“His plan comes up short. There’s not enough troops, not enough resources and not enough urgency. What President Bush and Senator McCain don’t understand is that the central front in the War on Terror is not in Iraq and never was. The central front is in Afghanistan and Pakistan where the terrorists who hit us on 9-11 are still plotting attacks seven years later.”
Barack Obama
Campaign Speech
September 9, 2008
Obama also said “we can’t wait” on sending more troops.
But, that was last year.
A leading authority on counter-insurgency, adviser to the British government and former adviser to General David Petraeus warned that Obama’s dithering and waffling on Afghanistan could likely lead to disaster.
The Guardian reported, via HotAir:
A key adviser to Nato forces warned today that Barack Obama risks a Suez-style debacle in Afghanistan if he fails to deploy enough extra troops and opts instead for a messy compromise.
David Kilcullen, one of the world’s leading authorities on counter-insurgency and an adviser to the British government as well as the US state department, said Obama’s delay in reaching a decision over extra troops had been “messy”. He said it not only worried US allies but created uncertainty the Taliban could exploit.
Speaking in an interview with the Guardian, he compared the president to someone “pontificating” over whether to send enough firefighters into a burning building to put a fire out.
He was speaking as Obama left Washington for a nine-day trip to Asia without announcing a decision on troop numbers. The options being considered by the US have been narrowed down to four: sending 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 or 40,000, the latter the figure requested by the Nato commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal. These would be on top of 68,000 US troops already deployed.
The deep divisions with the Obama administration were exposed yesterday by leaked diplomatic cables from the US ambassador in Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, who urged Obama to ignore McChrystal’s request unless the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, cleaned up his corrupt government.
November 14th, 2009 | 2:40 pm | #1
If you lived in Afghanistan which side would you back? Obama’s waffling is only making the other side a better option.
November 14th, 2009 | 2:54 pm | #2
But we elected a Community Organizer Commander-in-Chief.
What could possibly go wrong?
November 14th, 2009 | 2:56 pm | #3
And it’s not only Obama. It’s a common trait among Democrats to allow “talks” and other similar stalling tactics…in this case “I want to get it right”…..that creates a mighty slippery slope. Clearly the blood of every service person killed or wounded is NOW on Obama’s hands.
He knew it all a year ago. Then he dispatched his self-appointed veteran general to make the right decisions. He did that, now the president’s not so sure….of anything. He’s a fraud.
He’s “not so sure” because the left-wing of his party is strongly opposed to ANY additional troops going to Afghanistan and he really needs to cater to their whim.
Remember that “3 AM phone call”???
I’m guessing the fraud would answer it at noon.
November 14th, 2009 | 3:00 pm | #4
TREASON
November 14th, 2009 | 3:05 pm | #5
First, having the Guardian criticizing Obama means he’s really in trouble. It’s not the Telegraph nor the Times. It’s far to the left of the NY Times, if that’s possible.
Second, if General Patton had waited two and a half months to say he was ready to releive Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans would have cut off our port facilities. When Gen. Bradley asked how long it would take to get his troops moving, he answered they are moving now. Bradley had expected two days.
Decisiveness wins battles. Indeciseveness is weakness.
November 14th, 2009 | 3:12 pm | #6
Does anyone remember the Democrat primary debate between Hillary and Obambi? The question posed was about how each of them would react to another 9/11 type event?
Hillary took the Bush-live go get the bad guys response. Obambi said he would make sure there were enough first responders.
This was an all too obvious view of how Obambi sees the world. Folks, we are in deep trouble.
November 14th, 2009 | 3:42 pm | #7
Way off topic but can anyone in the Seattle area or anywhere tell me what led the Seattle PD to beat this man senseless?
http://tiny.cc/Ee0cr
It is obvious as to why the LSM will not cover it.
I apologize for taking this thread elsewhere but this happening under the obamao admin and if this had been last year it would have front page proof of the Bush run police state.
November 14th, 2009 | 3:48 pm | #8
Obama’s Dithering & Waffling Risks Disaster in Afghanistan….
Then it is going just as Obama planned.
November 14th, 2009 | 4:23 pm | #9
Please forgive me but…… I am so praying for an “Act of God”
November 14th, 2009 | 5:27 pm | #10
++
testing 3, 2, 1..
==
November 14th, 2009 | 5:58 pm | #11
I say send Bozo over there with a rock to challenge alone the Taliban. That will boost troop moral, and the Republican base back at home. I’m sure an apology by the Bozo will solve all issues related to attacking western and eastern civilizations.
November 14th, 2009 | 6:10 pm | #12
++
pardon if a repeat, don’t see this posted yet..
via TRBO
Taliban Victorious
[What this may mean in Washington is that Stanley McChrystal’s ISAF, over-committed, out-numbered, is already in retreat from the Taliban offensive along the AfPakia border to the East.
This reminds of the retreat on the Korean Peninsula in the summer of 1950, before MacArthur’s counter-attack at Inchon Peninsula. Retreat is not a plan. At this point, it is a mystery what POTUS and the DoD have available to respond to the Taliban cockiness evident in this video.
Is ISAF already defeated in the East of the country? Is the delay at the White House because there is no politically sophisticated way to acknowledge surrender and flight? How do you secure a country when the enemy holds the East? A withdrawal to the cities may be in order, building strategic hamlets with the clear and hold strategy used by General Abrams in the late Vietnam war.
And yet video like this suggests that the Taliban is highly motivated, has good intelligence, enjoys easy recruiting, knows how to pick a fight, is unafraid of American airpower. Speaking Saturday 14 with my AfPakia roundtable of Bill Roggio, Rufus Phillips, Ari Rafiq re the White House dilemma, and re the latest controversy over the leak of a memo from Afghanistan Ambassador Eikenberry.]
==
November 14th, 2009 | 6:16 pm | #13
I think we should have paid more attention to the more than one hundred “Present” votes in the Illinois Senate before we elected him “Ditherer in Chief”. When we need a yes or no decision we get yet one more “Present” vote.
November 14th, 2009 | 6:47 pm | #14
++
re: bg @ 6:10 pm #12
sorry for my skepticism, but for some reason, i can’t help but think the Taliban has been receiving many an intelligence leak about US, not the other way around.. at any rate, believe we were more or less on the gain
side before O showed up..
==
November 14th, 2009 | 7:11 pm | #15
++
posted about this in a previous thread..
watched and listened to Journalist David Rohde being
interviewed by George Stephanopoulos the other day..
he says “we cannot walk away from Afghanistan”.. that the majority of Afghans are wonderful people, and they feel America will abandon them (sound familiar Dems), the Taliban on the other hand couldn’t hate US or these same Afghans more if they tried..
Freelance War Reporter Accuses Times of Lying About Taliban Bribes
[The Times has acknowledged that small bribes were paid to guards so that they would look the other way while Rohde escaped. But executive editor Bill Keller denied that any large sums of money exchanged hands — even though they were prepared to pay $2 million to the Taliban to secure his release.]
i can only hope & pray the president listens, on the
other hand, he’s far from presidential in my book..
“The War on Terror is Over” ~ B Hussein O
talk about DENIAL, that is a deliberate epitome of it right there..
==
November 14th, 2009 | 8:17 pm | #16
Mike W
November 14th, 2009 | 3:42 pm | #7
What had the guy getting beaten “allegedly” done?
He seemed to be just walking calmly out the door.
Any info on what led up to this beating?
November 14th, 2009 | 8:19 pm | #17
I’m a confirmed “warmonger” and have served in the US military. I hate cowardice just as much as the next guy.
But Europe needs to step up to the plate, the Gaurdian should be asking for more British troops or Nato troops (why is it that they want more US troops, we already have twice what any other country has provided). Everytime civilians get killed, blame the trigger happy Americans.
On a side note the british are actually reducing there presence and thinking about quiting. The only reason I would want more troops in Afghanistan is as a launching platform for an attack in Iran. Afghanistan is a lost cause.
November 14th, 2009 | 8:36 pm | #18
You KNOW his entire purpose is the defamation and destruction of this nation.
November 14th, 2009 | 8:47 pm | #19
Solaratov
November 14th, 2009 | 8:17 pm | #16
I have no idea what he allegedly did that is why I am asking. Searched google and could only find the beating of a 15 yr old girl who was already in jail and a Canadian who was jay walking and beaten . Seattle is not the place I would ever want to visit.
November 14th, 2009 | 9:24 pm | #20
++
Mike W @ 3:42 pm #7
that was harder to watch than what happened to Rodney King, and God bless policemen & women everywhere.. but i hope those type “cowards” amongst them get their comeuppance..
==
November 14th, 2009 | 9:28 pm | #21
“A good plan executed today is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite point in the future.”–General George Patton
When will these idiots learn?
November 14th, 2009 | 9:49 pm | #22
[...] reading: Gateway Pundit: Obama’s Dithering & Waffling Risks Disaster in Afghanistan and President “Dither and Waffle” Looks For Escape Hatch From Afghanistan and London Times on [...]
November 14th, 2009 | 10:59 pm | #23
There is absolutely no doubt that this tyrant will deliberately cost us Afghanistan. He must be stopped in 2010 by electing as many Conservatives as possible.
November 15th, 2009 | 10:05 am | #24
McChrystal should order an immediate stand-down and pull back to safety of the troops until a decision is reached.
Expecting our troops to fight a PC, under-resourced war is criminal. Obama has stated that he is uncomfortable with the term “victory” yet is the so-called CIC.
As much as I hate to say this I am afraid the Afghanistan war is lost because of this idea and we should get our troops out. America has lost the will to fight wars to win. This started under the Bush administration and has accelerated under Obama’s. 8 years on and were losing?
Right wing pundits, radio and TV hosts for the most part are still crying for Obama to actually take his commanders advice. Fat chance of that happening.
November 24th, 2009 | 9:18 am | #25
[...] Recall that during the campaign, Obama was very certain about the right course in Afghanistan. On September 9, 2008, he [...]
November 24th, 2009 | 1:54 pm | #26
[...] Played 25 Rounds of Golf- More Than Bush’s Two Terms While Soldiers Wait for Reinforcements and Obama’s Dithering & Waffling Risks Disaster in Afghanistan and President “Dither and Waffle” Looks For Escape Hatch From Afghanistan and Obama Tells [...]
November 30th, 2009 | 10:06 am | #27
[...] Played 25 Rounds of Golf- More Than Bush’s Two Terms While Soldiers Wait for Reinforcements and Obama’s Dithering & Waffling Risks Disaster in Afghanistan and President “Dither and Waffle” Looks For Escape Hatch From Afghanistan My Two Cents Worth: [...]
December 1st, 2009 | 3:30 pm | #28
[...] Played 25 Rounds of Golf- More Than Bush’s Two Terms While Soldiers Wait for Reinforcements and Obama’s Dithering & Waffling Risks Disaster in Afghanistan and President “Dither and Waffle” Looks For Escape Hatch From Afghanistan and London Times on [...]
December 1st, 2009 | 7:08 pm | #29
[...] a teaser from warrior Barack Obama from the 2008 Campaign: “His plan comes up short. There’s not enough troops, not enough resources and not enough [...]
December 2nd, 2009 | 10:08 am | #30
[...] Played 25 Rounds of Golf- More Than Bush’s Two Terms While Soldiers Wait for Reinforcements and Obama’s Dithering & Waffling Risks Disaster in Afghanistan and President “Dither and Waffle” Looks For Escape Hatch From Afghanistan VotingFemale Speaks!: [...]
December 4th, 2009 | 3:29 pm | #31
[...] Played 25 Rounds of Golf- More Than Bush’s Two Terms While Soldiers Wait for Reinforcements and Obama’s Dithering & Waffling Risks Disaster in Afghanistan and President “Dither and Waffle” Looks For Escape Hatch From Afghanistan HillBuzz: Thank you [...]
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