Obama on Afghanistan

This evening, President Obama gave a speech on the situation in Afghanistan and his upcoming plans.

Two problems with this speech:

1-Where is the mention of "victory"? We fight wars to win, not to appease the international community and the president's political base. The United States military is the most organized, pre-eminent force in the world, and to hand off leadership and decision-making to NATO, while letting the base influence this decision, over the generals, is suspect. The US Military will bring about victory and they must be in it to win it!

2-When a timeline is announced, the enemy will simply wait it out, then attack and advance after the Americans have left. If that occurs, we will see a repeat of Saigon 1975, but much, much worse!

Sadly, the president thought less like a Commander-in-Chief and more like a politician wanting his second term and needing to get the radical, anti-war left on board for 2012. If I'm a general who gave advice the president didn't accept, I'd resign! It is very troubling when a leader makes a decision based on his/her own power over the lives that decision will be affecting; in this case, members of the US Military, their families and the Afghan people who have openly fought for freedom that will be slaughtered if the Taliban ever comes to power again.