Posted by
halthouse1 on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 4:00:00 AM
From
The Political and Financial Markets Commentator
This Is A Photo Of One Of The Iranian Missile Tests, Fired Days After A Second Uranium Enrichment Plant Was Exposed. The Missile Fired On Monday Had The Capacity To Reach Israel And U.S. Interests
The missile tests on Sunday and Monday put a clear face on our October 1st negotiations partner in Geneva. This should serve as a wake up call to President Obama as to the futility of negotiations with this type of regime.
The argument will be that Iran's purpose in conducting these tests is to gain leverage in the upcoming talks. My thinking is that it is further indication of the insanity of the Iranian leadership.
Will The Real Robert Gates Please Stand Up
A force behind the Iraqi troop surge back in 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has apparently found the appetite for politics at the expense of our soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan as well as the security of the United States.
Remember on September 21st when General McCrystal, the chief of operations in Afghanistan who was placed there by President Obama, had this to say regarding the prospect of not increasing troop strength:
"Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) -- while Afghan security capacity matures -- risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible."
Now you would typically put a man in place whose opinions you trust as the gospel. If not, why have him there? President Obama and Robert Gates apparently seem to feel that Nancy Pelosi and the left of the Democrat Party have a better grasp on what is needed there, and it does not include troops.
No, it encompasses a time table for withdrawal. The idea of the Democrat leadership is to abandon the mission, admit defeat, and let the Taliban run wild taking control of the country to turn it into one large training ground for terrorist trainees.
All we need to do is examine the 3 foiled terrorist plots over the past week or so to realize that giving the Taliban free reign to train and deploy its own "troops" would be an unacceptable outcome for the United States!
Now the situation on the ground is not a simple one by any means. Violence has reached an 8 year high, and the Afghan government needs to gain the confidence of its people as well as step up the capacity for it's own soldiers to eventually take over from the United States. This, so that at some time in the future we can pull back.
(
Washington Examiner) "...Gates told ABC's "This Week," Obama will decide, within weeks, "whether or not to make adjustments in the strategy" in the wake of the country's recent election, as well as a dire new assessment of the war by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
"And that includes the question of, is McChrystal's approach, in the view of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Central Command commander, the right approach?" Gates told host George Stephanopoulos. "And if so, then what would be the additional resources required?..."
The Conclusion
Gentlemen, this is no time for focus groups, reading the polling data or consultation with the far left. This is the reason that you were elected. To make the critical decisions that are required for the security of the country.
Not to politicize, but to strategize!
General McCrystal has made his assessment and no doubt has discussed it with the Joint Chiefs. Our men and woman on the ground face increased danger without the surge, and the mission will "result in failure" without the surge. It appears that their are two possible choices:
1) Complete and immediate withdrawal with all of the unpleasant future outcomes this would enable;
2) The troop surge as recommended by the Obama administration "expert" on the ground.
As Malone said to Eliot Ness in "The Untouchables": "What are you prepared to do?" Well Mr. President, what are you prepared to do?