As President Obama holds his meetings on Afghanistan, our troops are dying there. When a military leader asks for reinforcements, generally they are needed in a timely manner in order to be effective. The constant meetings are costing American lives. Congress does not know how to run a war--the military does--there is nothing to be gained by all these meetings. The Generals involved have already given us the strategy and told us what was needed.
Fred Barnes posted an article at the Weekly Standard blog yesterday on the war in Afghanistan and the lack of action from the White House. He refers to a book by Lewis Sorley entitled A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam and another book entitled Lessons in Disaster by Gordon Goldstein.
Mr. Barnes points out:
"Sorley's book is relevant because it points out what actually happened in Vietnam: by employing what we now call a counter-insurgency strategy, American forces had actually won the war by 1970, only to toss it away later by abandoning the South Vietnamese government. That strategy, similar to what has been pursued successfully in Iraq with the "surge," replaced the failed search-and-destroy effort of General William Westmoreland. Despite this history, search-and-destroy, which had failed in Iraq, is what Vice President Biden and other Democrats are urging in Afghanistan. They refer to it today as counter-
terrorism ."
Mr. Barnes concludes:
"So let's review the bidding in the current debate on Afghanistan. Biden and many Democrats, reportedly including White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, want the president to adopt a strategy that failed twice and, so far as I know, has never led to success. Gen. McChrystal and Republicans, along with Senator Joe Lieberman and a few other Democrats, are in favor of a strategy that has twice proven to be successful."
I agree. It's time to let the military run the war and keep the politicians out of it. The lives of our troops depend on it!
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