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Our Distracted Commander in Chief
· Friday, September 3, 2010
WASHINGTON -- Many have charged that President Obama's decision to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan 10 months from now is hampering our war effort. But now it's official. In a stunning statement last week, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway admitted that the July 2011 date is "probably giving our enemy sustenance."
A remarkably bold charge for an active military officer. It stops just short of suggesting aiding and abetting the enemy. Yet the observation is obvious: It is surely harder to prevail in a war that hinges on the allegiance of the locals when they hear the U.S. president talk of beginning a withdrawal that will ultimately leave them to the mercies of the Taliban.
How did Obama come to this decision? "Our Afghan policy was focused as much as anything on domestic politics," an Obama adviser at the time told The New York Times' Peter Baker. "He would not risk losing the moderate to centrist Democrats in the middle of health insurance reform and he viewed that legislation as the make-or-break legislation for his administration."
If this is true, then Obama's military leadership can only be called scandalous. During the past week, 22 Americans were killed over a four-day period in Afghanistan. This is not a place about which decisions should be made in order to placate congressmen, pass health care and thereby maintain a president's political standing. This is a place about which a president should make decisions to best succeed in the military mission he himself has set out.
But Obama sees his wartime duties as a threat to his domestic agenda. These wars are a distraction, unwanted interference with his true vocation -- transforming America.
Such an impression could only have been reinforced when, given the opportunity in his Oval Office address this week to dispel the widespread perception in Afghanistan that America is leaving, Obama doubled down on his ambivalence. After giving a nod to the pace of troop reductions being conditions-based, he declared with his characteristic "but make no mistake" that "this transition will begin -- because open-ended war serves neither our interests nor the Afghan people's."
These are the words of a man who wants out. Most emphatically on Iraq, where from the beginning Obama has made clear that his objective is simply ending combat operations by an arbitrary deadline -- despite the fact that a new government has not been formed and all our hard-won success hangs in the balance -- in order to address the more paramount concern: keeping a campaign promise. Time to "turn the page" and turn America elsewhere.
At first you'd think that turning is to Afghanistan. But Obama added nothing to his previously stated Afghan policy while emphatically reiterating July 2011 as the beginning of the end, or more diplomatically, of the "transition."
Well then, at least you'd then expect some vision of his larger foreign policy. After all, this was his first Oval Office address on the subject. What is the meaning, if any, of the Iraq and Afghan wars? And what of the clouds that are forming beyond those theaters: the drone-war escalation in Pakistan, the rise of al-Qaeda in Yemen, the danger of Somalia falling to al-Shabab, and the threat of renewed civil war in Islamist Sudan as a referendum on independence for southern Christians and animists approaches?
This was the stage for Obama to explain what follows the now-abolished Global War on Terror. Where does America stand on the spreading threats to stability, decency and U.S. interests from the Horn of Africa to the Hindu Kush?
On this, not a word. Instead, Obama made a strange and clumsy segue into a pep talk on the economy. Rebuilding it, he declared, "must be our central mission as a people, and my central responsibility as president." This in a speech ostensibly about the two wars he is directing. He could not have made more clear where his priorities lie, and how much he sees foreign policy -- war policy -- as subordinate to his domestic ambitions.
Unfortunately, what for Obama is a distraction is life or death for U.S. troops now on patrol in Kandahar province. Some presidents may not like being wartime leaders. But they don't get to decide. History does. Obama needs to accept the role. It's not just the U.S. military, as Baker reports, that is "worried he is not fully invested in the cause." Our allies, too, are experiencing doubt. And our enemies are drawing sustenance.
(c) 2010, The Washington Post Writers Group
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Milliken
The obamanation redefined the war on terror to end it. We all know our enemies got the message that he is quitting loud and clear. The Coward in Charge is doing abroad what he is doing here: selling us out. He is an enemy and a traitor to our Nation, to our national interests and allies, and to every American citizen.
Posted September 3, 2010 at 11:34:38 AM
Roger McBee
Amen, Milliken.
Posted September 3, 2010 at 11:59:05 AM
Joel Sears
Because Obama's ego is a thousand times larger than his ears, he hears nothing that might teach him something about the threats that face our nation from determined enemies around the world. Coincidentally, November 2 is my birthday and I expect to celebrate the defeat of every one of Obama's lackies.
Posted September 3, 2010 at 12:05:40 PM
KS
Once again Charles hits the nail on the head - the rise in troop deaths supports his analysis. The enemy is rejoicing, and yes they're making their plans. God help us if they attack again (and they will if this guy and his co-horts stay in control!)
Posted September 3, 2010 at 12:05:54 PM
Stuart (Austin, TX)
Barack Hussein Obama's "policies," if you can call them that, should come as no surprise. They are what what every libtard should have expected when voting for an anti-American for president. Congratulations, naive tools!
Posted September 3, 2010 at 12:17:16 PM
Caseace
Obama and all those that surround him, prove day after day that they are way over their heads or as he has said "over his pay grade". A story of a fry cook at McDonalds, who runs the store for awhile and then finds himself running the entire corporation, seems more likely than a community organizer turned into a lackluster Senator winning the Presidency. At least the fry cook had to work.
Posted September 3, 2010 at 12:35:41 PM
rhcrest
I am sick and tired of this charade! He is not the President! Please stop referring to him as the President! He is a usurper. An imposter. He and Michelle Antoinette have broken into the White House under false pretense and are nothing more than trespassers! To take anything this man says or does seriously as if he is the President is insane! Stop the insanity! It is as if Osama bin laden shaved his beard, dressed up in a suit and became POTUS! Yeah he cleans up real good!
Posted September 3, 2010 at 1:13:40 PM
TheVonz
Again.... why is this potus, cabinet, czars, non-constitutional congress members, and supreme court justices - NOT - being impeached (at the least) or brought up on charges of Treason - Enemies of the US Domestic?? Look up the Webster’s definition of "domestic" and "enemy", and you will have ample grounds for Treason.
John.
Posted September 3, 2010 at 1:26:11 PM
Kim Costanzo
rhcrest and TheVonz have connected the dots and have spoken out on the conclusion of what this enemy of America (Obama) really is. Why..oh why cannot those who lay out the complaints of Obama's actions, such as Krauthammer and so many others, speak to this as well. WHEN are they going to SAY IT? Until they stop with their delicate speech and label Obama what he is, he will never be removed, impeached or prosecuted for his treasons. It can only happen if those of like mind have the COURAGE to speak in unison LOUDLY for all to see and hear for anything to happen in time to save us.
Posted September 3, 2010 at 2:26:00 PM
GordAuch
"...transition will begin -- because open-ended war serves neither our interests nor the Afghan people's."
As soon as we are out of open-ended Afghanistan we must look to retreat from open-ended Korea. Or maybe open-ended NATO.
9-11 reinforced what we learned at Pearl Harbor: US interests are not insulated from attack by the seas of the XIX Century.
Posted September 3, 2010 at 2:48:12 PM
Rick
Kim is right on. Obama is trying to destroy America. Accept it.
Posted September 3, 2010 at 3:55:47 PM
Larry
The obamanation will NEVER be removed from office lawfully as long as Holder, Napolitano and Pelozi are in their respective positions. Anyone who expects him to somehow lose the 2012 election better think again. This usurper won his first term through lies, deception, and in the buying off his sycophants, union supporters and other special interests. He has committed uncounted treasons against this country while in office. And he will stop at no crime to remain in power.
Posted September 3, 2010 at 4:50:14 PM
MichaelSSEC
Dr. Krauthammer once again brilliantly states the case, but misdiagnoses the ailment. Obama isn't distracted or ambivalent or incompetent. None of this is accidental or merely mistakes.
Obama is tearing down everything we've built in Iraq not because he wants to focus on domestic policy (he does), but because he cannot bear to have America succeed at anything. This is the same man who dismantled NASA's mission and instructed the agency to perform some pointless "outreach" to Muslims. NASA is an historic and potential source of American pride, success and growth, so he crippled it. Iraqi Democracy is a source of America success, magnanimity and pride, so he is derailing our accomplishments. Afghanistan is another source of potential victory, so he must ensure American failure.
Nor is this mindset confined to foreign policy or technology policies. His economic policies cannot possibly work, yet he pursues them with single-minded zeal precisely because they lead to failure. Socialized medicine has never worked anywhere, even in Massachusetts which served as the model for his particular scheme, so he stakes his entire Presidency on shoving it down our throats. His handling of GM has been spectacular, calculated failure. His handling of the BP oil spill was manipulative, cynical and led to the disaster being far worse than it needed to be, so he could game the "crisis" for his own political gain -- namely, passage of Cap & Trade. When it failed to pass, it was astonishing how quickly the Official Spin Machine turned to repainting the situation as being a fraction of its stated size, and every news outlet suddenly trumpeted how small the oil spill really was.
Every single thing Obama does is carefully designed to weaken America -- economically, politically and militarily -- because these radical Leftists view America as the cause of every problem on Earth. The world would be far better off if only America wasn't around to screw everything up. And they're trying to make it happen.
Posted September 4, 2010 at 2:38:15 AM
USN, Ret.
MichaelISSEC is closest to the reality. This man, who lauds his muslm name,is doing exactly what he, and his handlers intend; cripple, hopefully destroy the American concept. That is what he is about, and he is accomplishing the goals quite well. He has now enlisted the Unions to "get out the vote, and the strongarm tactics of that group are likely to tilt the election in favor of the revisionists now in charge. It is clear that this man, his family, and his associates are, finally, accomplishing what started in the early 1900's: destruction of this Republic! The one great impediment to 'One World' domination. Controlled by Sharia law. A Muslim world.
Posted September 4, 2010 at 5:02:56 AM
Thomas Paine
Give me liberty or give them death.
Posted September 4, 2010 at 7:08:21 AM
Jimmy D
Just a thought.
Why aren't we at war with Syria and Iran.
They are at war with us.
Throw in Hamas and Hezbollah.
Free Israel. Free Lebanon. Free Syria and free the people of Iran.
We could finish it in six months and be free to begin to build up for the coming Chinese onslaught.
We just have to get out of the "nation building" philosophy. And the "War is patty-cakes" fantasy.
Hmmm. We might have to take down the communists at home first...
Posted September 5, 2010 at 3:59:10 PM
Kim Costanzo
Larry - Those of us who have watched our country go down the drain (as we speak) KNOW that the deck is stacked with leftist judges and politicians. We know that the left has vote fraud down to a science and where an election is close they will steal it and buy it. As it stands now, if the pundits and the columnists who lay out the crimes and the criminals so very well, do not call it what it is in UNISON and in one voice and those Constitutionalists and Tea Partiers do not get involved with the voting process, we are done. We know the country is ANGRY. We know there just might be an avalanche of voters just itching to get the bums out, but as Stalin said, "It does not matter who votes; it only matter who COUNTS the votes". NOW we need those who still have jobs in the right wing media to speak out LOUDLY and as one. If Krauthammer and those like him do not think they will come for them soon, THEY are the ones kidding themselves. Will they use their venue and do this? Probably not.
Posted September 6, 2010 at 4:19:27 PM
Bernard P. Giroux
Obama is close to impeachment.
Posted September 6, 2010 at 8:17:00 PM
Pamela Heckel
What constitutes an act of treason? What about giving the enemy comfort during a time of war? President Obama bows to foreign leaders and apologizes for the strength of the US. President Obama has authorized settlement of Palestinian refugees in the United States by Executive Order. President Obama sent an Imam on a taxpayer paid tour of Arab nations. From the news tonight we know that his message was calculated to inspire hatred of the US. Is President Obama’s “October Surprise” complete chaos in the Middle East? Given his lack of skill as a military leader how would that help his party retain majorities in the House and Senate? It won’t. What then is his goal? Let’s look at the facts: an obscure preacher decides to burn the Koran on 9/11. Someone in the media reports the story WEEKS ahead of time. The Imam incites riots in the Middle East. The peace in Iraq is destroyed. Afghanistan explodes. Our soldiers are attacked. Do we pull out or send more soldiers? We worry about a fundamentalist having access to nukes. Shouldn’t we worry about Obama? That would certainly be an October Surprise to remember.
Posted September 10, 2010 at 1:18:33 AM