McChrystal Out, Petraeus In, Still no Plan

Julian Barnes, in a recent Wall Street Journal article, points to a group in the White House that prefers to pare down the Afghan military operation in favor of predawn attacks using drones that focus on insurgent leaders. The goal—an early withdrawal from the theater of combat—is the approach I would take. General David Petraeus is top grade, but the mission in Afghanistan is not well based from the start. General Petraeus is being asked to win a war in which we have no business fighting from the start.

When Tommy Franks and Donald Rumsfeld decided not to follow up on the CIA’s request for U.S. Army Ranger backup in the Tora Bora mountain attack on bin Laden, the game was over. In hindsight, it is easy to blame General Franks and Secretary Rumsfeld for costing us bin Laden, but at the time they had good reasons for their decision. Once that card had been played, we should have gone home.

The U.S. has no beef with the Taliban. Yes, the Taliban is a nasty crowd whose old leadership provided a sanctuary for al Qaeda. But these are the very same goat herders who the CIA handed millions in cash-money to run around after the Soviets. With reportedly under 100 al Qaeda left in the country, the job of removing them has been done.

No government in Kabul can be trusted. To say otherwise simply flies in the face of abundant evidence to the contrary. And not surprisingly, the drug scene in Afghanistan has ties to the government. Has anyone read a detailed endgame report from America’s civilian leadership on Afghanistan? Exactly why, outside the vast minerals find (which may never be mined) are Americans getting killed in Afghanistan? Would not deployment of these troops along the Mexican border make more sense? These troops could also assist in returning America’s illegal immigrants to their homelands. This substantial migration should have begun long ago.

As a final note, putting blame on General Stanley McChrystal for the poor status of the situation in Afghanistan is both political fodder—wrong and disgraceful. The Bush administration blew the Afghan deal. And the Obama crowd is churning the stinking stew into something worse. Clearly, our young neophyte president has not a clue in the world as to what to do in Afghanistan, or in the U.S., for that matter.

Obama is quickly approaching lame-duck status. The Democrats will lose the House in the fall, Americans will have heard the last of Nancy Pelosi, and funding for the Obama fronted radical progressive movement mission will dry up on the vine. All revenue-raising bills must originate in the House. I don’t see the gang I expect to arrive in the House this fall supporting income redistribution and the dismantling of the American economy.