Mr. President, take your time on Afghanistan

[babylonsister]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/story/78879.html

Mr. President, take your time on Afghanistan

By Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers


President Barack Obama has yet to decide where we're going and what we're doing in Afghanistan, but if the flood of leaks this week is any indicator, he at least has decided what he isn't going to do.

He isn't going to be rushed into making such an important decision.

He seemingly is unwilling to buy a pig in a poke from any of the players — not from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, who wants another 40,000 to 80,000 American troops; not from his own national security wizards who've proffered four different pigs in four different pokes; not from Vice President Joe Biden, who wants to leave the fight to Special Forces and unmanned Predators.

The word is that none of the options contains what the president wants to see — an estimate of how many more years beyond the eight already invested would be needed and an exit strategy.

Bravo!

snip//

Now we're getting somewhere. Obama wants to know how long, how much and how do we get out. The ambassador wants our putative ally, the government we're sending American troops to risk their lives to defend, to become something more than Hamid Baba's Forty Thieves, something more than a recruiting poster for the enemy. He demands that the Afghan government become something worth defending.

A series of American presidents never asked those questions, never demanded honesty and faithful service of corrupt dictators in South Vietnam, and the consequences are writ large: 58,260 American troops killed, more than 300,000 wounded, 3 million troops sent to serve, billions of dollars poured down a rat hole.

So by all means, Mr. President, hold your wise men's and your generals' feet to the fire before you invest one more life, one more dollar defending a corrupt government and a people who increasingly consider us a bigger threat — a more dangerous enemy — than the Taliban guerrillas are.

Take all the time you need. Stay the course until they answer your questions and until Karzai starts filling his prisons with his ministers and warlords and, yes, his own family.

It's about time.

[Jennicut]

1. Anyone who says to rush into this is being an idiot, we rushed into both the wars

I hope he makes the right decision....on how to get us out.

[JoeyT]

2. +1

Being right > being fast.

[HopeOverFear]

3. K & R

[azmouse]

4. K&R

[firedupdem]

5. K&R n/t

[Cha]

6. That's right there have been no

decisions made so any speculation around here is just that.

[mscuedawg]

7. K&R! This is what should be quoted when the MSM runs those ludicrous polls...

...Should we stay or get out? I dont care what kind of transparency was promised...there are factors that do not make it to the public for a reason....

[earth mom]

8. Those are Obama's wars now. The backlash is just beginning. nt

[jeanpalmer]

9. This galloway is a sycophant

He's all process and nothing more. Doesn't have a moral bone in his body, or a conscience. He thinks that if Obama takes some time to make a decision, that't the standard he's going to judge him by. Fkn idiot. If Obama sends one more soldier over to that fiasco, he'll be toast.

[babylonsister]

10. He's far from a sycophant. He's been extremely critical of Obama.

Go check out his previous commentaries. Too bad you don't like what he wrote.

Edit to add a link to prove my point and disprove yours:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/

I think Galloway likes the slow, thoughtful approach vs. idiot son's. And I agree with him. I guess we'll find out what Obama's ultimate decision will be, but your conclusion that he'll be toast isn't accurate either unless you have a window into the future.