Suppose that you are a soldier in Afghanistan.
Every single moment, your life is on the line, to say nothing of the sacrifices, and hardships that your family also endures.
Your commander in chief, President Obama, has not even spoken to your commanding general, General McChrystal, in months; not since June. McChrystal reveals that he had not talked to the President in over 70 days.
During that time, the President finds time to take an extended vacation, and finds time to travel around the country promoting his health care reform.
On August 30th, General McChrystal sends the President a status report on Afghanistan, with recommendations, and asks for 40,000 more troops.
The President doesn’t even read the report; it sits on his desk.
By September 30th, 43 more American soldiers have been killed while the report goes unread, and unanswered, by the President.
The President hardly even acknowledges Afghanistan until the report becomes public.
The President, finds time to travel to Copenhagen, to lobby the Olympic committee to choose Chicago for the 2016 Olympics. While there, he fits in a 25 minute face-to-face meeting with General McChrystal, who was flown in for the meeting.
(25 minutes ????? This was obviously for political “show”)
This is their second meeting, only, since McChrystal was chosen to head the effort in Afghanistan.
Eight more Americans were killed over the weekend of October 4th.
The President is thinking about Afghanistan. The President seems to be content to put-off any decision about Afghanistan. He’s conferring with Congress, and other advisers, searching for alternative strategies in Afghanistan.
Republican Senator McCain supports sending more troops: “I am confident we can succeed if there are sufficient resources to do so. If we don’t get sufficient manpower–men and women in uniform–then I think we could fail,” he said.
Democratic Senator Kerry, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged the President to take weeks, or even months, to conduct a sweeping review of the overall mission in Afghanistan and generate a national debate on the war before committing more troops.”
(Just what we need; a national debate on the war in Afghanistan. Soldiers are dying while bloggers and protesters collide. )
McChrystals troops ask him: “The controversy caused evident anxiety among McChrystal’s commanders at the morning briefing. The officer asked if General McChrystal was feeling the pressure. “I am,” McChrystal allowed” (Click here to read this excellent article about McChrystal, and Afghnistan)
Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, from the same, article, describes McChrystal’s opinions: “…McChrystal’s call for more troops was just one opinion among military experts.”
Shudder….. this is the same baloney that we heard all during the Viet Nam war. Afghanistan is becoming a political football.
Ten to one, he will opt for some phony half-way compromise measure that will only prolong ultimate defeat, and cause the needless death of more soldiers. This is just like Viet Nam; attack the enemy, nicely.
Meanwhile, while our troops are dying while waiting for a decision.
I wouldn’t want to be a soldier serving in Afghanistan, knowing that my life is being marginalized by committees, and meetings, and indecision.
No soldier wants to be the last soldier to die in any war, and I don’t want any soldiers to die for some vague, half-baked political purpose.
We don’t have the weeks, or months that Kerry suggested. We don’t even have a few days. Our troops need to know that they count, and that their lives are not going to be sacrificed because the president doesn’t have the courage to be decisive.
I think, that if the President starts wavering on his support, and starts searching for easy solutions, then we should just quit; cut and run, if you will, and the opinions of the world be damned. (Obama can apologize, and make things right.)
Anyone who was witness to the Vietnam war knows what happens when the war is turned into a politically-correct endeavor; soldiers die, needlessly.
Apparently, the White House is busy reading the book, “Lessons in Disaster”, a book about the decisions-making process that led to the disaster we know as the Vietnam War. I would have hoped that the Administration would not need to read a book when major decisions are in order, but, the lessons of this book can be valuable, if they can be taken in the proper context. They will do well to take note of the fact that politics played a much too large roll in the escalation, and conduct of the war.
(I haven’t read the book, but this website has a terrific summary of the book, Lessons in Disaster. If you are a Vietnam vet, you’ll probably find this especially interesting.)
President Nixon’s later Vietnamization of the Vietnam War, under which troops were extricated from Vietnam over a four year period of time did nothing to preserve American honor, and it resulted in many more American deaths.
The program began in 1969, and it could’ve been finished in a matter of months, except for the political ramifications. The U.S., i.e., President Nixon, wanted “peace with honor”, and was attempting to save face, and put the onus of losing the war on the South Vietnamese.
In the meantime, for the period from 1969 to the end in 1975, over 20,000 additional American soldiers were killed, and untold numbers were wounded, and maimed. (These figures are only rough estimates, however they are reasonable).
As it turns-out, when the end of the war did come, in 1975, we still lost face, and we still were disgraced. We lived through that, so, what was the point in prolonging the war, and allowing so many more causalities ?
Don’t get me wrong. I think Afghanistan is of utmost importance to our national interests, and that we should allow our soldiers to succeed. I just know that when politics becomes the first concern, then soldiers unnecessarily lose their lives.
I just hope that IF President Obama decides to end the war in Afghanistan, he will have the courage to make it so, now, and do it quickly. I don’t want one single American to die for a lost cause.
If does decide to continue the war, then I hope he takes the advice of his military advisors, and keeps his hand out of the day-to-day tactics.
And that is just my opinion.
Spencer Holly
www.angrycalifornian.com
0067
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OTHER RESOURCES
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43 U.S. Troops Have Died in Afghanistan Since Gen. McChrystal Called for Reinforcements
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Tragic: US Soldier Deaths Rising in Afghanistan, Obamas Go on Date After Returning from Denmark
