Obama announces U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
What message is the announced Obama troop withdrawal from Afghanistan sending to his political base, the troops and our enemies?
Pandering to your political base during an election cycle is one helluva way to run a war and risk American lives!
How Europe and I interpret the President's speech
While taking a swipe at former President Bush and the war in Iraq, President Obama announced the politically expedient withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Afghanistan who had been placed there by the troop surge.
The President announced the full withdrawal of the 33,000 troops will take place by the summer of 2012, mere months because the election.
In the Presidents eyes the global war on terror is in the clean-up phase and campaigning is in full swing!
Does saying something make it true?
The President surely hopes so as he spoke of the swift and decisive action that authorized the Afghanistan troop surge in the first place which is of course patently untrue.
In reality, delay after delay in the decision occurred as the President and his advisors used the finger in the air technique to see which way the wind was blowing and then, and only then, made the decision to send more troops.
In telling his story last night, however, it seems that the feeling of this President and of his advisors is that the American public (and the world) will believe whatever the President tells them.
While the decision to pull troops out now goes against the advice of Obama's military leadership team, it takes the advice of his re-election campaign team.
Pandering to your political base during an election cycle is one helluva way to run a war and risk American lives!
The European and enemy take on the announced U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
From FT.com, this editorial excerpt summarizes how the Obama decision will most probably be regarded by the enemy and by our allies.
"... Opting instead for drones abroad and trying terrorist suspects in regular criminal courts confuses the already muddled “war on terrorism”, now renamed the “war on violent extremism”. Try explaining to a Yemeni, Somali or Afghani survivor of a drone attack that America is not at war with Islam and means well.
Many in the US and around the world wonder if the President’s speech is yet another sign of America’s decline. American power and weakness is often a matter of perception. From the perspective of the Taliban, the withdrawal of American troops is a sign of her weakness and their strength. And it is not only the Taliban that will see it this way: the Iranian regime, the Assad family in Syria and the malignant units in the Pakistani military and secret service see a weak America that roars but retreats when the going gets tough..."
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You might be overthinking this. Our enemies already think that we're a joke. I can tell you that the troops really, really want to leave Afghanistan, ok? They're tried of guarding poppy fields and patrolling people who are barely out of the stone age.
ReplyDeleteThese other countries already know America is weak. I'm sure they read Drudge like everyone else and can see that we are completely out of money. If they were trying to topple us, they couldn't do a better job of it themselves. They're probably sitting back and enjoying some popcorn watching us implode under our own debt.
Good point RM
ReplyDelete