Afghanistan, Obama’s Looming Waterloo
By Larry Johnson on September 22, 2009 at 12:47 PM in Current Affairs
Barack Obama is in major trouble and it ain’t on the health care front. His Presidency is in peril over Afghanistan. Talk about tossing a turd in the the punchbowl. The leak to Bobby Woodward over the weekend of General McChrystal’s report outlining the need for at least 40,000 more troops on the ground in Afghanistan puts Obama in the position of either following the recommendation of his personally selected commander and sending more troops or refusing to accept the request and signaling that Afghanistan is not so essential after all. Obama dug his own political grave on this one. If you call a war a “WAR OF NECESSITY” and then refuse or delay giving your military leaders the troops and resources they need to accomplish their mission then you get the blame. There is no where to hide. The leak now puts Obama in the position of two very unpalatable choices–he accepts McChrystal’s plan and ends up appearing very weak as he “caves” to the military and alienates the more liberal members of his party or he rejects McChrystal’s recommendation and obliterates his credibility with the military and will likely lose McChrystal.
According to a report filed by McClatchey’s Nancy Youssef:
Six months after it announced its strategy for Afghanistan, the Obama administration is sending mixed signals about its objectives there and how many troops are needed to achieve them.
The conflicting messages are drawing increasing ire from U.S. commanders in Afghanistan and frustrating military leaders, who’re trying to figure out how to demonstrate that they’re making progress in the 12-18 months that the administration has given them.
Adding to the frustration, according to officials in Kabul and Washington, are White House and Pentagon directives made over the last six weeks that Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, not submit his request for as many as 45,000 additional troops because the administration isn’t ready for it.
In the last two weeks, top administration leaders have suggested that more American troops will be sent to Afghanistan, and then called that suggestion “premature.” Earlier this month, Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that “time is not on our side”; on Thursday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates urged the public “to take a deep breath.”
The White House didn’t respond to requests for comment. Officials willing to speak did so only on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
In Kabul, some members of McChrystal’s staff said they don’t understand why Obama called Afghanistan a “war of necessity” but still hasn’t given them the resources they need to turn things around quickly.
Three officers at the Pentagon and in Kabul told McClatchy that the McChrystal they know would resign before he’d stand behind a faltering policy that he thought would endanger his forces or the strategy.
“Yes, he’ll be a good soldier, but he will only go so far,” a senior official in Kabul said. “He’ll hold his ground. He’s not going to bend to political pressure.”
This episode highlights why Obama is such an amateur. If you make a public declaration that Afghanistan is a war of necessity then you are staking out a position that permits no room for retreat. Remember his “rollout” of his new policy?
Today, I’m announcing a comprehensive, new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. And this marks the conclusion of a careful policy review, led by Bruce, that I ordered as soon as I took office. My administration has heard from our military commanders, as well as our diplomats. We’ve consulted with the Afghan and Pakistani governments, with our partners and our NATO allies, and with other donors and international organizations. We’ve also worked closely with members of Congress here at home. And now I’d like to speak clearly and candidly to the American people. . . .
As President, my greatest responsibility is to protect the American people. We are not in Afghanistan to control that country or to dictate its future. We are in Afghanistan to confront a common enemy that threatens the United States, our friends and our allies, and the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan who have suffered the most at the hands of violent extremists.
So I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future. That’s the goal that must be achieved. That is a cause that could not be more just. And to the terrorists who oppose us, my message is the same: We will defeat you.
To achieve our goals, we need a stronger, smarter and comprehensive strategy. To focus on the greatest threat to our people, America must no longer deny resources to Afghanistan because of the war in Iraq. To enhance the military, governance and economic capacity of Afghanistan and Pakistan, we have to marshal international support. And to defeat an enemy that heeds no borders or laws of war, we must recognize the fundamental connection between the future of Afghanistan and Pakistan — which is why I’ve appointed Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who is here, to serve as Special Representative for both countries, and to work closely with General Petraeus to integrate our civilian and military efforts.
He could have said, “We are going to study what to do before committing our nation to a course of action.” Yep. He could have said something along those lines. But he did not. Instead he essentially declared, “Read my lips.” Barack is not the first President to make a rash, stupid statement. But who is advising him? Who leaked this? Some speculate that an Obama staffer, like Dennis McDonough, in a bid to ingratiate himself with Woodward spilled the beans but did not anticipate Woodward going forward with the story. My money is on a senior staffer who works for SecDef Bob Gates, who was frustrated by the White House footdragging and vacillation and decided to light a nuclear fire under their ass.
Well, boys and girls, the fire is burning and it ain’t a marshmallow roast. This blaze is likely to consume the Obama Presidency and could be the mortal wound to Mr. Hope’s quest for a legacy. He’ll get a legacy alright–he’ll make folks long for someone with the strength of Jimmy Carter.
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