Indications in the news media are that President Obama will soon announce a surge of some 30,000 troops to "finish the job" in Afghanistan. This falls short of the 40,000 troops that his General McChrystal has asked for.
Anonymous aides are saying that President Nero will be stressing a hawkish commitment to finish the job as well as communicating the message that the commitment is not open ended.
President Obama is the Commander in Chief and the US Military answers to the civilian authority. However he has no experience in military matters. His military experience falls short of the widely ridiculed service records of Dan Quayle and George W Bush. By failing to heed the advice of his commander on the ground, he risks providing insufficient resources to "get the job done."
More concerning is the fact that words like "victory" and "win" seem to be lacking in their dictionary.
A commitment to train up the local forces to take over from American troops as they make their exit is a formula that was tried in a prior conflict. That conflict was Vietnam. An open ended commitment to victory has also been tried in both World Wars.
He who forgets the lessons of history is doomed to repeat its mistakes. It is good that President Obama has put his fiddle away. It would have been better if he could have come to a sounder decision and done so sooner.
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