A post by Pat
The President in his West Point speech stressed getting out of Afghanistan, even going so far as to set a date for the beginning of the “transition”. A lot of people (and probably the cadets in the audience judging by their faces) thought this was a dumb ass thing to do. Clinton, Gates and Gibbs among others are scrambling around now trying to reassure everyone we aren’t planning an abandonment of Afghanistan. They point out that Obama did mention “conditions on the ground”. He mentioned dates more than conditions and said nothing about a December 2010 reevaluation.
McCain got his mug on the news asking Gates if it was a date certain or conditions that would determine events in Afghanistan:
McCain: Will the date of withdrawal of 2011 be based on an arbitrary date of July 2011 regardless of conditions on the ground?
Gates: I think it is a judgment that we will be in a position where we will be able to begin the transition. …We will have a thorough review in December 2010. If it appears the strategy is not working, then we will take a hard look at the strategy itself.
So we won’t leave if things are going badly a year from now, just a few months after reinforcements arrived? I think Robert Gibbs let the cat out of the bag on this one.
As though there was any doubt. From Obama’s speech:
After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home.
…there are those who oppose identifying a timeframe for our transition to Afghan responsibility. Indeed, some call for a more dramatic and open-ended escalation of our war effort — one that would commit us to a nation-building project of up to a decade. I reject this course because it sets goals that are beyond what we can achieve at a reasonable cost and what we need to achieve to secure our interests. Furthermore, the absence of a time frame for transition would deny us any sense of urgency in working with the Afghan government. It must be clear that Afghans will have to take responsibility for their security, and that America has no interest in fighting an endless war in Afghanistan.
As president, I refuse to set goals that go beyond our responsibility, our means or our interests. And I must weigh all of the challenges that our nation faces. I do not have the luxury of committing to just one. Indeed, I am mindful of the words of President Eisenhower, who — in discussing our national security — said, “Each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs.
…our troop commitment in Afghanistan cannot be open-ended — because the nation that I am most interested in building is our own.
We know what he means on all counts.
Leftist social engineering is going to cost so much he can’t afford to commit to winning, in Afghanistan, and only continues there due to political considerations. It would be too damaging to have the immediate comparison and contrast with winning, by a Republican President, in Iraq, from a troop surge, where Democrats tried desperately to declare defeat, and his own simple retreat. In his rhetoric he has been, and will continue, positioning himself so as to blame someone else. After months of more disingenuous, dithering rope-a-dope, he will blame Afghanistan’s leaders. He will blame Pakistan’s leaders. Interesting that Democrats find themselves trying to argue that the tactics we are using cannot succeed, because having the troops there fuels more insurgency, when we actually did win, before Obama, and could again, using more troops.
To him the leftist social engineering is the highest priority and he never stops pushing it. He will push it even at the cost of unemployment and a worsening economy, a resurgence and flood of Islamic extremist terrorism, ignoring the growing certainty that we are in for a new ice age and possibly one of rapid onset. See the links below. He has to push the unraveled global warming hoax past the point that he is already risking a legacy of looking like a fool. I find myself speculating that there is something wrong with him. The links about the ice age are http://www.itsrainmakingtime.com/_recent/climate_part1.html and http://iceagenow.com/
It’s important to prepare. Houston had its earliest snowfall ever today. These scientists are saying to stock up on food. Listen to “It’s a cycle, it’s a cycle, it’s a cycle.”
You are absolutly right. For the past month I’ve been visiting iceagenow.com and it’s quite interesting. Particulary with regards to the activity of sun, there’s a lot of food for thought.
As far as the President is concerned, he will perpetuate this war without any consideration for victory. He’s coming from a place of weakness. He won’t make any decisions that would place any risk on him.
Hmmm…I wonder what our “exit strategy” is for Japan and Germany? If I remember correctly, WWII ended some 64 years ago!! 64 years and still no date set for a beginning of a transition there!!
Tammy you are so right about Gov Palin!
She is a small in stature Conservative God fearing Dynamo of a woman that this country so desperately needs.
My wife and I met Gov Palin, Todd, and her parents at the Fort hood PX tonight.
What a great way to end the night!!
With “commitment” like this from the once, it does not appear Senator Thompson was off the mark after all. If you listen to the Senator’s full commentary on the matter (instead of a 2 minute snipit or a couple paragraphs in the Politico) it is clear he was not talking about the war being lost as a measure of our troops or American people, he was putting full full blame at the feet of the once because he knew the once does not have his heart in this war and he knows our troops know it, our people know it and our enemy knows it, because none of the aforementioned (except the once) are stupid. That was his point. You can look in the faces of those sweet heroes at West Point during the speech. They know.
“Gibbs clarifies Afghanistan timeline”. The only thing Gibbs is capable of clarifying about Afghanistan is that it’s a country with lots of tall hills and opium poppies somewhere over there around them other countries that we’re trying to be friends with so they don’t nuke us. It also points out the Obama sycophants in the press corp, with a few exceptions, that will sit there and take being berated by a condescending Gibbs. He is an absolute disgrace to the podium from which he utters his constant Gibb-erish, and jabber.
Robert Gibbs is the worst press secretary ever. The only good one the last 20 years was Tony Snow. The rest are pathetic with Gibbs leading the pack.
I recall feeling good about Bush’s Ari Fleischer. But that’s a surface impression, not a matter I’ve studied deeply. In any case, Fleischer left the job early. I’m sure there’s a story behind that, but I never looked into it.
Gibbs certainly makes me sick at my stomach. A bloated, pasty guy who brainlessly mouths the party line without insight or clarity. Does anybody like this guy? I really thought he’d be canned by now.