”Every clique is a refuge for incompetence…It begets cowardice and consequently is a burdence upon and a drawback to the progress of the country.”
Madam Chiang Kai-Shek
Former Vice President Dick Cheney tonight joined a chorus of critics who say President Barack Obama is taking way too long to decide whether to send another 40,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
Cheney, no fan of any of the current administration’s foreign policy initiatives, prodded the White House to fulfill the president’s promise to give the U.S. armed forces a clear mission in Afghanistan and to do it now.
“It’s time for President Obama to make good on his promise. The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger, ” Cheney said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Center for Security Policy, a Washington think-tank.
“Having announced his Afghanistan strategy last March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission,” Cheney said.
Cheney also refuted what he said was a complaint by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel that “the Obama administration had to start from scratch to put together a strategy.”
“The new strategy they embraced in March, with a focus on counterinsurgency and an increase in the numbers of troops, bears a striking resemblance to the strategy we passed to them,” Cheney said.
“Now they seem to be pulling back and blaming others for their failure to implement the strategy they embraced. It’s time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity,” he added. (http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2009/10/21/time-for-obama-to-act-on-afghanistan-cheney/)
Yesterday’s elections, despite their questionable benefit, has given Obama breathing room with regards to his Afghan “no strategy” policy. The irrelevant media chorused approval of SEC of State Clinton’s diplomatic effort to get the Pakistanis to go after Al Qaeda and Taliban strongholds within that country. However, the Obama administration has yet to step up and initiate it’s own surge strategy leaving the Pakistanis to swing in the wind.(http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/with_billions_in_the_balance_clinton_tells_pakistan_to_step_it_up.php)However,
Obama it seems has no clue on how to proceed with committing the necessary forces needed to back up our troops already in Afghanistan, let alone the Pakistanis. The President, through his handler Rahm Emanuel, has claimed that they are starting from scratch. Cheney correctly called them on that lie. Obama’s choice of Gen. McCrystal and a counter insurgency strategy was based on the policy paper completed in December of 2008 by the outgoing Bush administration. . Obama announcing this strategy as his own last March, has now in his indecisiveness, failed to follow through on that strategy. Obama by his indecision has in essence abandoned General McCrystal and our troops. Obama, I now suggest, should be held accountable for the Taliban’s continuing re-emergence in that country.
There can be no tangible result of the so far wasted American ‘blood and gold’ squandered in Afghanistan as a result of this President’s indecisiveness. If ‘incompetence’ were an impeachable offence the Obama administration would be sent packing back to Chicago. Just my opinion.
William McCullough
Bush did delay in Afghanistan as he was paying attention to Iraq, however Obama essentially lied when he said the Bush admin left them in the dark regarding Afghanistan when, in fact, there was a complete study done in time to hand to Obama when he took office. The corruption issues surrounding Karzai will pose a longer term problem for Western countries involved in Afghanistan. Obama should not be playing politics with troops in that country, however.