Voting "Present" in Afghanistan - O continues to dither

Or is Rahm Emmanuel in charge ?


Voting Present Is Not an Option [Victor Davis Hanson]

These are the facts in the Afghanistan troop debate:

(a) We have a Democratically controlled Congress that by and large has supported, since 2004, the Kerry-Obama-Hillary narrative of a “good” war in Afghanistan — a war shamefully neglected by George Bush during his neocon adventure in Iraq but absolutely vital to the security of the United States, and entirely winnable if only we allot sufficient resources.

(b) We have a proven command in Gens. McChrystal and Petraeus and their circle of subordinates. They crafted a counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq that defeated the terrorists, ensured stability for the fragile constitutional government, and took a tremendous toll on the human and material resources of al-Qaeda, as well as the reputation of radical Islam on the Middle East street.

(c) We have thousands of battle-hardened, experienced veteran soldiers and their officers who know far more about the Middle East in general, and counterinsurgency in particular, than our military knew when it first deployed to Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.

(d) The Islamic world is much less in thrall (polls tell us this) to Osama bin Laden and his advocacy of suicide bombing and terrorism than it was five years ago. Pakistan, victim of numerous terrorist attacks, is far more willing to take concerted action that aids our cause than at any time in the last 8 years. And we have a president who by his own admission resonates abroad in a way not true of his predecessor, and who will receive a level of international support not usually accorded to American efforts in the Muslim world.

(e) The president has a domestic opposition — entirely unlike that of George Bush — that is eager to support him if he tries to fulfill his promise to win in Afghanistan by devoting more resources to the effort.

(f) We have media mesmerized by Obama, and they will withhold criticism of him in Afghanistan in a way that was simply not true of the Bush effort in Iraq (which nonetheless ultimately proved successful).

(g) We have a split public, but one far more amenable to a surge in Afghanistan than it was to a surge in Iraq late in 2006.(h) We should be bolstered by our success in Iraq, and the enemy demoralized by its failure, rather than vice versa.Given the above, and given that George Bush made a far more difficult choice that saved Iraq, it is hard to figure out why Obama cannot make a simple decision to send the troops requested by his commanders on the ground