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After weeks of agony, several trips abroad and more meetings than should have ever been necessary, President Obama has decided to follow the advice of General McChrystal and commit 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan over the next three years. And then, after those three years, we leave with the understanding that the Afghani government, which has been incapable of functioning in the several years we've been hanging around their nation, has their crap together and is, against all odds, a working Democratic government.
And so far this plan is earning bi-partisan support, according to Gallup. Presumably from those people in the middle that neither side really likes anyway and who are probably the "undecideds" that linger in the margins until, inspired by a song they heard on the radio, vote for the entirely wrong candidate on election day.
President Obama has managed to thread the needle with his newly announced Afghanistan strategy, with his approach winning the approval of a majority of both Democrats (58%) and Republicans (55%) in a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Wednesday night. At the same time, less than a majority of independents approve (45%). Among Americans overall, 51% approve of the strategy while 40% disapprove.
Color me unamused. If you haven't guessed, I don't approve, but probably not for the reasons you'd assume. Its not that I don't believe the conflict in Afghanistan is worth fighting. I'm just not sure its worth fighting like this. After eight years of Bush's reassurance that the war was going well and that current strategies were working, it seems like we're either in the same or a slightly worse position than we were so many years ago. I tend to feel like, if we're going to commit so many troops to such a conflict, that its time for a radical new strategy: winning. Just winning. Now, I don't know how to do this, but I don't feel like we're on the right track. In fact, I feel like we're one poorly-dressed Texan away from a Republican repeat, particularly when you consider that the plan proferred by Obama on Tuesday is not necessarily the plan that will be put into action. According to the Washington Post, the 30,000 number is not etched in stone, and that three-year timetable? At this point, given the set of factors Afghanistan must meet to trigger troop withdrawal (what if their own military is not ready? what if they fail to meet the benchmarks indicating their own governmental control?), it seems all but cosmetic.
Should another soldier's blood be spilled in pursuit of a war we don't seem sure we can win? My general feeling is, if we want to win, we should win. If we don't, we should go home before someone else gets hurt and before more American money is spent.
So yeah, in short, I'm conflicted. Lets see how the rest of the "Right blogosphere" is handling this particular topic, shall we?
Sister Toldjah has some questions about Obama's resolve and discusses what having a static timetable means to our allies and our enemies.
I’m aware that the right has serious issues with certain aspects of Obama’s plan, but it makes no difference if we’re operating on the best plan in the world if the man in charge of it all doesn’t demonstrate the resolve and determination to see the mission through to a successful conclusion. For whatever Bush’s faults were, you never doubted that he understood the big picture and new that it was imperative for us to win. The inclusion of a timetable in Obama’s plan is deeply troublesome, for reasons that are obvious to all but those on the anti-war left who have never gotten it and never will. A timetable sends a signal to the opposition forces that if they just tough it out for a little while longer, eventually the US will give up and cut and run, exit stage left – leaving the door wide open for the violent hostilities and lawlessness to resume. It also sends a signal to allied forces that the United States is only committed to a year and a half time frame for success, and that beyond that, well – too bad. What country would want to send additional troops into a situation where their allies were not committed to success – even beyond a specified timeframe for withdrawal?
Melissa Clouthier of MelissaClouthier.com felt like no one on either side of the political spectrum will ultimately be satisfied with President Obama's plan.
Often, presidents
