Many Advisors One Decision

As the President meets with his advisors to discuss whether or not to send more troops to Afghanistan the lack of military knowledge and inexperience on the part of Obama is overwhelming. How does one conjure up a viable combat strategy who has never so much as even stood at attention in a military formation? Never studied great military victories. Never sat in a wet foxhole. Never been dropped into a hot landing zone. Never swam into an enemy controlled beach. Never made a night combat raid from the decks of a naval warship in stormy seas. Never participated in a combat patrol in enemy territory. Never trained for a combat operation.

Yet with his deficient military acumen Barack Obama is now in the position of having to make a wartime tactical decision. His decision is not only being based on whether the military needs additional troops but if public opinion and Democratic support deems them necessary. Holding a wet finger in the air to see which way poll numbers are blowing is not the path to victory in Afghanistan.

General McChrystal has asked for 40,000 additional troops. This is not an arbitrary number he picked out of the air. It’s the number he has determined necessary to achieve the goal of mission accomplishment. Good military strategy has already determined what kind of forces will be used and where they need to be positioned.

Since when does a nation limit combat troops when attempting to achieve victory? If the goal is important enough to commit military forces then make it overwhelming force. Our warriors should be allowed to provide overpowering suppression that leads to triumph over our nation’s enemies. Hesitation and delay puts undue stress and risk on military forces already engaged in the fight.

The men and women that we put in harm’s way deserve better.