The word came down on Tuesday that President Barack “Hamlet” Obama will finally let us know his views on Afghanistan  – some months after he assured us that we knew his views.  It seems we can expect a pronouncement on Monday after Thanksgiving.

To be sure, anything is better than the drift we currently have.  By refusing to immediately provide the miltary’s request for additional forces, President Obama discouraged our troops and allies and encouraged our enemies.  Being unschooled in military history, having never served in any capacity, President Obama failed to understand how much perception rules the battlefield.  History is replete with examples of victorious armies being routed at the last moment because the troops, for one reason or another, perceived they were beaten.  Hopefully, President Obama has now learned this lesson and will make his announcement with an understanding that it isn’t just the nuts and bolts of what he proposes, but how his proposal will be viewed by friend and foe which will matter.

The largest worry is that Obama will decide not to decide – that he’ll punt, hoping that something will turn up allowing him to get off the hook.  It is known that his allies in the political left were only using Afghanistan as a “good war” in order to flog President Bush – now that Bush is gone, the left has reverted to type and figures that any war America fights is a bad war.  The pressure is already building for a withdrawal from Afghanistan.  On the other hand, losing in Afghanistan would cost Obama dearly in the center – people who might not like the war, but who like defeat even less.  Obama, trying to straddle this fence, might try to come down on both sides with some sort of send-some-troops-but-don’t-send-enough non-decision.

President Obama can count on the ardent support of the non-isolationist right – yours, truly, included.  No truer statement was ever made by a mere man than MacArthur’s “in war, there is no subsitute for victory”.  Regardless of how one feels about the motivations which brought us to Afghanistan; regardless of how one feels about the conduct of the war to date; regardless of how one feels about the long, difficult task ahead – all who have any understanding of war know that we must fight for victory regardless of how long it takes or how much it costs.  The costs of losing are always higher than the costs of winning.

We can prevail in Afghanistan.  Our troops are the best America has ever put in the field and they will do whatever we ask of them.  The Afghans, being normal people, simply want to be left alone to live their own lives – they will come down on our side if we show them that no matter what, we will not abandon them to the Taliban (the great fear is that if they join us now that we might quit on them – and the Afghans know that for certain the Taliban will kill them if they help America and then America leaves).  By a combination of raw, military force, skilled diplomacy, cultural sensitivity and, at times, bribery (it does work in those parts of the world – and it isn’t considered bribery in the sense that we view it…sure, money changes hands, but that is just how business gets done, at times, in Afghanistan) we can set up a system in Afghanistan which, while not being up to American standards of liberty, will be far superior to what they have now and have ever had before.  And by doing this we will have struck another very deadly blow at the very concept of Islamo-fascism.

I hope Obama does the right thing.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 12:39 am and is filed under Conservative. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.