"Now, let me be clear: There has never been an option before me that called for troop deployments before 2010, so there has been no delay or denial of resources necessary for the conduct of the war during this review period. Instead, the review has allowed me to ask the hard questions and to explore all the different options, along with my national security team, our military, and civilian leadership in Afghanistan, and our key partners. And given the stakes involved, I owed the American people and our troops no less. This review is now complete. And as commander-in-chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan."Let's review: General McChrystal said,
“Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near term — while Afghan security capacity matures — risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible,”There is an obvious immediacy there and if Obama had spent five minutes in the military he would have known it meant sooner than later.
Delay is deadly in war and whether he and his people want to believe they didn't "delay" or "deny" help to our forces in Afghanistan, it's exactly what they did.
Given the plan he outlined, or rather lack of, it now seemed totally unnecessary. As to that plan - what little there is, it seemed as disjointed and as teleprompted/packaged as most of his speeches. It said all the words, but carried none of the passion fitting of a Commander in Chief. You could tell his heart wasn't in it and by the looks of the cadets they knew it too.
If you can't win the hearts and minds of our future leaders you're lost before you get started on the quest. It was quite telling.
On that point, note the way Chris ("Is telephoning Al Qaeda a crime?") Matthews, calls the venue for the speech - West Point - "Enemy Camp", and too notes the lack of leg tingles.
h/t Michelle Malkin for the video.
December 01, 2009
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Afghanistan
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Barack Obama
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1 Comments
While Obama fiddled, the lives of our men and women in combat were at stake.
Reply DeleteWhy take an additional three or four months to think about it?
While he was thinking, the lives of hundreds of our troops were cut short.
I dont understand why he just couldnt listen to General McCrystal in the first place, and give our troops what they needed.
The fact is there is no excuse for taking so long to make the decision we knew would be made all along.
Obama doesnt like to be told what to do, so while he is acting like a spoiled child, our troops were dying.
There is no excuse for his lack of immediate action, those lost lives are on Obama's head, but he doesnt give a damn anyway.
I am appalled to have such an incompetent so-called leader of our military.
Put Obama in the lines of fire and see how fast things get done. He knows nothing of war or how to handle one.
We dont tell our enemy when we will be leaving the war zone, never never tell your enemy what you are thinking, but Obama had to give them a heads up. We'll be gone in 2011 so if you can hold out that long, you can take over then. Good Lord, WTF is wrong with this guy, I mean besides everything!