Afghanistan: The Surge To Nowhere

So our postmodern General McClellan has finally decided to get off his duff and fight, but only for a little while, then he's going to pack up his things and go. Nice of him to tell our enemies that they don't have to defeat us, only stay in the ring with us for 18 months or so, to be declared victors.

Obama, for all of his claims of Muslim affinity, doesn't get this. In a conversation with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, he displays a shocking ignorance of military strategy and international intervention:

When I asked Obama if the Taliban wouldn't simply wait us out, he was dismissive: "This is an argument that I don't give a lot of credence to, because if you follow the logic of this argument, then you would never leave. Right? Essentially you'd be signing on to have Afghanistan as a protectorate of the United States indefinitely."

Wrong, Mr. President. You fight to win, you leave when victory has been achieved. And victory here is defined very simply: The complete eradication of the Taliban, responsible for a heinous attack on the United States, and a destabilizing force in a very dangerous part of the world.

The "protectorate" comment is especially telling. While I initially thought the stress on the timetable aspect of this surge was to placate his left wing, it almost seems to me as if Obama is harkening back to his neo-Marxist roots, and dreading being seen as any type of a "colonizer" in the vein of a 19th century America or a 20th century Great Britain. His long hesitation on the Afghan surge may have had less to do with any type of protracted decision-making process and more to do with his innate revulsion at being perceived as what he sees as the worst of Western civilization - an aggressor, an occupier, a colonizer.

So he spent over three months trying to find a way out, but when presented with none, reluctantly agreed to add troops, with the loud and clear proviso that it would only be "for a little while", then we'd leave, regardless of outcome or circumstances.

Obama may have won this battle with his inner demons, but the losers will be the United States military, who will have to adapt battle techniques to an artificial deadline, risking lives and allowing a deadly foe to retreat into attrition-type warfare, knowing that in 18 months, they can rebuild and re-ignite their conflict, free of the fear of the American solider.

A high price for a nation to pay for one man's liberal vanity....