Gen. L.B.J. “Fightin’ Joe Biden” Obama
The Hero of Altgeld Gardens* asks for a province-by-province analysis of Afghanistan to help decide where, whether, he’ll deploy his troops. Washington Post:
President Obama has asked senior officials for a province-by-province analysis of Afghanistan to determine which regions are being managed effectively by local leaders and which require international help, information that his advisers say will guide his decision on how many additional U.S. troops to send to the battle.
Obama made the request in a meeting Monday with Vice President Biden and a small group of senior advisers helping him decide whether to expand the war. The detail he is now seeking also reflects the administration’s turn toward Afghanistan’s provincial governors, tribal leaders and local militias as potentially more effective partners in the effort than a historically weak central government that is confronting questions of legitimacy after the flawed Aug. 20 presidential election.
“This is obviously a complicated security environment in Afghanistan, and the president wants the clearest possible understanding of what the challenges are to our forces and what is required to meet that challenge,” said a senior administration official who has participated in the Afghanistan policy review and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it. “Any successful and sustainable strategy must clearly align the resources we provide with the goals we are trying to achieve.”
…
“There are a lot of questions about why McChrystal has identified the areas that he has identified as needing more forces,” said a senior military official familiar with the review, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations candidly. “Some see it as an attempt by the White House to do due diligence on the commander’s troop request. A less charitable view is that it is a 5,000-mile screwdriver tinkering from Washington.”
Two months and half-a-dozen meetings in, the old warhorse is taking the bull by the horns. Either McChrystal didn’t do his job, or they suddenly decided they want to check his homework. Or, in order to avoid another Vietnam, Obama’s taken a page from LBJ’s book and decided to start running the war from the White House.
Gateway: A salute for the war dead, no reinforcements for the living. Notes that the media is impressed by the previously unseen spectacle. (AP article fails to marvel at how the president manages to work Afghan strategy sessions and photo ops into a demanding schedule of fundraisers and more golf in nine months than Bush managed in three years, before he quit out of sensitivity to the families of the dead.)
Protein Wisdom on the Dover visit: “I smell a policy shift. One way or the other, this event provided a grow-up-now moment for our President … ”
I vote for “make it count.”
As does Peter Hegseth at NRO:
I just hope the president’s visit to the tarmac underscores, for him, that if we are going to pay such a heavy price in America’s best and bravest, we must only do so in pursuit of battlefield success — with a decisive mission and the necessary manpower.
Rubin at Commentary, cut him some slack on the strategy decision already, “All this homework and micromanaging takes time.”
Krauthammer via HotAir: President Not-Bush, mired in Bush’s War. K-hammer hurtfully notes that Obama already did a strategy review and shift last spring, suggests that makes this Obama’s War now. Hate to quibble, but in fairness, I’d say it’s more accurately the Battle of the 2nd Strategy Review in the Neglected War of Bush Lied.
Allah at HotAir re apparent go-lite preference. “This makes perfect sense … as a political strategy.” No it doesn’t, Allah! The American people hate losers.
Seriously, though, Captain’s Journal: “Fewer Troops is Better: Riding Unicorns over Rainbows.”
* Gen. Barack H. “Old Ciggie Butts” Obama served with distinction and was mentioned in dispatches during Chicago’s bitter Community Organizing War of 1985, where he famously leapt into the breach, and rallied the storied Section 8 troopers at Altgeld Gardens with a shout of “Damn the asbestos! I have not yet begun to organize! I have seen the ACORN and it is us! Don’t protest till you see the whites of their eyes! I love the smell of Magic Markers in the morning!”
As president, reported to have said in exasperation, “If Gen. McChrystal isn’t going to organize this community, I’d like to dither about it for a time.”
Community organizing is the continuation of protest by other means. All community organizing is hell. Remember, no bastard ever organized his community by dying for his country. He organized his community by letting other poor, dumb bastards die for his country. There are no capitalists in the housing projects. “We few, we happy few. We band of community organizers. For he who organizes his community with me this day shall be my community organizer … “
Not even the organized have seen the end of community organizing.
A few good community organizers: The Valour IT push is on, to give laptops to wounded servicemen. At the invitation of Cassandra at Villainous Company, whose Marine husband is forward deployed in Afghanistan, we’re with Team Marines this year. Pushing the Marines ahead is just the fun part of the drive. It all goes to everyone in all branches. Give as you can.
(Care to comment? Use the “contact” link to assure me you are a real human being interested in commenting on the topics at hand. Include your preferred screenname and temporary password. Lefty Kumbayah singers, moderate handwringers, meanspirited rightwingers all welcome. This is a free speech zone as long as you keep it clean and make an effort to be accurate.)
Topics: Afghanistan, Obama
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:45 am Comments (4) on Thursday, October 29, 2009
4 Responses to “Gen. L.B.J. “Fightin’ Joe Biden” Obama”
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October 29th, 2009 at 10:14 am
My guess is it’s just more can-kicking from President Present.
October 29th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
This is long, pardon it and read or skip.
The indecision and dithering of our present Commander in Chief is no longer just a political error it is becoming a national disaster. How you ask?
The real disaster is the perception that our troops (including the Officers), the world at large and the Taliban and other Islamic Extremists are taking away from Obama’s dithering and posturing.
That is the primary disaster. It is also holding up any U.S. and NATO planning, which in of it self is not too bad because they seem to just be pulling our troops further back from exposed positions right now.
I keep up with this because I have two grandsons in this fight. I have read and read most everything about Iraq and Afghanistan. I believe that most people that write about it don’t know a damn thing about what they are saying or writing. Just copy catting and guessing and BSing.
I’ve also talked to in person, and had email correspondence with well over a dozen enlisted and officers, both Army and Marine that have had tours in Afghanistan. I’ve also had (long ago and far away) on the job training in a “small war”. None of this makes me more of an expert than most, yet it does allow me to put my opinion out there.
One of the people that I do believe is Michael Yon. Three years ago he said that NATO was losing it’s ass fast in Afghanistan and that major efforts would be needed just to meet the level of violence, let alone make the population safe and to turn them away from the bad guys. The Afghans are not stupid they go with the strongest and most dangerous. That is the way they have stayed alive. In order for us to prevail, we must convince them through word and deed that we are not only the strongest but will be able to help them live a better safer life.
Yon also was calling out for more helicopters and assets, not just for the U.S. But for especially the Brits. To date the Brits (and others) still have a dangerous shortage and the U.S. does not have near enough. There is also not enough airframes for surveillance. When you lack air assets, ground troops in contact suffer. They also have to drive and walk among the IEDs that account for over 80 percent of causalities.
Yon has also been critical of the big bases. He maintains that the troops need to be out living among the Afghans and involved with them on a daily basis in order to win their trust. The Afghans also don’t understand that if we are there to stay, why we live in tents and fancy shipping containers. They say we should build proper houses and buildings.
There are many factors involved in why the Afghan war and Iraq war (I call them battles in the same war) are different. But one of the major reasons is that Pakistan is much more involved in Afghanistan than Iran ever will be in Iraq. To “win” in Afghanistan we must also win at the same time in Pakistan. In the minds of many of the tribes they are the same country, separated by just a line that the UN drew. Which is not and never was recognized by many of the various tribes, anymore than we would recognize one wave in the ocean separating one ocean from another.
Someone said that the Afghans were still back in the medieval age. they are almost right except these Islamic warlords and tribes know how to use almost every modern weapon there is and even how to make a lot of them. The Afghans are born warriors and have been at it for for years and so far have never been actually defeated. It is their land and they won’t ever tolerate or stop fighting invaders. This is the mindset that needs modified by convincing them we are not invaders-but it will take decades if it is possible to change it at all.
Yon and others have said in all seriousness that it will take most likely thirty to fifty years to bring Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan into the 20th century. Not even the 21st Century. Yon said rather than “nation building” we should adopt the Afghans, just be careful and not say it that way to them. But he compares Afghanistan to unruly teenagers who need not only care, love and support but education in broadest sense.
But all (that I have talked to) that have spent any time there all say that the people are worth saving and that once they are your friend they are your friend for life. That they, like Americans despise a government which pushes them down with false promises, lies and is corrupt. Which BTW, they now have courtesy of the U.S.
Every returning troop I have spoke to or had email exchanges with say that they deserve help climbing out of the past into a future where life and liberty will be more important than corruption, tribal identity, perpetual war and poverty.
But that is how many of our Warriors feel and think, not all of the world nor the democrats or even some conservatives.
Obama and his henchmen (and many Americans) don’t have the stomach for what it will take to even slow down the killing let alone construct what needs to be built in Afghanistan. Notice I didn’t say re-construction, because there is nothing there to re-construct.
The latest request for troops (which is half of what Gen. McCrystal wanted) has become something to be debated over instead of acted upon, and THEN debated. When our Warriors are actively engaged with the enemy is not the time to ask for bi-weekly updates on the debate to be forwarded to this so called “commander in chief” who is out campaigning for various democrats and playing golf.
Those that know say it will take even more troops than Iraq and it will take much more from our NATO “friends” than they will want to give or will give. Right now only about 6 or 7 NATO countries are actually doing any fighting, the rest are there for mainly political reasons. Some don’t know why they are there at all and do nothing to contribute, just costing money.
Training the Afghan Army is not like Iraq either. Most Afghans can’t read and many have drug addictions. Most are only looking for a job and bring no real commitment to being a soldier. Once trained many still have no stomach for fighting the Taliban.
Fundamental Islamics’ are not the same the world over, those in Afghanistan and most parts of Pakistan are more tribal than nationalistic. Here is a quote from Major Jim Gant’s “One Tribe at a time”.
”The Law, as we understand it in the west, is not the basis for tribal societies. That function is performed by a code of honor. It has been my experience that many Western soldiers—officers and NCOs alike—do not perceive or understand “honor” as an Afghan does. Most Americans view honor as a mixture of honesty, integrity, respect, fairness and loyalty to one’s country.
In many ways the tribesmen I have dealt with think of honor in similar terms—as loyalty, courage, the
ability to defend themselves, their families and their tribal communities.
But the tribesman is less concerned about “country”—which for him is almost irrelevant—and more
concerned about protecting the domain of his family, his customs, his tribal leadership, his warrior pride.
He lives in a regional world where day-to-day military strength means the difference between survival and being overrun by other tribal elements whoever they might be (the Taliban, other aggressive tribes, or the Russian army). There is no larger government force available to intervene and protect him when his tribe is in danger.” Pg 23)
Quoted in the above piece:
“Thus, warlords and warriors fighting in Afghanistan,
Iraq and other tribal zones today are renowned
for the value they place on upholding codes of honor
and avoiding shameful humiliation. All want to gain
honor for themselves and their lineage, clan and
tribe. No one can afford to lose face, for that would
reflect badly not only on them as individuals but also
their kin. If the word were in the dictionary, it might
be said that tribes and clans are deeply honoritarian.”
(Tribes First and Forever, Ronfeldt, p. 35)
It is indeed a confusing morass and a quandary. Obama and the democrats stand no chance in solving it, because they don’t understand that you have to have security and the trust of the local population before you can do anything else. To get security you have to kill or capture the bad guys, drive them before you and keep them from terrorizing the population. They don’t understand that to accomplish those conditions you have to have the troops and assets in place, and have a long time effort- hand in hand- with the local tribes and their leaders.
It seems Obama and his administration are more worried about having a near perfect democracy there before committing any more military or other assistance. But they have no problems asking our NATO partners to increase their commitment. It seems they want only easy when everybody else knows it will be hard.
Do you think that might be because they don’t really believe that it is in America’s interest to assure that Afghanistan and Pakistan don’t slide into Fundamentalist Islamic rule, turning into nations that would be more of a danger than Iran?
Do they think they will lose their base or at least the far left of their party?
Who knows how or what they are thinking in the White House. But they need to either make a commitment that will give our Warriors a fighting chance and an objective or bring them all home.
Because if we lose over there or leave, all of our troops will be needed here on our borders and coastlines, and that still may not be enough to stop them.
Here a few links for those interested. You should be, because besides the enemy within, these threats that are world wide (and soon are coming to a town near you) are the most important to your family and yourself. You are being forewarned, don’t ignore it.
Prepare yourselves-It is not going to go away.
http://tinyurl.com/yfw6stl
http://tinyurl.com/yh4w7at
Papa Ray
Used to be West (now) Central Texas
The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed – where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.
2009 Judge Alex Kozinski
October 29th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
A few more links.
http://tinyurl.com/yfw6stl
http://tinyurl.com/yz6×4v8
http://tinyurl.com/yeu5xka
Papa Ray
Used to be West (now) Central Texas
The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed – where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.
2009 Judge Alex Kozinski
December 11th, 2009 at 10:01 am
[...] from the left as a politicized Amateur Hour and the worst thing in the world. But now that General Joe Biden is taking the lead, it’s all [...]