic decisions. So far in his career, our president has either run away from making decisions by voting “present” when the kitchen was getting too hot for his comfort, or brandished contrived decisions like closing Gitmo within 12 months, against all professional advice. Some presidents are slower than others in discovering that they are not God’s ambassador, and they actually have to face the music. Late is better than never. In this case, the real question is “what is best for the long term interests of the nation?”
Personally, I think that concluding the war with honor, that is bringing security to the Afghan population, as we have done in Iraq, is the right way. We keep hearing that the Afghan institutions are corrupt. I don’t see this as the correct analysis, because a government cannot be corrupt before it really exists. In fact, the institutions have not been truly created, and they cannot come to life until the people feel secure, and see the benefits of sharing interests worthy of being delegated to solid institutions. If that does not happen, they will stay as fractious as they are now, and we’d be wasting our blood and treasure forever. We can pretend that their institutions are too corrupt to be helped, but what we are dealing with is simply unresolved loyalties, which we can help resolve, as we did in Iraq.
If the national sentiment is going the other way, and nobody makes the case to them, (only a president can do that), the pursuit of the war will result in defeat because armies don’t win wars, nations win wars. So, it’s not just a test of our chief executive, it’s also a test for all of us, ultimately.
Right now, I’m nervous, because he seems to hesitate. Is he waiting for enough polls to see whether we would back him if he backs the field commanders? Would he heed the outcome of such polls if they show national resolve to see the counterinsurgency through? If his personal inclination opposes the national sentiment, is he going to persuade us, or is he going to go to war against us, as he stubbornely keeps doing on health care?
General Stanley McChrystal’s job is NOT to articulate strategy, but to carry out the strategy ordered by the ELECTED Civilian leadership. He seems to have forgotten that. Congress needs to remind him.
Birther John
This statement in particular caught my eye. You are wrong. His job is to give his best advice on strategy. And when it’s not followed by a totally unqualified CIC, he should resign.
Do you really want American military strategy determined by The Fresh Prince Of Bill Ayers Plugs Biden, John Effing Kerry and Colin, Affirmative Action, Powell?
You’re not living up to your new name.
And it’s Booker, not Brooker. Appears you don’t get that either.
It seems to me history gives the nod to the old mujahedeen warriors. They have proven themselves capable of winning in Afghanistan. True it required our assistance as will this operation but it is worthy of consideration. Given the success of the tribal ‘Awakening’ in Iraq, a joint effort involving tribal chiefs could be the
path to victory and stabilizing the region. They
stand ready to hunt down and eliminate Taliban and al-Quaeda forces. Support them NOW!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125183668667977283.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/22/afghan-warlords-will-fight-if-us-gives-aid/?page=2
Fully agree that we need to give Gen. McChrystal the time and support that he needs.
Of course, when the top military commanders in the nation recommended to scrap the missle defense and F-22, they had no idea what they were talking about and were putting our nation in grave danger.
“His job is to give his best advice on strategy. And when it’s not followed by a totally unqualified CIC, he should resign.”
No his job is to give advice when asked. Other then that it is to STFU and follow orders. Every hear of the UCMJ?
“”I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).”
The OATH of a commissioned Officer in the US military.
Obama is a usurper because he is not a natural born US Citizen. He is required by law to prove that he is, whcih he tried to do with a forged Birth Certificate. So in one respect McCrystal is correct to challenge his suthority. He isn’t correct to challenge his strategy. He accepted Obamabs legitimaacy when he took the job he has now,, so it’s to late to question his orders.
Let me rephrase that. The orders are valid, if one accepts the source of those orders, otherwise they are not.
Obama is qualified to give the US military orders by sake of his electoral victory in November of ’08 and his oath of office in Jan ’09.
There is no legal requirement for ANT politician to have the slightest bit of military knowledge. Most military officers have only a bit.
The mission in Afghanistan was to kill AQ and Taliban. If the mission has been changed (mission creep) then the politicians need to announce the new mission and solicit military opinions on how to carry that mission out.
They don’t need some loose cannon of a General doing mission creep on his own as part of an exercise in turf building.
You are correct, McCrystal should resign. Maybe we can get somebody in there that knows what he is doing.
Brooker, Booker, whatever. This isn’t about you. It’s about a possible Bataan in Afghanistan. AFAIK, there are about 80,000 troops there now, or were at the end of August. American, not including our ‘allies’.
We are approaching the limit on how many troops can be supported if the supply lines are cut.
I say Bataan because that is a good example of what happens when Logistics are cut. The US Army outnumbered the Japanese by not quite 2 to 1 in the Philippines in January of ’41.
The were forced to surrender because they ran out of bullets, beans, gas and everything else.
My Nephew just got back from Afghanistan. He was stationed at the Patriot Battery guarding the big airbase a bit outside of Kubal. The one surrounded by hills that would require several divisions to clear of ManPADS. A Patriot battery? Only the F#&$^^#g Army could be stupid enough to station a Patriot Battery in the middle of a guerrilla war. Worried, no doubt about all those Al Qaeda B-52′s. He and his buddies had a very low opinion of McCrystal burger as they called him (all bun, no beef). His resigning would boost moral considerably. My youngest son is a helio pilot. He is about finished with a tour in D.C, flying fat-assed Generals around. He did 2 tours in Iraq and is trying to get to the ‘stan. I’m hoping McCrystal burger is gone by then.
President Obama, when asked about Afghanistan, said: “Are we pursuing the right strategy?”
No, he is pursuing the left (as in leaving, or opposite of right) strategy.
#6 Booker – You have a might high opinion of yourself.
So you recommend the commanders, if they don’t get support, just pack their bags and go home? What about their pledge to defend the Constitution, to their troops? What about adjusting to new situations and improvising with what they have? Their positions have critical dimensions and dealing with bad decisions by superiors is one of them. So we know what you would do. Take your ball, suck your thumb and go home!
I trust our military commanders to have more character in loyalty to their men and country. I trust them to serve until relieved of command because that is the fight they are engaged in. “.. defend our constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic …” You go ahead and quit.
Obama is consistantly doing things that will result in the enemy having nikes. Does he really think that MAD is back in style? Maybe he’s simply incompetent.
Damn keyboard. That’s Nukes.
stupid keyboard. that’s NUKES
#6 Booker – You have a might high opinion of yourself.
I have a justifiably very low opinion of the current CIC. There is no duty to serve someone who is all talk and won’t define the mission but rather spends all of his time trying to push through socialized medicine (when he isn’t apologizing for his country). At best, he has no clue about what to do about Afghanistan just as he had no clue about Iraq even as the Surge was succeeding.
Yes there is a duty to follow orders but given these circumstances the best way to defend the Constitution is to resign and refuse to prop up this charade of a CIC.
This president does not have the stones to fight. He should pull us out now. If he does decide we should continue fighting, he should recall all of the JAG corps (military lawyers) and change the Rules of Engagement so that the commander on the ground taking fire can actually receive support without the delay of lawyerly advice.
Kenghis Kahn, the British and the Russians have all had their problems here. Making “nice” won’t work. Fight or fight not, there is not nice way to win a war.
Comment #25 is mine.
@21 whydon’tyougetashorterandmoresensiblename?
We learn today – from Fox News naturally – that Obama has talked to McChrystal exactly once since he hired him for the mission Obama has since abandoned.
You may think the American military should risk their lives playing wackamole in a mission their CIC has no intention of winning – while the rest of the country goes to the mall – but I have too much respect for the armed forces to demand this kind of service from them.
The soviets tried the same strong-arm approach we have been using for years. It’s time for Obama to grow a spine and get behind General McChrystal and send the troops needed. I wrote about this at http://is.gd/3KW3e
19. That’s not the officer’s oath; that’s an enlisted man’s oath. The officer’s oath mentions neither the President, superior officers, nor the UCMJ. And yes, if an officer cannot in good conscience follow orders, he should resign.
#27 Booker T. Gain
McChystal said that he had not talked to the president in 70 days. That interview was on CBS and then repeated on Fox. The point of interest is that POTUS is not talking to his commander. I would guess that the urgency of losing a war to the Taliban is surpassed by healthcare and the Chicago Olympics, and the troops with McChrystal are left twisting in the wind.
This is the main problem I had with Obama as POTUS. A Chicago street thug (Bill Clinton’s words) as commander and chief was more than I could comprehend.
This is the war Obama has consistently called the good war since 2002, and he is voting present once again. He is already the worse president in my lifetime, and I’m an old man.
Gen. McChrystal should destroy the IED plants in Iran, and then warn the Russians any IED parts caught coming form them will be met with overwhelming force.
This war is already 30 years old, so no crying about destroying the IED plants.
G-d’s speen to our troops with a Leturd as POTUS.
Myth Buster, I beg to differ.
That IS the officers oath as it is given and taken since 1960;
http://www.history.army.mil/faq/oaths.htm
It is more in line with the enlisted Oath, but includes the President instead of the UCMJ.
Not sure why the change. It took place during the Eisenhower administration.
Most people don’t realize that the UCMJ replaced the Constitution until the 60′s, when a very Liberal USSC decided that yes indeed the military was covered by the Constitution. It had been argued that since the military cannot be a democracy, effective law could not stem from a source devoted to democracy.
An officer giving an order needs to know it will be obeyed right then and there, with no debates. Anti-democratic to say the least.
Dire predictions of doom came down from every flag rank in the land. They were wrong, but why is a different topic.
There are no ‘good’ wars. There are just wars. All kinds of wars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War
I sort of agree with Ann Rand that wars are the result of states and if we get rid of states, we will get rid of war. Sort of because something will have tio replace the state and that something will either aggressively expand or resist aggressive expansion.
I would think a corporate state would wage war in a more discriminate manner. Assassination, local small scale infrastructure attacks. Things of that nature.
#27 Booker – I like my “handle”, so deal with it!
You miss my point entirely. Understanding your views of both the CIC and Gen. McChrystal, I still feel that a true leader and one committed to country and troops would be much more effective in protecting their men and women by staying in place and fighting for them. This does not mean following the CIC orders to the letter. Leaving would really leave the troops just twisting in the wind. And who knows who the replacement would be. Given what we know about Barry, it would likely not be someone committed to winning but to folding up the tent and not protecting their troops in the process. Just parade them around with targets on their backs like ducks in a shooting gallery.
I still want to know how we initially beat the Taliban in short order and why those same tactics won’t work today.
I guess the Army has a slightly different oath compared to the Navy. I know the Navy version does not mention the UCMJ or obeying the President.
The problem is that to get rid of states, one must have a global government, since the alternative is explicit mob rule with no recourse but arbitrary use of force. The problem is that a global government would be worse than warfare. Humanity will make that mistake, anyway, I must warn, and the consequence will be a holocaust worse than all the massacres and wars of the 20th century combined.
In the 9-28-09 WSJ there is an article about how Gates is blocking the McChrystal report so that the administration can better sum up their overall plan for the region. McCrystal seems to be pulling a Patton in leaking his own story. Gates is covering for Obama. Obama is weighing the war effort against his further leftist factors and the Open Society. The impetus seems to want to put this war into a no-win situation. I hope that they at least burn the opium fields on the way out. Russia and China are still more enemies than allies. Pakistan can be left to twist in the wind, and the jihad has a larger, nuclear home base. This is a code pink alert.
Re: “Obama is a usurper because he is not a natural born US Citizen. He is required by law to prove that he is, whcih he tried to do with a forged Birth Certificate.”
The birth certificate that Obama posted and showed to both FactCheck and Polifact is NOT forged. Two guys, neither of whom will give their real names, said that it was forged. The McCain campaign checked all the allegations, including those of forgery and those that Obama was born overseas, and concluded there these were not facts at all.
Obama was the first US president to post a birth certificate. It is the official birth certificate of Hawaii (http://www.starbulletin.com/columnists/kokualine/20090606_kokua_line.htmlP), and the facts on it have been confirmed twice by the authorities in Hawaii (http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/11/obama_hawaaianborn_citizen_for.html)
As the Wall Street Journal concluded: “”Obama has already provided a legal birth certificate demonstrating that he was born in Hawaii. No one has produced any serious evidence to the contrary. Absent such evidence, it is unreasonable to deny that Obama has met the burden of proof. We know that he was born in Honolulu as surely as we know that Bill Clinton was born in Hope, Ark., or George W. Bush in New Haven, Conn.”
John “birther” Samford has the right of it.
The “surge” strategy won’t work in Afghanistan, and Obama is too dumb to realize it. He lacks any sort of military background or training, and our “top generals” are as much political animals as they are military men, some more so than others.
Also another problem is the Left doesn’t like mission objectives like “Kill the enemy until the enemy is no more”, crap like “Nation building” and “winning hearts & minds” can make them feel all warm and fuzzy about it.
Ummmmm…..
This Sergio Rodriguera guy is a “special forces liaison officer to ISAF” and he’s writing openly available articles critical of the President and Vice President??
Excuse me if I’d like to check that curriculum vitae…..