John Kerry, who served in Vietnam, was a big anti war demonstrator during the early 1970s. He lied about his fellow service members and he lied about what they did. He protested and he testified before Congress. Now that he has been a Senator for quite a numbers of years the shoe is on the other foot.

Kerry was home visiting with constituents and they gave him hell for his support of the war in Afghanistan, among other things. I thought the war in Afghanistan was the right war among the loonies on the left. While we were fighting in Iraq during Bush’s time in office we were constantly reminded that Bush took his eye off the ball in Afghanistan.

The Senate and the House have both passed bills for ending the Iraq War, or at least liquidating the American involvement in it. The resolutions, approved by the barest majorities, were underpinned by one unmistakable theme: wrong war, wrong place, distracting us from the real war that is elsewhere.

Where? In Afghanistan. The emphasis on Afghanistan echoed across the Democratic aisle in Congress from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to former admiral and now Rep. Joe Sestak. It is a staple of the three leading Democratic candidates for the presidency, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. It is the constant refrain of their last presidential candidate, John Kerry, and of their current party leader, Howard Dean, who complains “we don’t have enough troops in Afghanistan. That’s where the real war on terror is.” Real Clear Politics

Now that we are fighting more aggressively there, the Democrats don’t seem to feel it is any longer the right war. Kerry supported the war in Afghanistan long before Barack Hussein Obama, mmm, mmm, mmm, sent more troops there. Kerry was in favor of the war in Afghanistan while running for president so it is unlikely he has changed his stance but his constituents seem to have. They supported him for the presidency so they must have agreed with his position:

So the one time war protester is getting a taste of his own medicine.

Kerry also apologized for calling a woman who does not believe in global warming a Neanderthal. Kerry said he was referring to people in general who do not believe in global warming.

Some apology. Does not his clarification mean he still thinks the woman is a Neanderthal?

In any event, when the liberals in Massachusetts turn on a liberal, life is good.

Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Vice President Joe Biden is the gift that keeps on giving. He is a gaffe a minute and every time he opens his mouth there is a great probability that something stupid will come out. People target Sarah Palin and call her stupid and if she made the same number and types of gaffes as Biden we would hear it non stop. Biden is a Democrat so he gets a pass.

Biden was selected by Barack Obama because of Biden’s foreign policy experience which is one of the many things that Obama has no experience in. Remember, Obama is the least experienced guy in any room he enters.

So if Biden is such a genius in foreign policy why would he insult the government of Afghanistan and at the same time feed the belief that we are imperialists who believe we are rulers of everyone? The people of Afghanistan (and Iraq) see us as occupiers who will force our ways on people because we know best. We have spent a lot of time on public relations trying to convince those concerned that we are not the bad people we are made out to be.

Biden basically insulted the Afghanistan government by saying that daddy was going to take the training wheels off and they had better practice. This was stated in regard to the transfer of security to the Afghan government by 2014:

“Daddy is going to start to take the training wheels off in October — I mean in next July, so you’d better practice riding.” ABC

Could this jackass have been any more condescending? Using the word Daddy makes it sound as if we believe the Afghan government to be a bunch of children who are being looked after by big daddy America. It is an insult. Since training wheels are used on CHILDREN’S Bicycles, the analogy reinforces his assertion that they are children being looked after by “daddy.”

Yeah, the genius on foreign policy. This moron should keep his mouth shut and let the real adults run the place though finding a real adult in the Obama administration might be a hard thing to do.

Regardless, someone needs to put a muzzle on Biden before he sets foreign relations back 50 years.

One has to wonder if his brain is in gear before he engages his mouth.

Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Though the outcome is in little doubt…

General Stanley McChrystal, the man Barack Obama hand picked to lead the war effort in Afghanistan, is on his way to the White House. He was summoned there by a very angry Barack Obama who was blindsided by a Rolling Stone article given to him late Monday evening by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

In the article, McChrystal and unnamed aides are quoted saying disparaging things about Obama, Biden and host of regime characters who are involved in the Afghanistan conflict.

McChrystal evidently allowed a Rolling Stone reporter to shadow him and his staff for about a month. The result was a story with quotes that are less than flattering.

What was the General thinking?

The reporter’s ideologies are left wing so it was unlikely that he would overlook anything that might be disparaging to Obama and his regime. Regardless, no reporter should have been allowed in because that is asking for trouble. Some of the things quoted could have context that is less disparaging and been made in a joking manner but that would not be accurately portrayed in any article. The things said are best left behind closed doors and kept among those who serve, joking or not.

McChrystal is a professional soldier and he should have known better. He and his people were wrong for publicly saying what they did and unfortunately this will end up costing the General his job. The rumor mill already indicates that he has tendered his resignation and though Obama does not have to accept it, the writing is on the wall.

Perhaps Obama called him back to DC to discuss this face to face but I think the fact that he was called back is a pretty good indication that he is not returning. If McChrystal is prudent, he brought all his gear back with him.

I can’t excuse what took place and what was said because it was said publicly and the entire incident undermines the command structure and the confidence in our military and civilian leaders. It was unprofessional and it commands a severe response. It pains me to say that because McChrystal is a smart guy who is needed in the war effort but he stepped on it big time.

There is an outside chance that Barack Obama will censure McChrystal, not accept his resignation and send him back to Afghanistan but I see this as very unlikely. That same rumor mill indicates that possible replacements are already being discussed.

Military people have all kinds of things to say about various leaders among themselves and that is where their comments should stay. In public the professionals in our military need to support the chain of command and ensure that the orders of their leaders, military and civilian alike, are carried out and that they project the appearance that they support those in charge of them. If they cannot support their leaders then they should resign (if they are officers) or not reenlist when their time is up (for enlisted).

McChrystal and his staff failed the test when they decided to make disparaging comments to a reporter.

General McChrystal has not denied anything reported in the article and I can’t find anything that was said that is untrue. The problem is he and his staff made the information public.

Not a smart move and one that will likely cost him his career.

I would like to give McChrystal and his staff the benefit of the doubt and see what he has to say about the article when he meets with Obama. I am sure he has been silent about the issue because he was ordered to keep his mouth shut but I doubt anything he can say now will change the course of events that will take place later today.

Related articles:
Telegraph UK
Politico
WSJ

Never surrender, never submit.

A report from yesterday indicated that some Democrats were concerned about Obama’s plan for Afghanistan (which he disclosed tonight) and the report cites John Murtha who indicated that he never got a clear indication of what an achievable victory would be. Murtha is just back from Afghanistan and is nervous about Obama’s plan.

“I am still very nervous about this whole thing,” Murtha told POLITICO. “If you had 10 years, it might work; if you had five, you could make a difference. But you don’t have that long.”

OK, so Murtha is nervous. What does this guy know anyway? He accused our Marines of cold blooded murder and has not apologized for that statement even though they have been exonerated.

The concern among the party is how to get the base to go along with a plan that calls for more troops and more fighting. People like Michael Moore are beside themselves (that would be an ugly sight) because they believe that Obama is going in a different direction than he indicated during the campaign. This is hogwash as I demonstrated yesterday but the delusional in the Democrat base did not pay attention. That is not unusual for an Obama supporter.

The concern among politicians is how to get broad support among House Democrats:

But it will be next to impossible for Obama to build broad support among Democrats in the House without bringing Murtha along.

I don’t care about support from Democrats because they have a hard time supporting our troops but people seem to think Obama needs their support and that he can’t get it without Murtha so I want to give Obama some advice.

Mr. Obama, if you really think you need Murtha on board and that having him on board will bring other Democrats to the table then here is how you get him. Wrap some money up in a newspaper and give it to him. Murtha will do anything for money. He is a man whore and has been one for as long as he has been in Congress. Murtha will do anything if the price is right. He thinks America is an ATM machine designed to dispense cash for him. He is even willing to accept illegal money (and has funneled it illegally as well) so all you have to do is pass him some cash and he will be on board.

Murtha would give Satan a Lewinsky if the price was right so he will climb in bed with you for a little scratch.

It should not matter much to you Mr. Obama because payola is the Chicago way. You get to practice Chicago politics and Murtha gets his palm greased.

Murtha will do anything for money. I will pay him a thousand dollars if he jumps off the Empire State building.

I’ll be waiting with it when he lands…

Source:
Politico

One thing I can appreciate about Michael Moore is that he is consistent. He is consistently wrong about things but that does not stop him. He makes “documentaries” that are incorrect and in which he uses out of context information to paint inaccurate portrayals of things taking place. In some of them his hypocrisy is unbelievable. His anti capitalism movie flies in the face of the fact that he is very rich and got that way because of, with for it, CAPITALISM.

Looks like Michael Moore, who licks the boots of liberals, is not so happy with the person he voted for to occupy the White House. Moore wrote an open letter to Obama begging him not to send more troops to Afghanistan. This is how the letter opens:

Do you really want to be the new “war president”? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do — destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so. Michael Moore

Moore is a talented writer and he writes a well reasoned letter. Regardless of what any one person might think about the war in Afghanistan, Moore is entitled to his opinion and he expresses it very well.

There is one big problem though. Moore is using his well honed skill of painting a picture that is not accurate. Moore’s letter is based upon the premise that Obama campaigned on a platform of ending the war in Afghanistan and bringing our troops home. If Obama had actually campaigned on that then Moore would have a case and his open letter would make sense. The problem is, Obama campaigned on the exact opposite of that and he was very clear about it.

Barack Obama told us that the war in Iraq was a mistake but the war in Afghanistan was the war of necessity. Obama said he would send more troops to Afghanistan. An article at Boston.com from July 2008 discusses the candidates’ stances on the wars and this is what it reports:

While Obama called for sending two more brigades to Afghanistan, McCain called for sending three. [emphasis mine]

CNN reports this (also from July 2008):

“I think one of the biggest mistakes we’ve made strategically after 9/11 was to fail to finish the job here, focus our attention here. We got distracted by Iraq,” he said.

Obama said troop levels must increase in Afghanistan.

“For at least a year now, I have called for two additional brigades, perhaps three,” he told CBS. “I think it’s very important that we unify command more effectively to coordinate our military activities. But military alone is not going to be enough.” [emphasis mine]

I could continue to find where Obama called Afghanistan the war of necessity, claimed that al-Qaeda and the Taliban must be defeated, and stated his intent to increase troop strength but these two examples make it clear that Obama was upfront about his plans and that Moore has no basis for the impression he paints in his open letter.

In other words, quit crying Michael, you knew what you were getting when you voted for him.

That’s right Michael, Obama told you what he was going to do and you still voted for him. Therefore, you have no standing when you whine and complain about Obama actually doing what he said he would do. I know that it might be surprising that Obama is doing what he said (and that is likely more to do with his desire not to be perceived as weak) but the reality is, you Michael (and millions like you), believed every word Obama said and you worshiped him. You should not now cry when he is doing exactly what he told you and the rest of kool aid drinkers he was going to do.

Your letter claims that the hopes and dreams of millions of young people who voted for Obama will be destroyed if he sends more troops. Since they voted for him knowing full well that he said he was going to send more troops then sending those troops MUST have been their hopes and dreams. You cannot destroy something that did not exist and the hopes and dreams of the youth that Obama would bring our troops home from Afghanistan DID NOT EXIST because he did not tell them he would do that.

He told them quite the opposite.

This is classic Michael Moore. Paint a picture that is untrue and then attack that picture.

Michael, you got exactly what you voted for.

If you are having buyer’s remorse then just say so but do so without the lies and deception. I know that is hard for you but give it a try.

While Obama dithers on making a troop decision he has taken the time to visit some of them at various bases. One was in Alaska and another in South Korea. Obama told the troops that they made a pretty good photo op.

This is what the Resident thinks of the troops, they are a good photo op. While he is playing games there are men and women in harm’s way who need more support. The request for that support has been on his desk since August but Obama has failed to take a decision on sending the help their commander says they need. Aides say it is unlikely a decision will be taken before Thanksgiving.

While the rest of the nation gives thanks our troops will be praying that they get help sometime within Obama’s first term.

Let’s see. Stimulus, we have to do it NOW. Health care takeover, we have to do it NOW, Cap and Trade, well he wanted it NOW but has to wait until after the next election. Everything is NOW, NOW, NOW with this guy except when it comes to sending help to the troops. That can wait until Obama is good and ready.

How many times have we heard about people dying in the streets because health care is screwed up? This is a blatant lie but it plays on emotions. The only people I have seen die in the streets were involved in accidents or victims of violence.

Health care is a matter of life or death, or so we are led to believe but sending help to our troops is not such a matter of life or death, except to those on the battlefield.

My liberal friends tell me (and I read liberal commenters at other sites) that they like the idea that Obama is taking his time and carefully weighing options with regard to the troops. It shows how deliberative he is.

But the same people are pushing for health care reform right NOW and want no delays. Our troops are getting shot at and some are dying on the battlefield while Obama deliberates. On the other hand Obama is balls to the wall for health care reform. He wants that by the end of the year but when he gets to helping the troops is anyone’s guess.

This is nothing more than dereliction of duty. Just like a Democrat to abandon our troops.

During the campaign Obama said he would have to earn the trust of the troops. I said then that he did not have the experience to be Commander in Chief and he is showing that each and every day.

As for earning trust. Good luck with that.

At least they provide his ego with a good photo op.

Barack Obama made it clear that the war in Afghanistan was a war of necessity and that the war in Iraq was a war of choice. He said, time and again, that he would fight the war in Afghanistan and that it was necessary. Obama’s hand picked commander has submitted a request for the support he needs to fight and that request includes more troops. All of the sudden the war of necessity is not so much so. The request was sent to the White House nearly 80 days ago and no decision has been taken.

Obama is pondering what to do and has stated that he wants to see how the recent Afghan election pans out with either a run-off or co-governance before he decides on sending troops. He is deliberating and giving it thoughtful consideration. At least that is what the White House wants us to believe.

The only thing that Obama has taken his time on since taking office is selecting a family pet. It took him six months to select a dog. He gave it careful consideration.

The stimulus had to be passed immediately, the health care take over must be done now (even though the only thing that will take effect before 2013 is the taxing part of it), the cap and trade bill must be done now as, it would seem, must every other item on the Obama hit list. He wants all the things done by the end of the year and this is an extension of earlier deadlines. The simulus was rocketed through Congress because Obama said now and the Democrats did it now. Then it sat on his desk for four days while he went on a date with his wife.

He is pushing for his agenda items to get through at the speed of light but he is stifled by some Democrats who are worried about their jobs.

The support of the troops in Afghanistan is quite another thing though. Obama received the request nearly 80 days ago and has been stonewalling his commander and the troops. Secretary Gates says we need to act now and not later but Obama is quite busy wetting his finger and sticking it out the window to see which way the wind is blowing. His assertions about the war of necessity and his repeated assertions that this was a war we needed to win have hamstrung him because he would dearly like to appease (he did win a Nobel for that quality) his base and withdraw in defeat. That is what Democrats do.

But he does not want to be seen as a person who trumpeted the war in Afghanistan and vowed to support the troops only to let them down. He does not care about letting them down, he just does not want it to appear that way. So instead of being the Commander in Chief (a job he has no experience to do) he is waffling and stonewalling. He is looking for any reason not to honor the request of General Stanley McChrystal, the man he hand picked to run the war. Obama would love nothing more than to find some reason, any reason, to dishonor our troops so he can appease his leftist loser base.

Obama would not look so bad if he had taken the same stance on Afghanistan that he took on Iraq but he went the other way. He told us it was the war of necessity.

What he needs to do is act like a man instead of the weaselly, limp wristed, metrosexual that he truly is. He needs to man up and honor his commitment to the troops and to the war. He needs to stick to his word and win the war of necessity not only because supporting the troops is the right thing to do but because he told us he would. He needs, for once, to keep his word.

But then again, all Obama promises come with an expiration date.

I loved my 24 years of service to this country but I would not serve in the military under this so called man. He is fortunate that he is wrecking the economy because that has driven enlistments up. People join the military when times are tough because it is a job and it pays. If he had not wrecked the economy and caused such high unemployment then the services would have trouble recruiting.

Who would want to serve under this wishy-washy man? I can’t imagine any of our service members staying in with this guy abandoning them. And it is a certainty that the liberals who support him will not join to protect this country (they will wait for Obama bucks to make ends meet). They live under the blanket of protection provided by better people than they and they like it that way. If Obama does not act like a leader and do it soon then he is going to harm the military worse than Jimmy Carter did.

It might take decades to get the nation’s military strong again.

Obama, man up and take a decision. Do the right thing and support the men and women who were sent to war by the US government. You (the government) sent them there, now support them.

Also:
al-Reuters

UPDATE: What has Obama done since the request for troops was submitted.

Campaign promises are easier to make than they are to keep and no sane person expects much from a politician once he wins office. Those promises become so yesterday as the politician works to keep the office he has obtained. During the next election cycle there are more promises, more people who believe them and then disappointment as the cycle starts over.

During the campaign last year, then candidate Obama, said that George Bush and John McCain became too focused on Iraq, a war he contends was wrong, and took their eye off Afghanistan. Obama told us that Afghanistan was the right war, that the bad guys must be defeated and that he would put less focus on Iraq and move the required number of troops to Afghanistan to win a war he claimed we had to win.

Democrat Barack Obama said Monday that as president he would send at least two more combat brigades to Afghanistan, where U.S. soldiers face rising violence and endured their deadliest attack in three years on Sunday.

The proposed force increase – about 7,000 troops – is part of Obama’s plan to pull combat troops out of Iraq and focus on the growing threat from a resurgent al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

“As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan,” Obama said in an op-ed published Monday in The New York Times, a day before he plans a speech here on his vision for Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there,” Obama said.

Obama argued the emphasis on Iraq placed by the Bush administration – and supported by Republican presidential candidate John McCain – stands in the way, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds CBS

This year Obama made it clear that he was still focused on Afghanistan and that winning there “[That] is a cause that could not be more just.

That was then and this is now and now contains a 180 degree turnabout from Mr. Obama. The guy who said that he had to earn the trust of the military and would listen to the commanders on the ground has turned a deaf ear to those very commanders now that he has “focused” on Afghanistan.

General Stanley Mcchrystal has stated that he needs about 30-40 thousand more troops and that the war could be lost in the next year if he does not get more manpower. This is in his assessment report that has been delayed (but leaked) and it is quite clear, the commander on the ground needs more boots on the ground.

The campaign Obama made it clear he would put resources in Afghanistan and he continued with that theme after his coronation. He shifted some troops and his half baked plan was put into action but it is not working. His commanders are asking for more troops and Obama is stonewalling them. It is reported that his peeps have asked that the Generals scrub the report because Obama is reluctant to send any more troops to Afghanistan.

The man who vowed to do what it takes to win, who said Bush took his eye off the ball, who said that he would listen to the commanders, who said that winning was a cause that could not be more just and that has to be our BIGGEST national security issue, is turning his back on the troops and waffling on honoring his commitment to listen to the commanders and to provide resources to win.

No one expects a Democrat to have the will to fight because it is not in their blood. The only thing they will fight to the death for is their office and abortion. The country, not so much. The left has always thrown our military under the bus and Obama is no different. He wants one world order with a global community rather than keeping the separate and distinct identity that has made America the greatest nation on Earth.

But when that Democrat is the Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces he must, regardless of his personal feelings, do everything to support those troops. The politicians put the men and women who serve this country in harm’s way and it is their duty and they are obligated to give them everything they need to succeed. Failure should never be an option and neither should vacillating with resourcing the troops. The lack of forces could result in more deaths of US service personnel.

He talked like a Hawk but flies like a Dove, Obama lied. Let’s hope our troops don’t have to die because of it.

The only exit strategy is WINNING.

Resource the troops now.

Well, it is coming apart for our Resident- he picked the wrong war- he thought (and still, to this day cannot say the words) that the surge in Iraq couldn’t work, probably because George Bush advocated for it.Now that the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan is going south, he wants out. 

Actually, he was never in it, as other Democrats now are beginning to admit. This was just a campaign ploy to try and show that he had some testosterone somewhere in him, when in actuality the opposite is true. Democrats do not like to fight- they have never met a war they couldn’t lose, or a confrontation they could master. 

President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.

The options under review are part of what administration officials described as a wholesale reconsideration of a strategy the president announced with fanfare just six months ago. Two new intelligence reports are being conducted to evaluate Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials said.

The sweeping reassessment has been prompted by deteriorating conditions on the ground, the messy and still unsettled outcome of the Afghan elections and a dire report by Mr. Obama’s new commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. Aides said the president wanted to examine whether the strategy he unveiled in March was still the best approach and whether it could work with the extra combat forces General McChrystal wants.

nytimes.com

War is a messy thing in the best of circumstances, and Afghanistan is not that at all. Afghanistan is, as the Russians found out, a very complicated situation. Russia was attempting to conquer the country- we are just trying to unify the country under one leader with a quasi- democratic form of government. Still, the resemblance to attempting to herd cats is still a valid analogy for this tribal country, where there has never been any central leadership to speak of.

So we can agree that the task is hard, but the Resident is more concerned with politics and perception than with real results, and his advocacy for this war was always rooted in relativism- the “perception” of being for this conflict was always more important than the reality of succeeding in this endeavor, despite the blood of our soldiers being spilled for this effort.

Although Mr. Obama has said that a stable Afghanistan is central to the security of the United States, some advisers said he was also wary of becoming trapped in an overseas quagmire. Some Pentagon officials say they worry that he is having what they called “buyer’s remorse” after ordering an extra 21,000 troops there within weeks of taking office before even settling on a strategy.

Mr. Obama met in the Situation Room with his top advisers on Sept. 13 to begin chewing over the problem, said officials involved in the debate. Among those on hand were Mr. Biden; Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton;James L. Jones, the national security adviser; and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

They reached no consensus, so three or four more such meetings are being scheduled. “There are a lot of competing views,” said one official who, like others in this article, requested anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations.

Among the alternatives being presented to Mr. Obama is Mr. Biden’s suggestion to revamp the strategy altogether. Instead of increasing troops, officials said, Mr. Biden proposed scaling back the overall American military presence. Rather than trying to protect the Afghan population from the Taliban, American forces would concentrate on strikes against Qaeda cells, primarily in Pakistan, using special forces, Predator missile attacks and other surgical tactics.

nytimes.com

Oh yeah, there’s a good idea Joe-  Why, for the life of me someone doesn’t just sew Biden’s lips shut I will never know- he should be duct taped to within an inch of his life and put in Cheney’s “undisclosed” location.  Even Hillary can’t accept this scenario- it runs counter to reality, and as much as I might dislike her personally, she has a better grasp on reality than either the Resident or “Say it aint so” Joe.

Mrs. Clinton, who opposed Mr. Biden in March, appeared to refer to this debate in an interview on Monday night on PBS. “Some people say, ‘Well, Al Qaeda’s no longer in Afghanistan,’ ” she said. “If Afghanistan were taken over by the Taliban, I can’t tell you how fast Al Qaeda would be back in Afghanistan.”

nytimes.com

But sources in the administration and elsewhere finally admit that the support for the ” Good War”- the war in Afghanistan, was only a ploy to try and demonstrate Nobama’s manhood- and that it can now begin to be “disengaged” from, in a delicate and discreet way.

Escalation is a bad idea. The Democrats backed themselves into defending the idea of Afghanistan being The Good War because they felt they needed to prove their macho bonafides they called for withdrawal from Iraq. Nobody asked too many questions sat the time, including me. But none of us should forget that it was a political strategy, not a serious foreign policy. 

There have been many campaign promises “adjusted” since the election. There is no reason that the administration should feel any more bound to what they said about this than all the other committments [sic] it has blithely turned aside in the interest of “pragmatism.”

the liberal blog Hullabaloo

Yep- that’s a liberal for you- everything is relative, there is no black and white, just shades of gray, and as we have seen from the missile withdrawal from Eastern Europe, treaties are apparently just pieces of paper, and our word, our honor, means nothing to these cowards. And that is what they are, top to bottom, front to back.

And the words of this Resident, that sounded so “lofty” and principled, and, well- serious- well, you can wad them up and try for a free throw to the trash, because that is, apparently, all they are worth.

“Al Qaeda and its allies — the terrorists who planned and supported the 9/11 attacks — are in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the United States homeland from its safe haven in Pakistan.  And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban — or allows al Qaeda to go unchallenged — that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can.”—— Barak Obama

Yes- that was, and is true- but this Resident is interested in easy results, and doesn’t want to chance being bogged down in a long war- we have a Resident with ADD, and he really can’t concentrate on something for an extended period. This is probably the reason for the teleprompters.

Representative Ike Skelton, Democrat of Missouri and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, sent Mr. Obama a six-page letter arguing the case for more troops for General McChrystal. “There is no strategy short of a properly resourced counterinsurgency campaign that is likely to provide lasting security,” he wrote.

Mr. Obama now has to reconcile past statements and policy with his current situation.

“The problem for President Obama is he has made the case in the past that we took our eye off the ball and we should have stayed in Afghanistan,” said former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen. But now that he is in charge of the war, Mr. Cohen said, Mr. Obama is discovering “he doesn’t have much in the way of options” and time is of the essence.

nytimes.com

The biggest problem for the Resident is that he just does not trust or believe the Generals in charge of this war- which is contrary to common sense, because I can think of no one in this administration that has less experience than our “Commander in Chief” (in name only)- thus, he should, if he was smart, be listening hard to the officers in the field. But he doesn’t. And that is a problem very deeply rooted in the Democratic Leftist psyche.

If someone in the WH doesn’t tell the Resident to shut up and listen, this war will drag on for years, or he will jerk us out of Afghanistan, and he will be the single reason we lost the war here. Al Qaida will have their safe haven back, and the the only way we could respond in the future would be with nukes, because by that time, Al Qaida will have toppled Pakistan as well.

Because Pakistan will have seen how we treated Poland and the Czech Republic, and they will know that Nobama is no friend to have or trust. They will be on their own.

And so will we.

It was not that long ago that Barack Obama decided we were not in a war on terror. He decided that this phrase as well as a few words/phrases like Jihadists and global war were no loner acceptable and did not reflect what was taking place.

“The President does not describe this as a ‘war on terrorism,’” said John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, who outlined a “new way of seeing” the fight against terrorism. Washington Times

It seems that we are now back to a war on terror and this might have something to do with Obama’s war in Afghanistan. He has sent more troops as part of an increase that started under President Bush’s surge (a strategy Obama said would not work when implemented in Iraq) and now he will likely have to send more if he wants to achieve victory. This has to drive his base nuts because he promised them when he was candidate Obama that he would bring the troops home. It might have looked as if he was heading that way when he softened the terminology but the return to “war on terror” leaves a quick end unlikely.

The term is more threatening than the watered down versions that came out of the White House early on and this might be because Obama wants support for his actions. To be clear, I support any movements that increase troop strength and include tactics aimed at victory but the right is not who needs to be convinced (though we will certainly deride him for his naivete during the campaign). His base is the gaggle that took him at his word when he said he would bring the troops home and they are the ones who need to be convinced.

Obama has not read the assessment of Afghanistan yet (it was sent to the Pentagon today) but it is believed to include the need for more troops. If he decides to send more troops, and it looks like he will, the left will go bonkers. Cindy Sheehan is already ginning up her band of merry mischief makers and it will not be long before the entire left is fed up with Obama and his war.

I want to see an end to war but the only way for it to end is with victory defined on our terms. Obama desperately wants to bring the troops home to fulfill his campaign pledge but now that he is no longer a candidate reality is setting in and he is beginning to see that the decisions are tough and one cannot just make statements or snap fingers and expect results even if the one is the messiah of the left.

It will be interesting to see how the left reacts if this all takes place. The right supports the troops and their efforts and knows that the only exit strategy is victory. Obama won’t have to convince us of the need to support the troops. His task is to reel in his base.

This is a tough position because if they do not side with him he will have hell to pay and if they do it will show once and for all that they are hypocrites.

I think Olbermann will be the first moonbat to jump on board along with tingle leg Matthews. It would not be the first time these guys changed positions based upon the party of the White House occupant.