Posted on 10/31/2009 1:56:53 AM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
Obama Requests More Options for Troop Levels The Washington post reported two officials as saying late Friday Obama asked the Pentagon's top generals to provide him with more options for troop levels in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama grappled Friday with the costs and consequences of a long-term commitment to Afghanistan, but reached no decisions about troop levels, a top aide said, as military advisers briefed the president on an armed services already taxed by challenges around the globe.
The president reviewed his options with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and made clear he wants at least one more meeting with them and with his broader national security team before deciding on a revamped war strategy for the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, said a senior administration official.
The Washington post reported two officials as saying late Friday Obama asked the Pentagon's top generals to provide him with more options for troop levels.
He reportedly is expected to receive several options from them next week.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Great movie. I can only wonder at the frustration of the professional officer corps right now.
Why not just pull a number out of a hat? My God.
Reminds me of a pitcher we had on our Pony League baseball team. It was the bottom of the seventh, they had men on second and third. We had a one or two run lead and our pitcher was losing what little ball control he had. Their best hitter came to the plate. I’m catching and calling the pitches. I signal fastball, he shakes me off, I signal curve, he shakes me off, I signal change-up, he shakes me off. I start over, all the while the other team is taunting him. Coach goes to the mound, tries to calm the guy. No problem says the pitcher just needed a minute. Coach goes back to the dugout, we go through the whole sinal and shake off thing again. Long story short, the guy froze. He had two words,”I can’t.”
Thanks.
1. 40,001 troops
2. 39,998 troops
3. 40,002 troops
4. 39,999 troops
At the cost of our treasure and the BLOOD OF OUR PATRIOTS, we have won the right for most Afghans to have free elections, which they have participated in, and for rights for the downtrodded, and their women.
Our generals have stated what we need to win this war and they are backed up by our allies. But the marxist in chief is delaying and now, after spending an entire 20 HOURS thinking about it, he has decided to ask for much less than what is needed.
Our enemies will trumpet this betrayal, even the VERY HINT of it, as a victory and those who have trusted us will lose trust.
More Americans will die as a result of this (and have already died)...and if he continues with it...hundreds of thousands of Afghans who trusted us will end up dead along with many hundreds more of our own.
He will have handed Al Quida and the Taliban a victory where there was none.
They have been hiding in holes, scared of our UAVs and when they come out, they are defeated every time with large loss of life.
Now they will say they have "won".
Dear God in Heaven, let stalwarts stand against this rash, evil action and prevail.
Some think it is hard to understand Obama's motivation and reasons for doing this. I for one do not. His every action has been to destroy the free market and republican principles of this nation. His every foreign policy move has weakened us.
It is his intent...it is all part of his fundamental change. He is a marxist ideologue and he, his adherants, and his handlers mean to destroy American as we have known it.
Remember how the Democrats complained that we weren’t paying enough attention to Afghanistan? Is it just me, or were things actually going better for the U.S. in Afghanistan when Bush was President?
In my opinion, people in Afghanistan, including the Taliban and Al Queda, smell weakness.
In other news, Obama moved his tee time up an hour, having nothing on his schedule that needs immediate attention.
And while he's playing political games, our troops are dying.
LBJ is a far more complicated in my judgment than Obama. I think Obama is a man of very little originality in his Weltanshaaung. I see LBJ as a mosaic of several eclectic choices for his belief system but essentially Lyndon Baines Johnson belongs in the Old Testament. LBJ I think would have felt quite at home as a patriarch in Genesis alternately beseeching God and defying God. In many ways LBJ is the archetypal God Player but he is fascinating because he knew when he was sinning. LBJ was a walking contradiction. Obama, I think, does not believe that he sins and does not concern himself about it even if it is pointed out to him. He is the pure narcissist. LBJ is a narcissist one moment and the repentant sinner the next. LBJ is endlessly complicated, Obama is one-dimensional.
No one can compare the genius of LBJ who was a man of ferocious will and tenacity who made his way up from the hardscrabble dirt of West Texas by dint of brains and unbelievable application. Obama to the contrary, has had everything presented to him because of his race.
Many authors have explained LBJ's stand on civil rights and The Great Society as a compensation reaction to his exposure to depression era poverty in rural West Texas. One can also see it as a question of sin and redemption. His conduct of the war in Vietnam is a classic case of rebellion and repentance. LBJ discourse was primitive, even scatological, and so was his behavior. My favorite anecdote about Johnson is related by a woman who was during once a young secretary in the White House brought to the Texas White House for the weekend ostensibly to act as a stenographer. She was concerned that her bedroom had no lock on the door. Years later she reported that in the middle of the night the door was opened and the covers on her bed were pulled back and she heard, "move over honey, this is your President."
Essentially, LBJ did well as he did good. He saw himself as larger-than-life, a man to whom the rules for ordinary mortals did not apply. He was larger-than-life. So were his sins. And his rationalizations and agonies fit his larger than life shoe size.
LBJ was a typical God Playing liberal-but more so. But he was a patriot, at least by his own lights even when he got himself awarded the Silver Star on an even more fraudulent basis than did John F. Kerry. Obama is a Marxist ideologue who is not in the same league with Lyndon Baines Agonistes.
He doesn’t want the news cycle on election day to be about the troop levels in Afghanistan. Pure politics.
If I were one of the generals I’d send back a memo saying here are your options:
1. More troops
2. No more troops
3. Less troops
4. No troops
What’s so hard about that?
Cue appropriate pictures, starting with what the USAF has to offer and go from there.
Does your dad know my dad???
Meanwhile at Dover AFB, 18 of America's best are brought home to be laid to rest. When asked by Obama if he could take pictures with them and their deceased, 16 of 18 families refused.
Do you think they know that their Son's lost their lives because of Obama's "dithering?" I sure do.
Thank you for the excellent analysis. In three paragraphs, you’ve encapsulated 0bama’s true motivations in a way that is easy for anyone to understand. Bravo!
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