I’m worried about the welfare of our troops, if Obama mishandles this and if he ties their hands with senseless rules of engagement, which he already seems to be doing.
Obama is in a difficult situation, since he and the Dems have been saying, for years, that we need to fight the real enemy in Afghanistan and put more troops in there, while abandoning Bush’s stupid war in Iraq. Now the ball is in his court.
It was LBJ who got us defeated in Vietnam with his micromanagement and unwillingness to do what was needed to defeat the enemy. We could have won, but by the time he got through morale was lousy and the country was sick of it. Nixon never had a real chance to turn it around, with all the media against him.
Being a Dem didn’t save LBJ from the scorn of the left, and that may happen to Obama, too, especially if he starts failing in other areas.
I’m not sure what can be done, but I hate to see our troops put in harm’s way for nothing. As Eisenhower told JFK, don’t start a war unless you intend to win it.
If Obama and his Whizzer Kids are going to wee-wee up Afghanistan in the manner of LBJ by de-emphasizing the war and placing higher emphasis on getting the public support for his domestic policy THEN PULL THE TROOPS OUT NOW!
Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam by H. R. McMaster, an Army officer if I remember correctly.
This covers a period similar I believe to what we're in now. This was the period from Nov. 1963 until LBJ was elected and officially took office in Jan. 1965.
In 1961 JFK recalled Gen. Maxwell Taylor to active duty as his military representative. Later JFK named him chairman of the JCS. In 1964 LBJ appointed him ambassador to South Vietnam. I mention this solely to say
.. it's been awhile since I read the book but it was fun reading how Gen. LeMay would always manage to sit next to Gen. Taylor knowing that Taylor was against smoking. LeMay of course smoked cigars.