D-Day for Mr. Obama
Mr. President, would you send your son? Or daughter?
There are many defining moments in a presidency, but I would argue there few decisions that President Obama will make that will rival this one in terms of its impact on America and the judgment of history.
The president has received a lot of flak for taking three months to review his options and decide whether, and to what extent, to follow the advice of his military commanders, and civilian advisors.
The myth here is that there is a clear right answer, and that if the correct strategy is followed courageously and resolutely it will produce what we would all see as a success. If history has taught us anything, (especially in the case of Afghanistan) is that all military options are fraught with peril, and sometimes following the best advice of your military commanders can lead to foreign policy disasters.
The reason we have civilian control of the military, is not because the civilians are smarter or wiser, it’s so that when things go wrong, as they often do, we have accountability.
I am convinced President Obama wants to protect America from terrorist and radical extremists who mean to do our country grievous harm as much as any patriot. I believe he wants to do the right thing. Often KNOWING the right thing to do is easy, but DOING it is hard. This is a case when KNOWING what the right thing to do is the hard part.
So there is that one question that has to weigh heavy on his mind as he charts a course that will no doubt lead to more American casualties, at least in the short term: “Would I send my son or daughter into this battle? Is it worth their lives?”
To some that might seem like a call for caution, even cowardice. But it is the litmus test every American should take. If you are willing to commit the lives of others to this cause, would you risk your own? Or your loved ones?
The question in Afghanistan is whether redoubling our efforts will produce a result that makes the United States and its allies, or for that matter the world, safer? Or will we be facing the same situation a year from now, or five years from now? And to accomplish that gold does the U.S. need to build a new Afghanistan from the ground up? Or is there a better way to keep the terrorist at bay?
The answers to these question are not knowable. But yet our commander-in-chief must make his best guess. And no matter the certitude of his many advisors, there is no assurance he is embarking on the best course.
So would you send your son? If the answer is no, then we have some serious soul-searching to do.
President Obama at Dover AFB, October 29, 2009 USAF Photo by Jason Minto
What are others saying? Here’s a sample of opinion gleaned from my morning emails:
“It is inexcusable that the President has taken this long to make a decision. Given that he has been in office over 10 months; the many months Gen. McChrystal has been in theatre; and the critical situation on the ground, the delay has put the mission in graver jeopardy and left American lives unnecessarily at risk.“
– James Jay Carafano, PhD, Heritage Foundation
“Obama may or may not realize that Petraeus and McChrystal cannot fix Afghanistan… What (they) can do is further entangle the United States, its resources and its forces in an unending war inside the ungovernable wasteland…”
– Col. Douglas Macgregor, U. S. Army (Ret.), Gulf War combat commander – author of Warriors Rage
“The President needs to clarify that sending additional troops now to Afghanistan is not a repeat of the Johnson Administration’s decision to send more and more troops to Vietnam to win the war ourselves then give the country back to the South Vietnamese.”
– Rufus Philips, longtime CIA officer who led counterinsurgency operations in Vietnam – author of Why Vietnam Matters
“In his first real Commander-in-Chief moment, the president will need to show supporters and critics alike (both Americans and allied nations) that his new goals are worthy, that they are attainable through execution of his strategy, with the resources he has allocated and in the timeline he projects.”
Maj. Gen. Tom Wilkerson, USMC (Ret.), CEO of the U. S. Naval Institute
“Do you really want to be the new “war president”? If you go to West Point … and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do — destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech … you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so.“
– Michael Moore: An Open Letter to President Obama on Afghanistan
“President Obama’s much-anticipated speech at West Point Tuesday night [tonight] constitutes an opportunity with the potential to be as strategically momentous as Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. Mr. Obama is in a unique position to tell the truth about the nature of the enemy we confront, not just in Afghanistan but worldwide, and thereby put the effort to defeat that enemy on a sound, coherent and supportable footing. Will he rise to the occasion?
– Frank Gaffney, Jr., President of the Center for Security Policy
Tags: Afghanistan, Obama, Troops
