If there was any doubt left in the minds of Americans concerning Barack Obama's commitment to victory in Afghanistan, his recent actions, or more precisely lack thereof, indicate that he is leaning towards retreat, but seems loathe to admit it. Should he opt to withdraw, instead of successfully completing the mission, not only will he send a signal to those families who've made the ultimate sacrifice that their loss is insignificant, but I also predict that Afghanistan will be Obama's Vietnam.
One of my biggest pet peeves of the Obama Administration to date is that it says one thing, yet does another. It declares war on lobbyists and then hires them by the dozens. It develops a stinkulus program to allegedly "create or save" jobs, yet we continue to bleed them. It decries bloated deficits, yet pushes multiple trillion dollar pieces of legislative crap that Americans detest. It declares support for Internet freedom, yet pushes a massive government program to regulate it, under the auspices of keeping it "neutral". It details nebulous plans to "fix" the economy, yet garrotes it to death through government ownership and over-regulation. It designs a plan for victory in Afghanistan and then refuses to implement or discuss it.
Candidate Obama had all the answers in Afghanistan. When the delusions of grandeur from the campaign trail gave way to the political realities of his elected office, he threw the general in charge under the bus, installed a hand-picked successor and promised to deliver a methodical, deliberate plan for victory. America ate it up. But, no sooner had the plan been delivered, then the waffling began. This charlatan is now at war with every aspect of Americana, yet is reluctant to take the fight to our enemies. Obama was unequivocal, yet refuses to explain his delay and US military personnel continue to die, which I find quite vulgar. He can take as many photo opportunities as he wants, but my opinion of his leadership remains, as a man's actions always drown out his words.
All of the signs indicate that Obama wants out, or is, at the very least, uncomfortable fighting a war started by his predecessor. Yet, strangely, when Hamid Karzai was quoted as saying he hoped that Afghans could take full control of their own country in five years, the Obama administration never challenged that time line, indicating they were comfortable with it. As a veteran myself, I must question both the credibility and the motives of a man who is willing to drag his feet and leave his soldiers in harm's way for five years, but unwilling to actually utilize them for the purpose they were intended, which is to decapitate and destroy al Qaeda. Five years is far too long when we could finish this thing victorious in two years.
Democrats put far too much faith in the training of new foreign military forces from the ground up. One of the first tactics that terrorists adopted in Iraq was to target Iraqi police and military recruits, gunning them down by the dozens. It was only after we could provide true security so that the recruits could actually survive their commute to the training facilities, that Iraq turned back from the abyss. Not sending enough manpower to provide a safe, secure training environment and repel the attacks that are sure to come is a losing proposition, both politically and militarily.
Say what you will about former President Bush, but I will tell you this: Iraq's Nouri al Maliki was accused of corruption. He was even accused of looking the other way while Shiite death squads sought revenge on the Sunni minority. Iraq spiraled to the brink of civil war, but was brought back because of Bush's determination in the face of blistering criticism and years of attempts legislatively deny funding for the Iraq war. At least Bush possessed the leadership to successfully convince al Maliki to do the right thing.
Furthermore, when we invaded Iraq, we dismantled and outlawed its government. When we invaded Afghanistan, there was no functioning central government. There was only a series of warlords. We put the government in place. If we aren't happy with it, then it is our responsibility to fix those problems, not use them as a pretext for retreat.
Vietnam war was lost due to bureaucratic micromanagement and political decisions
I, for one, have grown quite tired of the patronization of our nation's military to score political points. They aren't little children, but grown men, baptized in pools of blood and hailstorms of lead. Every single member of the military is a volunteer, many on second and third enlistments. Many volunteered specifically for Afghanistan. And, while I have heard some family members call for their loved ones to be brought home if the indecision continues, the overwhelming preference for the people fighting the war is to finish victorious.
If Barack Obama had an ounce of leadership, instead of surrounding himself with sailors in Pensacola to take a slap at critics like me by proclaiming he wouldn't send US forces into harm's way without deliberating for months, he would have gone to Camp Lejeune, Twentynine Palms or Camp Pendleton and told the US Marines there were over 100,000 Americans dangerously exposed in Afghanistan and then asked for volunteers, I believe you'd have entire brigades of men standing in line.
History shows that despite the superior technology, training and capabilities we possessed, the Vietnam war was lost due to bureaucratic micromanagement and political decisions which prolonged the war and resulted in more misery and death than necessary. The fear of provoking the Chinese, the politicized target selection from Washington, and the returning of blood-soaked battlefields to enemy control that dominated the Vietnam war and the debate that these policies stoked here at home all contributed to the stigmatization of an entire generation of veterans that still exists to this day.
Barack Obama is now on the cusp of making a similar mistake. While his decisions may not prolong the war, so to speak, because he himself will end it, if he does not adopt a strategy to decapitate al Qaeda and their Taliban sponsors, we may never emerge from the threat of al Qaeda-sponsored terror. Just as sure as Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese once we took our eye off the ball there, so will Kabul fall to the Taliban. The only difference is that the North Vietnamese didn't have sleeper cells active in the United states and what's left of our immigration system is on the verge of collapse.
