More War, Just Like We Planned
Some people seem surprised that President Obama has decided to escalate the war in Afghanistan – which is weird, since he told us over and over all through his presidential campaign that if he was elected he would escalate the war in Afghanistan. Because he is convinced that we must win this war, for some reason.
Fafblog says it well:
Let us never forget just what’s at stake in the war in Afghanistan: nothing less than the success of the war in Afghanistan. This war may be a mistake, a blood-soaked blunder, an unholy charnel house mindlessly consuming the bodies and souls of untold thousands, an open sore on the pockmarked face of history and an abomination before the sight of God and men, but it is first and foremost a war, and wars must be won. If the United States doesn’t win this war, then will it not lose it?
More at Fafblog.
I would much prefer a not-going-to-Afghanistan Obama, but that ain’t the one we got, as you say. But since we have *this* Obama, I was at least pleased with his speech. It seemed to put as many rational limits on our involvement as I could hope for, and positioned our escalation within a framework of international law and cooperation.
Baby steps, I guess.
At least this plan to escalate has the virtue of being an instance of the president acting on his beliefs.