We need to start talking about the successes in Iraq. First, 500 tons of yellowcake uranium were found and removed safely to Canada. Second, Sunni Muslims themselves killed 80 Al-Queda operatives in Baghdad. The termination of these Al-Queda operatives was the equivalent of US having its military academy graduates killed all at once. Third, objectively the US has greatly enhanced the security of the region and most of all Iran (dividends one suspects will come later). Four, the US has prevented a succession war between the late Saddam’s psychotic sons and the implications for the region.

In Afghanistan, it is hard to imagine payoffs for the loss of American lives. Should we not just guard Pakistan’s nuclear weapons?

This is AMERICA’S war

We, on the Right, hated when the Left referred to Iraq as “Bush’s War” because the majority of us, along with the majority of our representatives, voted for action.

There is plenty to criticize about Obama’s Afghan policy…can’t we stick to doing that instead of trying to unassume our own responsibilities for it?

Don’t the radical Islamists love us yet? Haven’t they given up their evil ways and joined with us in singing campfire songs?

I mean, I would have thought that such things had been accomplished, after Obama so wisely went around the world apologizing for mean ol’ America, bashing Israel, kowtowing to terrorist regimes, and promoting Islam while trashing the national day of prayer. All those things were supposed to make us loved.

Oh, well. Even if all that failed, we should still have great confidence in Obama as our Commander-in-Chief. [insert loud snorting noises here]

It sounds like Will wants to revert to Clinton’s policy of sanitary war. Throwing missiles at empty desert camps from afar. That worked so well in the ’90s. We sure kept Afghanistan from becoming “a staging ground for international attacks”, didn’t we.

As to the assertion: “Al Qaeda do not represent an existential threat either to the U.S. nor (sic) to Pakistan. They can be managed and degraded using means other than war.”, what can I say? At what point after 9/11 did al Queda and its surrogates and spin-offs stop being “an existential threat” such that we can grant them an enormous boost in prestige by “declaring victory and coming home” with our tail between our legs. Does no one remember how the Sov’s abandonment of Afghanistan was received around the world? It pretty much spelled the end of USSR international prestige. Are we ready to accept the same perception for ourselves?

Conducting an effective foreign policy during times of financial duress requires us to walk and chew gum at the same time. This may be beyond the comprehension of the MSM. And the Obama administration, for that matter.

The current administration, Congress and it’s citizens need to consider reinstating the draft.

Those who scoff are either unaware, unrealistic or both about the sustained, justified commitment we need to make in AFG.

If not conscription, then perhaps it’s time for these fine organizations…

http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/html/index.htm
http://goarmycadets.com/
http://www.seacadets.org/public/

…to be taken out of 503(c) status and realigned under the Pentagon. Augmenting or completely replacing JROTC.

As a veteran of OEF, I can proudly say we are the most professional volunteer force on earth. If the emphasis is to remain on volunteer, and conscription is politically unsustainable, than a third option must be sought.

I am of the opinion that third option is a vast expansion of a mandatory JROTC-esque program that doesn’t have to mandate service. However, it should mandate training while in school. The future force is then drawn from that pool.

If President Obama is truly intent on drawing down worldwide, that is his perrogative. However, since he is predisposed to diplomacy I’m sure our dozens of embassies will stay open. And they have to be guarded or the diplomats die. We can use contractors – but he and his advisors are opposed to contractors.

General McCrystal (who I knew as Lieutenant General McCrystal, commander, Joint Special Operations Command) is no idiot. Either Obama commits troops to Afghanistan and vastly expands the military, or he can depend exclusively on contractors. Those are his only two choices. Anyone in disagreement with that is in denial about the amusing convergence of political viability, our national security and his personal outlook on the world and the US military’s role in. If I was still in I’d be terrified but since I’m out now I am amused and curious if he pull this off successfully.

If heads explode on the right or the left, he did it to himself. I predict riots if he increases troop strength substantially (50K+).