Obama decides war mission, not generals
As President Obama continues G-20 meetings today, he has a full plate on the foreign policy front. He has to talk about global efforts to combat climate change, even as his own energy legislation is running into roadblocks in Congress. He has a “tripartite” meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to jump-start peace talks.
And he’s doing all that with a contentious debate over Afghanistan howling in the background. Among the Beltway chattering classes, the topic du jour is this: Is there a rift growing between the president and the generals? Who leaked McChrystal’s downbeat assessment of Afghanistan to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward? Was the leak an effort to pressure the president to send more troops?
On Monday, the Post reported:
But Obama’s deliberative pace — he has held only one meeting of his top national security advisers to discuss McChrystal’s report so far — is a source of growing consternation within the military. “Either accept the assessment or correct it, or let’s have a discussion,” one Pentagon official said. “Will you read it and tell us what you think?” Within the military, this official said, “there is a frustration. A significant frustration. A serious frustration.”
Let them wait. The president is doing the right thing. As he told CNN’s John King Sunday:
“I don’t want to put the resource question before the strategy question. … Because there is a natural inclination to say, if I get more, then I can do more. But right now, the question is, the first question is, are we doing the right thing? Are we pursuing the right strategy?”
Gen. McChrystal is going what a good soldier should: Seeking the manpower to accomplish the mission he was given back in March. But that mission may well change. And it’s the president’s job to continually reassess the mission to make sure it’s one that can keep Americans safe without needlessly risking men (and women) or materiel.
Obama should take his time.
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115 comments Add your comment
Kayaker 71
September 22nd, 2009
8:02 am
Either do it right or get out. We cannot have American lives sacrificed because the president is in a holding pattern. Why does he even have generals? If Bozo cannot take the advice of those who are trained and experienced to deal with matters like this, he should not be the CIC. Carl Levin is no general either.
Community organizers should stick with community organization. Bozo is in far over his head, courtesy of his inexperience. When American lives are at stake, it is no time for on the job training.
Ayn Rand Was Right
September 22nd, 2009
8:04 am
Not much opportunity for light weight interviews if he dirties his fingers in a war. Too bad he is more concerned with his public persona than the safety of our nation. Going after the Bush era CIA agents, while secretly shipping hostiles to sympathetic countries for interrogation. Not understanding that ACORN is getting a flood of Federal dollars, even though he signed the bill. Softball interviews on his healthcare debate while our generals (who happen to understand military strategy Miss Tucker) wait for the attention they need to act on behalf of our safety. Yep…change is in the air alright. Bush may have been an idiot, but at least he cared about the safety and standing of our country more than he cared what the media said about him.
joe matarotz
September 22nd, 2009
8:27 am
Right on! Obama is the MAN! He’ll decide what to do. With his vast military experience, he will show us the WAY! Now, all lemmings please line up to follow the MAN!
Peadawg
September 22nd, 2009
8:28 am
LOL! Nice joke, joe! That made me spit out my coffee.
Road Scholar
September 22nd, 2009
8:28 am
Whats the rush! We didn’t get to where we are in Afganastan over night. Chill. You expect him to throw more resources to Afganastan when its government is corrupt, can’t/won’t defend itself, is partially aligned with the Taliban, etc. The country is a hellhole; only its people who want an honest, educated, and progressive leadership and oppertunities for themselves and their country is its only resource.
Donovan
September 22nd, 2009
8:39 am
Well said people. What we have here is a community organizer with no experience in anything sitting on his hands trying to figure out what to do with his full plate. Thanks to all of those American Idol watchers who elected this clown, what you see is what you got. Since when does a Democrat know what to do with a war and its successful prosecution? LBJ did a bang up job with Viet Nam. Now we have left wing whacko journalist trying to convince us that Obama is firmly in charge of things.
Joan
September 22nd, 2009
9:06 am
There was a Democrat who did know what to do–Harry Truman, but that was then. I should have thought that by now we would know what our “strategy” is. I mean, haven’t we been pursuing the “strategy” all along? I personally don’t believe that you can create a Democracy in an Islamic country where their values and beliefs are so radically different than ours. Most of the rest of the world understands that. I think we should declare victory and get the heck out. Defend our own borders. They are where we are truly being invaded.
Jackie
September 22nd, 2009
9:12 am
Still wondering if all those that support the war in Afghanistan supported the war in Iraq with personal sacrifices, i.e., did you or any of your children or relatives participate in the hostilities?
The question remains, did Iraq keep us safe? If so, whom did we protect ourselves from? Was Osama Bin Laden in/from Iraq? Were the 9/11 hijackers in/from Iraq? Does Afghanistan have the largest cocoa(heroin) production in the world? Can we pay for and fight a war in a country that is twice the size and more lawless than Iraq? How long have we been fighting in Iraq? Have we declared victory in Iraq?
The big question remains, what is our purpose in our commitment to Afghanistan?
Lastly, President Obama is the Commander-In-Chief. He was the final decision to make in our military policy.
Those Who Do Not Remember the Past ...
September 22nd, 2009
9:14 am
If Ms. Tucker had been writing blogs in 1966 …
“Lyndon Johnson Decides War Mission, Not the Generals.”
jconservative
September 22nd, 2009
9:27 am
As I have been saying for months it is time for a foreign policy assessment of who, what, when, where & why re Afghanistan. That foreign policy assessment must take place before the military strategic & tactical questions are considered.
First things first. Our problem in Viet Nam was the lack of a foreign policy assessment. After the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution we went in with our fist swinging & our eyes closed. The same for Iraq. Bush decided that the US had to do something spectacular after 9/11 & a foreign policy assessment was never done on Iraq. Still has not to this day.
A foreign policy decision has to be made. The military can participate in that assessment by laying out the military options & the ramifications of those options. If the answer is military
involvement, then you give them what they require to complete the mission. The military exist to support the nation’s foreign policy agenda, not the foreign policy existing to support the military agenda.
McChrystal can participate in the discussion. I would insist that the participate. After we decide what our objectives are in Afghanistan, the military must be given complete support by the American people.
SouthernGal
September 22nd, 2009
9:36 am
Please tell me why we are STILL in Irag and Afghan…time to bring our troops home. If the people in the ME want to continually fight and kill each other then so be it!
Batboy
September 22nd, 2009
10:16 am
Great. Now we have a community organizer trying to make strategy. That will help us sleep at night.
He told us in March that he had put into place a new “comprehensive” strategy. Did his plan fail already or was he lying? (Oops, there’s that pesky word)
Now he is dithering unable to give the support for the mission he himself laid out. Tucker as usual is spinning hard but Obama is looking more clueless and rudderless by the moment.
The truth behind Obama’s dithering is that the radical wing of his party ( of which he is a radical member) wants to investigate the CIA and exit Afghanistan ASAP. Obama is in a hard spot but leading is hard. So far he does not seem up to the task.
Sluggo
September 22nd, 2009
10:23 am
Yesterday Cynthia was telling us how wise Obama is for changing directions. Today she is telling us he is wise because he does not listen to his generals. Tomorrow she will telling us he is wise for some other reason.
Do you think her time has past?
someguy
September 22nd, 2009
10:43 am
Hey Cynthia, The President is at the UN General Session today. The G20 starts later this week in Pittsburgh. For a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist you should at least be able to get your facts straight in the first sentence. This is typical ineptness for this editorial board. After reading how incorrect the first sentence there is noway I would read the rest of this garbage piece.
PinkoNeoConLibertarian
September 22nd, 2009
11:02 am
Isn’t this one of the columnists that used to call President Bush out for not listening to the generals and following their advice?
Peadawg
September 22nd, 2009
11:19 am
PinkoNeoConLibertarian, you didn’t know it was ok for a Dem to do that…but not a Rebpulican? The Democratic Hypocrisy Party at its best.
David from WI
September 22nd, 2009
11:36 am
You give the military a mission and or goals and then you LET THEM DO IT.
You don’t stand it their way and you don’t micromanage their actions PERIOD.
They are the experts. They are not perfect but unless you take their advise or let them do their jobs you only hamper them and make their, already, danger jobs harder.
Give them goals let them accomplish them or don’t ask them to do it in the first place.
LET THEM DO THEIR JOBS OR PULL THEM OUT Mr President.
History has shown when politicians manage wars it end BAD for EVERYONE.
Peaches
September 22nd, 2009
11:38 am
Enter your comments here
Walter Miller
September 22nd, 2009
11:39 am
Thank God President Obama is taking the larger view. That is what we pay him for.
We can’t ‘win’ in Afghanistan. All we can do is be targets. We need to get our guys out, not send more.
That is what George Will says, and he produced back up e-mails from the former Commandant of the Marine Corps and other retired senior officers.
President Obama should not be hoo-rahed by disloyal officers leaking secret documents to steno takers like Woodward.
Walt
Peaches
September 22nd, 2009
11:42 am
Ms. Tucker says that the President has a “deliberative” pace in deciding about Afghanistan. Don’t buy that spin for a nanosecond. Obama is dithering, weak and cowardly, before the significance of the decision and the ideologues in his own party.
If he commits, the Afghan war is even more his. If he does not, the foreign policy consequences are awful.
I wish he would put on his big boy pants and be a leader.
Kevin
September 22nd, 2009
11:45 am
How dare any of you question the President or his indecisive approach!
You bunch of racists!
ThePlainTruth
September 22nd, 2009
11:49 am
Enter your comments here
If Obama had been concentrating on Afghanistan, instead of trying to push healtcare down the throat of an unwilling public, he might have the right strategy. But on the other hand, what does a community organizer with a year and half as a US Senator know about warfare anyway? He ought to listen to the ones who do know. I am afraid all he does is thing about the political implications of what he does–not what is best for the country.
Walter Miller
September 22nd, 2009
11:57 am
“Of all the enemies of true liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded. . . . No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” — James Madison, 1790
Carter is a Fool
September 22nd, 2009
11:59 am
Still waiting for someone on the Paper to condemn Carter as short sighted for his idea that it is racism that is behind opposition to the takeover of healthcare. Any takers from our fearless communists, err columnists. Even Clintoon distanced himself from Carter’s ramblings.
ken
September 22nd, 2009
12:05 pm
The only climate is the thinning air in D.C. The earth is getting COLDER.
Tax payer funded Public Option, NEVER!
September 22nd, 2009
12:07 pm
Funny, with all the COLD weather, “global warming” has become “climate change”, which actually there is – they are called seasons, and there are four of them.
Patrick
September 22nd, 2009
12:08 pm
The only people who comment on editorials are people that are incapable of forming their own opinions. This person’s entire job is to be “controversial” so you people will read her column and argue and fight. This so called “journalist” doesn’t care if you agree or disagree. She only cares that you read her column so she can keep her job. You people are really a very sad group.
And to clarify, I am commenting on the pathetic losers that comment on editorials, not the editorial itself. There is a difference.
El Jefe
September 22nd, 2009
12:16 pm
What type of garbage is this – Obama decides war mission, not generals.
To a certain degree, I also agree – but it is the depth of what the Tucker is flapping her gums about.
The President sets the goals of the war. The Congress funds it. The Generals run it.
It is just that simple. Anything else and we have another botched rescue mission like the one Jimmy Carter “planned”. Imagine sending sea based helicopters into the desert – insanity.
If Obama wants to run the war, then he should be out in the field with the Generals, he should not pull another LJB and pick their missions from the White House.
With the current administration, I foresee sad times and hard times without relief.
Jimmy Faaater
September 22nd, 2009
12:19 pm
Cynthia will never run out of excuses regardless of how lame for this procrastinating incompetent masquerading as our president.
El Jefe
September 22nd, 2009
12:22 pm
This is a real hoot – Speaking of the Presidents “deliberative pace ” – I guess that does not apply to Healthcare, Cap and tax, illegal immigration amnesty, Cash for junk, Stimulus bills – all that is too important to take time and think about what it might mean – It is frustrating to hear Sen. Reid (D-NV) thanking an outside organization for writing the Stimulus bill.
I guess the only place there is a “deliberative pace” is picking a dog for his family or supporting our troops.
Is it 2012 yet?
booger
September 22nd, 2009
12:25 pm
For the last eight years it seemed to be the media’s job to decide the war mission. Suddenly, it’s the president’s job. I’ll never figure out how government is supposed to work.
funnything
September 22nd, 2009
12:26 pm
Patrick, then how pathetic are you? loser.
David
September 22nd, 2009
12:28 pm
Hey Donovan, guess what man…. Pres. Obama is not a community organizer anymore. He is the President of the United States! Respect that man! And yes, He is commander incheif, period! I’m an ex- US Airforce Seargent, so repect our Pres. man! It does not take someone to serve in the military to command when you are the president. Obama has advisors(joint chiefs of staff, etc) that can advise him on what to do. It is not The presidents fault that we are in the situation in iraqi or afghanistan. It’s the Bushes what started this man. I served during the 1st Iraq war in 1991(desert sheild/desert storm), so respect the President man. You dont need military experience when you have advosors man. Respect that!
Paul A
September 22nd, 2009
12:37 pm
So Obama wants to wait and carefully consider what steps to take next in Afghanistan ‘eh?
He hasn’t figured this out yet huh?…..
Bullsh**. He got a report he didn’t want to hear. THAT’S THE TRUTH !!!
BUT…. He’ll rush ANY healthcare bill Congress can come up with. Remember the august deadline?…. “We need to get this done quickly.”
Hmmmmmmmmmm……………. Ironic isn’t it?
Another perfect example why Obama is completely clueless about the office of POTUS and what’s best for the population and future of The United States of America.
It’s amateur hour at Uncle Obozo’s crib.
LOL
ROFL
Waterloo !!!!!!!!
jconservative
September 22nd, 2009
12:44 pm
If I may quote from Roger Simon at Politico”
“On Monday, The Washington Post published a “confidential assessment” of the war by McChrystal in which he said he needs more troops “while Afghan security capacity matures.”
Let me translate that for you: The Afghans are still somewhat unwilling to fight for their own country, to die for a weak and corrupt government in Kabul or to risk their lives to grow pomegranates and guarantee rights for women.”
jconservative
September 22nd, 2009
12:47 pm
Patrick
September 22nd, 2009
12:08 pm
I am sure Cynthia appreciates you blodding in & increasing her numbers.
SAWB
September 22nd, 2009
12:48 pm
Obama: All talk. No trousers.
The president needs to lead, not waffle.
Jimmy Faaater
September 22nd, 2009
12:51 pm
Hey David or Sgt. if you’re trying to claim military service cred man, you better learn how to spell Sergeant man. BTW…if you don’t have the military experience, you better follow the experienced recommendations of those who have. Obama doesn’t and hasn’t
DAVID
September 22nd, 2009
12:58 pm
Cynthia…..Go back to sleep….Better to remain silent & be thought of as a fool……
Marc
September 22nd, 2009
12:59 pm
On Afghanistan he’s suppose to take his time when time is of the essence while one health care it’s fine for him to ram rod it down the throats of the people! Logical!!! Cynthia when will you admit that he and his advisors are clueless?
William
September 22nd, 2009
1:01 pm
What scares me is that I have a son in the military at this time. And whacko liberals in charge! OMG! Please be with my son Lord!
Jack
September 22nd, 2009
1:02 pm
The generals have trained to fight, not to organize communities.
Kevin
September 22nd, 2009
1:02 pm
Hey Patrick,
Here’s a novel thought-
Don’t click on the story and, more importantly, don’t feel compelled to comment on it.
But you can’t, can you? Because it gives you some little superiority high to demonstrate for the masses your intellectual superiority. You surely would’t want to dirty yourself with the masses by actually adding value to a legitimate conversation.
Gett off your cross. Somebody needs the wood.
Kamchak
September 22nd, 2009
1:02 pm
If Bush had concentrated on Afghanistan, instead of wandering around the desert looking for Gog, Magog and weapons of mass destruction, he might have had the right strategy.
fyt
Real
September 22nd, 2009
1:19 pm
A unconventional enemy where you cannot differentiate must be fought with unconventional tactics — implement a scorched earth policy. This keeps our troops out of harm’s way!! Same with Iran.
Regarding Israel — our policy should be to encourage them to “release the hounds”…
Ops
September 22nd, 2009
1:23 pm
A novel thought — perhaps ex-ACORN employees can assist Aghan citizens in re-building their communities, obtaining housing, and with voting ballots!!
Chris Broe
September 22nd, 2009
1:24 pm
Are we in a market mini-bubble? Can we thank the Afghan War? Stock Markets can rally big during undeclared wars of attrition, occupation or nation-building.
The stock market has priced in a huge escalation of the Afghan War. The Afghanistan mom and pops are buying blue chips and buffalo chips, (with detonators). Al Queda, the Taliban, and some Kurdish tribal remnants are all hiding in hedge funds. The thing about the Kurds is that they think it’s a patriotic to catch a falling knife and fight the fed. Moreover, they all start laughing when you use the phrase, “Dead Cat Bounce”. I wonder why that is.
A market bubble during a war is hell, but writer’s block is worse.
TnGelding
September 22nd, 2009
1:50 pm
Kayaker 71
September 22nd, 2009
8:02 am
The generals are at odds, as well. Bozo I is the culprit. His was a fool’s errand that will take decades to recover from.
Rest assured that the rookie has excellent advisors and will make an informed decision. What’s the rush? Better to get it right. There are many options on the table. There is talk of increasing the effort in Pakistan.
“But White House officials say the president is considering more than the McChrystal assessment as he weighs courses of action. He’s relying on the views of key Cabinet aides, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said last week that he has yet to make up his mind on the wisdom of committing more troops.”
More boots on the ground is not the answer. We have to get the USAF more involved and unleash lethal force that will, along with the increased use of UAVs, create an atmosphere of fear that will break their momentum and ultmately cause them to disband.
I’ve said all along that I didn’t have no quarrel with no Taliban. Seems like more and more are taking that position.
TnGelding
September 22nd, 2009
1:54 pm
William
September 22nd, 2009
1:01 pm
The brass at the Pentagon hasn’t changed that much. That’s who you have to fear. Like things were gong so well there for, count them, 87 MONTHS before the libs took over.
David
September 22nd, 2009
2:06 pm
Hey Jimmy Faaater , First off, your attack is really weak man. I served in the US Airforce from 1987 to 1992. I served at kunsan airbase, Korea, Williams AFB, arizona, and Castle AFB, California in the rank of Seargent(SGT.) – 3 stripes with a star(AN NCO) man. I have the experiaence and DD214’s to prove it. I came out of the airforce with and “honorable” discharge. Man, If you are gonna attack folks, then come stronger than that. Your attack on a my spelling was really weak! You need to go back to the lab and come up with something better than that man,LOL! If you don’t have any military experience, and are just shoouting off at the mouth at what the President should do, then you need to join the military and see what it’s like man.LOL! Like I said, He is the commander in chief, period. Pres. Obama has a team of advisors that will advise him on what to do. If you cannot comment on that, then just shut up man!