Obama’s Afghan Policy Is Window Dressing
After three months of debate, discussion, and being accused by Dick Cheney of “dithering,” President Obama finally revealed his plan for the war in Afghanistan last night.
In front of an audience of West Point cadets who at times seemed bored, the president announced that he was sending an additional 30,000 American troops to augment the forces that have been in place for the past eight years. Obama also said that those same troops, many of whom won’t arrive on the ground for months, would begin to come home in July 2011, only eighteen months from now.
In the end, it was an underwhelming speech, but that seems rather appropriate given the fact that the president was announcing a very underwhelming policy.
As with much of American policy in Afghanistan over the past several years, the policy Obama announced suffers from the fact that it is attempting to accomplish two very different goals. We went into Afghanistan for a very specific reason: To punish the terrorist group responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans and the regime that had given them safe haven for the better part of a decade. Over time, however, the war in Afghanistan took on a different flavor as the Bush administration focused on “stabilizing” the Afghan government and fighting the remnants of the Taliban that persist throughout the country. What had started out as a war against al-Qaeda very quickly became an effort at nation-building in one of the most unstable regions in the world.
In his speech last night, President Obama paid lip service to the idea that it was the fight against al-Qaeda that brought us to Afghanistan, but it’s clear that the strategy he is adopting has more to do with stabilizing the Karazi regime than it does with fighting al-Qaeda.
Or at least appearing to do so.
I have to raise my eyebrows a bit at the notion that you are against this president supporting the former presidents war and in fact, bolstering troop strengths. This war has now been going for eight years, with hundreds of thousands dead and wounded and this president has decided to take it to the next level….militarily, and you cannot support that?
Just think if Obama had decided to end this nightmare now and start pulling troops out before christmas. Good Idea? Would you have supported that?….
Sometimes we have to remember, this is not McDonald.s Neo Conservative land.. this is Iraq and Afghanistan..real people..real wars, next time the Bush shites are in power, they will remember that…hopefully… Just because it.s not ending in disneyland, dont mean it will not end. At least this president addressed a plan. And God Bless our Troops !
Poor Citizen: I think that the President and Secretary Gates are making the best of a bad situation.
Mr. Mataconis seems to want a larger escalation. I wonder if he would support a modest tax increase so we actually pay for our war, rather than continuing to rely on East Asian bankers to buy our nation’s debt.
“If anyone deserves to be happy about Obama’s speech, though, it’s the Taliban. Not only has President Obama announced when the United States will start leaving Afghanistan, he’s essentially given them a road map to possible success. If they’re willing to wait eighteen months, then they’ll have an open road to Kabul.”
The internationalist subversives are now happy.
And in the meantime Iran is going nuclear.
President Obama is trying to be everything to everyone instead of making a forceful decision; again, he’s trying to vote “present.” The problem for the Whiner-in-Chief is he cannot vote present as POTUS. He must make a stand. However, Obama’s stance to vote “present” is slowly damaging him.
The speech he gave was awful considering he took the better part of a semester to make this bad decision to send 30,000 troops to McChrystal’s originally proposed 80,000 troops. McChrystal’s lowest recommendation was 40,000, yet even Obama stumbles–3 months later–to send 30,000 US troops with an additional 10,000 from NATO. The NATO troops is not a given.
I know Obama’s ego must have a live audience to massage his fluffy, gooey narcissism, but his audience last night worked against him. They were mostly silent when Obama waited for his scripted applause lines. Furthermore, Obama’s anger & bitterness–the real Obama–came to the surface last night for all to see. What I saw was a very dark man. Dark is not a reference to his race, but to his Socialistic, Statist nature & not being the leader as he whined & moaned by bringing up the ghost of President Bush–again! This is already old & useless tactic, yet Obama thinks it can work. He’s a fool. And a very small man.
“I have to raise my eyebrows a bit at the notion that you are against this president supporting the former presidents war and in fact, bolstering troop strengths. This war has now been going for eight years, with hundreds of thousands dead and wounded and this president has decided to take it to the next level….militarily, and you cannot support that?”
The problem is that he’s NOT taking it to the next level. This is a feeble, token effort. Far better he just declare defeat and bring the boys home.
War: go big or stay home. This is a pathetic joke- except there’s nothing funny about the fact that it will cost good men their lives.
————–
Tax increase???? What about slashing O-spending on worthless liberal crap?
Conservatives are not marionettes. We don’t have pushbuttons.
To most of us, it makes sense to either prosecute a war seriously, or withdraw. Politically motivated half-measures endanger soldiers.
The big O thinks he can baffle us with BS, but all he’s doing here is alienating his own base. For most conservatives, this administration’s credibility is long, long gone.
We went into Afghanistan for a very specific reason: To punish the terrorist group responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans and the regime that had given them safe haven for the better part of a decade.
No we didn’t. Tit-for-tat punishment and retaliation had nothing to do with it. We could have done that the Dem way, by lobbing a bunch of missiles at them. Rather, we went to Afghanistan to destroy the ability of the enemy to attack us again. The war has never been backwards looking — it has always looked forward, to preventing the next attack, which among other things, meant bringing stability to the region.
“In front of an audience of West Point cadets who at times seemed bored,”
Replace the word “bored” with “concerned”; “deeply concerned”; even “fearful for our nation”
True to form Obama stepped right up to the teleprompters and made the war in Afghanistan all about himself. “Look at me world; Let me be clear about how great that I am; As your Commander in Chief, I, me, my, mine, I will, I won’t…” Sickening.
But, in so doing there was one crystal clear, loud and strong message that Obama sent last night.
From that moment forward every soldier that is wounded, every soldier that dies, every family member that they have, every friend that they have; every hardship, sacrifice and suffering that they endure and the remainder of all of their lives that will be drastically changed; even destroyed – ALL OF IT will be for Obama, not for The Army, not for West Point and not for America.
Those Cadets weren’t bored. They were enraged and too damn decent to have been forced to sit in the same room with Barrack Hussein Obama.
I think some of you are not familiar with Doug and his work
#1 Poor Citizen – I am a Conservative, but I would support his decision to go all in or get all out. Either one would be fine by me. I would prefer all in, but not some half-assed war where our hearts just aren’t in it, and good soldiers get killed for nothing.
Obama missed the boat on this one. He could’ve taken his medicine, and done what he really wanted to do – get out. The medicine wouldn’t've been all that bad, because lots of folks, even me, would’ve supported him… most especially his base. This is just Johnson ’64, redux, splitting the baby.
Here’s how you sell it at the beginning of his Presidency:
“I have decided to get out of Afghanistan. I know I campaigned for this as the Good War, but the situation has changed. I believe we can win this damned war, but the prize is simply not worth the price.
I cannot, in my heart, support this corrupt Afghani government. I was unable to secure any further commitments from our NATO allies. Pakistan has resisted my overtures towards greater cooperation. We are getting very little for our money there, except alienating our friend, India. Our economy is in shambles. We can no longer afford this protracted war.
People will call me a coward. I care not. My duty to my country is clear. We either have to be all in, or all out. The evidence before me as CinC says it is time to get out, mostly because we simply can no longer afford it. People will heap scorn upon me. Let them. I’m a big boy. I can take it. I will not, however, allow good soldiers to be killed in a half-measure effort. All in, or all out. It is time to bring them home.
I am your President, and I have decided.”
He’d've been effin’ HUGE! However, that would’ve required decisiveness and self-confidence… IOW, someone other than Obama.
As usual. number 2 and number ten
yes..happy..the taliban? That kind of question will enjoy no quarter when talking …what is supposed to be a bi-partisan debate in war. You do a disservice to our troops when you…yes you… do that to our troops.
Wake up. There is a war going on. I stick by words. Read them carefully. Unlike the author, and yourselves, my opinion is abscence of one thing…..real partisanship…..
President Kennedy’s inaugural address, as edited for President Obama’s Afghanistan speech:
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay no more than $60B, bear a semi-moderate burden, meet no more than an 18 month hardship, support any foe, oppose any friend, to assure the survival and the success of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.”
Were I General Omar of the Taliban, I would be:
Sending a thank you note to the WH,
Investing opium profits for next spring’s IEDs,
Informing the fighters to lay low until 2011,
Intimidating villagers,
Recruiting across the border,
Signing up fighters into the new security forces for American counter-insurgency training, and continuing to watch CNN.
There is nothing like having a bench mark schedule with deadlines to work assymetrical warfare.
Training security forces is still nation building. Afghanistan has been the graveyard of empires. It is a landlocked Muslim country with traditional tribal warfare. Iraq had a chance to become democratic, hence the risk. When NATO and the Russian mafia and the French connection would not let Tommy Franks burn the opium fields after the invasion, they gave the Taliban and AQ their opportunity to rebuild. Narco-politics and democratic politics do not mix without criminal collusion.
“All in our all out!”
#1 – Poor Citizen Wrote: “I have to raise my eyebrows a bit at the notion that you are against this president supporting the former presidents war ”
Unreal. Unreal comment and totally out of line and without basis. THIS IS OUR WAR. According to the rhetoric from the left since 2003, Afghanistan was the “Good War”, and Iraq was the “Bad War”. So, make up your mind.
Secondly, I am personally comforted that we have 100K Troops on Iran’s Western Border, and another 60 or 70 on Iran’s Eastern Border.
I wish Obama would work on a Presidential Exit Strategy. Too smart by half isn’t working. It operates on the assumption that everyone else is stupid.
If the Taliban are smart they will stand down and fake defeat over the next 18 months and then re-take Afghanistan after the United States leaves.
Obama’s policy is goofy but to the smart set this is the very definition of Smart Power.
Troops located in combat areas do not spend their time playing cribbage. Patrols are necessary to make sure that the troop compound area does not find itself surrounded by opposing forces. These patrols are vulnerable to enemy action; enemy action which will hit and then fade into the landscape, knowing that all it has to do is harass the American presence until the Americans leave. Don’t expect foreign governments to provide troops for such purpose.
The enemy has rockets. He will know where American troop presence is, while we will not always know where the enemy is. Our vaunted technological superiority will be of no value against such an enemy. Our troops will be exposed to injury and death, for what purpose? To leave after they have sustained eighteen months of casualties? The President’s Afghanistan plan is no plan; it is the absence of plan and a deliberate exposure of American lives to injury and death for absolutely no purpose whatsoever. It is worse: it is a betrayal of the patriotism and loyalty of the men and women who have offered their lives in the service of their country.
no. 14
I dislike those that hate. But I have a shallow respect for ignorance, hence, you win. So u get a worthy explanation…
war? its our war? it is and this war not only begins with us..it is us, or should I say..its all about ur dumb…ss…a..generation now…limits? we need a limit, Nam Vets will not accept wars without limits dude…
it all about the end game.
so.. we get end and we get some now……
dig?
I am amazed at the lack of hostility and the willingness to talk.
It must be the drugs.
Or does our dumb dragon dialog lead us going no where or lead us to the end game?
So who are we?
so then my answer is
No Way
There is now a grown-up in the office — get use to it. In case you haven’t noticed, completely outside of troop surge debate, Obama’s been ramping up the war against the al-Qaeda and the Taliban since within a couple of days of him being sworn in. Iraq was never more than a misguided clusterf*ck of a distraction built on lies and deception, with the only real result being an emboldened Iran. Afghanistan, however, was and is job one in the context of what happened on 9/11. And the “window dressing” comment is just the usual sulking right wing BS, given how long Obama’s been planning to do exactly what he has been doing.
#6 jodetoad – I agree completely.
#6 jodetoad is correct.President Obama’s speech was a very long winded way of saying “we surrender”. If there is no desire or intention to win the war against the Taliban then it’s time to quit and go home.
Obama kept on telling everyone within ear shot that he was taking his good time to formulate a strategy for Afghanistan.
Does anybody remember hearing that?
Then Obama gives his West Point speech and says not a word about his new strategy.
Then I search PJM to see if anybody knows what the new strategy is. And, guess what, nobody does. And it seems
to bother none of you that Obama failed to describe his new strategy.
So I’m left with two conclusions. One, nobody in here thinks in strategic terms. And, two, Obama doesn’t know what he’s talking
about when he uses the term, “strategy.”
A strategy isn’t about sending in 30,000 new troops. And, Doug, a strategy isn’t a “plan”. The writer of this article along with the commenters should be embarrassed. Because none of you seem to have a clue.
Westerncanadian…we surrender? Yeah, its a much better idea to keep conning young men into going over there for some vague mission that never ends, all the while throwing hundreds of billions of dollars away, and mortgaging our future budgets for the next century. Yeah, much better idea.
To most of us, it makes sense to either prosecute a war seriously, or withdraw. Politically motivated half-measures endanger soldiers.
Something tells me that you could have cared less about Afghanistan as late as February 2009.
Bring the boys home (bring ‘em back alive)…
I may have been able to aplaud his policy had he not telegraphed his exit strategy to the enemy. They will simply hunker down and wait us out. I think some of the first year West Point cadets could have told him what a mistake that was. Maybe he should have taken a seat and let one of them form a workable strategy.
17. Poor Citizen
There are no winners or losers on a message board.
Your comments lack clarity.
If only it mattered what you say, conservatives. Better yet, it matters what you don’t say, as per this wonderful bit of denial and weak-kneed misdirection courtesy of none other than Gay Bailey Hutchison, the 114-year-old version of Sarah Palin:
http://crooksandliars.com/
See, it’s that pesky lack of accountability and blatant hypocrisy that destroys your relevance with most of America. I mean the best you can do is Glenn Beck saying, “Yeah I was for TARP . . . for about TWO DAYS, until I realized it would destroy the very fabric of this republic, that it would soak the crumbs that make up the flaky crust of our American Pie of LIBERTY.”
Here’s what you need to know . . . anybody who really pays attention doesn’t believe any of your crap. Your only hope for revival is to reach enough people who don’t pay attention . . . the people who say things like “Sarah Palin cleared of ALL ethics charges, and even if she wasn’t, I don’t care.” Goo luck with that strategy, but I warn you, it’s hard to NOT pay attention in today’s media mad world.
Hail Rush! Go Sarah! . . . NAZZZZZIIIIIIIIIIIS!
#10 – Right on. He could have satisfied his base, been an adult about it, and even had a few prudent conservatives on his side on this decision.
I don’t feel that 30,000 more troops will be anything near enough, unless McChrystal thinks he can prepare the Afghans to defend themselves and therefore take territory away from AQ.
I don’t see victory with only 30,000 more. Obama should have either gave a power speech to do anything to win, or the one you mention above to get out. His credibility would have gone up.
The problem is that he has no integrity, is political to the bone, and callously throws some more lives away so he can ‘time’ it for another election.
He’s despicable.
Now and Then,
First of all, the Nazis are your side on the left. They are for government and ideological control of the people.
Second, you’re again betraying your fear of Sarah Palin defeating Obama in 2012. Sarah WAS cleared of all ethics charges, is the cleanest governor in the country.
Obama is POTUS because of “enough people who don’t pay attention”.
He could have went all out to win, or a prudent pull-out. No, he takes the cowardly way out EVERY time.
“PRESENT.”
Obamanation to TALIBAN : Keep your heads down my Islamic BROTHERS and come 2011 I will get the American Infidels out of your hair and we can all continue the Islamification of the world. Trust me.
Hi Sapwolf the OBAMANTION cant be cleared ‘cos he cant be charged because he is HIDING all the documentation and has been since day one with the CONNIVANCE of the pathetic MSM and the corrupt DEMS. BTW the moonbats always try the NAZI BS completely forgetting they were the Natinal SOCIALIST German WORKERS Party. Or rather nnot forgetting trying to DIVERT attention and hide REALITY.
He really has no understanding of what should happen, his advisor on who to question General Petraeus, Joe Biden, the man ‘who launched a thousand
gaffes’. It took him months to conduct half measures with MacChrystal’s strategy. We will support the troops, I have a bit of a stake in this fighr
Prolonging the war is good business for the Taliban. At the moment 70% of supplied being shipped to allied forced via the main supply route through the Khyber Pass are bring stolen.
How good a bet is it they are selling the stuff back to us?
The new “surge” is merely going to stabilize Afghanistan long enough for us to leave. It seems clear that we’re leaving no matter what happens at the start of 2011. You could clearly see that he was uncomfortable giving the speech at West Point and that he was more irritated that this war (a war he supported as a presidential candidate) is taking time and money away from his social-welfare programs. This is NOT a wartime president. You are dealing with a president that literally hates foreign policy and has given an endless number of speeches trying to sell healthcare and only one major speech trying to sell a war. Now THAT is pathetic. It will be interesting, though, if we maintain a large base in Afghanistan for several more years. After all, we still have a base in Kosovo and that’s about 10 years after the end of that war. True, the government in Kosovo is friendly to the United States (unlike the Taliban), but it will be interesting to see if we withdraw the bulk of our troops while trying to maintain some sort of presence in that troubled country. But the bottom line is that if we are not serious about defeating the Taliban (and, by extension, al Qaeda), then we should just leave now and save the time, effort, lives, and money.
If it were my call, I’d say bring the troops home now, every last one of them. Then, once we’re out, we nuke the border region into oblivion. We can’t fight this war conventionally because idiot politicians keep tying our troops’ hands, so let’s just nuke them and be done with it.
If we could use all the war toys we have on Afghanastan we could be out of there in weeks,I don’t understand why we must only fight with equipment that the Taliban has. Will we next be stoning the taliban ? This is goofy,you can not fight a war and protect all the citizens too it is one or the other . We won all our other wars with our advanced weaponry and superior fighting force. If these people are our friends rather than our enemies then why are we there in the first place ? We are having our young people losing their lives when there is a solution,use our superior weapons. I think all our politicians who make these half assed decisions should be compelled to spend some time on the front lines then see waht happens . Now that we have the child president I fear for our country .
I think the policy is sound and the speech was excellent. Obama looked every bit commander in chief and comfortable. This is a war time president, and so far he has done a great job, the best President I have seen since Reagan or Truman.
35. Libertyship46:
“The new “surge” is merely going to stabilize Afghanistan long enough for us to leave.”
How is that any different than the “old” surge?
With the demonstrated leadership abilities and decisiveness of the current administration and congress, I would suggest a complete withdrawal from afghanistan would have been prudent. Lets spare the American Military the ride under the bus tires. The obama speech was weak and lacked real conviction. This is no leader of men. Best to save the lives of our true National Treasure. This treasure cannot be re-distributed.
The plan that Bush and Cheney left when compared to the plan Obama used the public will see that Obama picked at it like a vulture and then attacked the bones. All the key points that would lead to victory where removed.
So when the US gets nuked from Afghan blowback, just as the leaks protect Gates, Mullen, Petraeus, McChrystal. Bush and Cheney have the original plan they left. So no one is going to be blamed and the historical record will not allow for responsibility to be shifted.