House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presides over a Congress--and a Democratic caucus--that's divided over Afghanistan strategy. There are schisms over how many troops to send, for instance, and how to pay for the buildup.
So she issued this statement after the president's speech Tuesday, a statement that praises the president but steers clear of support for any specific plans:
“President Obama inherited a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan because the Bush Administration did not have a plan to get the job done. Tonight, the President articulated a way out of this war with the mission of defeating Al Qaeda and preventing terrorists from using Afghanistan and Pakistan as safe havens to again launch attacks against the United States and our allies. The President has offered President Karzai a chance to prove that he is a reliable partner. The American people and the Congress will now have an opportunity to fully examine this strategy."
"Troops in Afghanistan and around the world have performed excellently; they have done everything that has been asked of them. As always, we are grateful and respectful of the enormous sacrifices our men and women in uniform, and their families, have made.”
Obama’s speech on Afghanistan can be compared to that of an academic applicant or junior Senator or union organizer attempting to outline his qualifications and resume for a job that is clearly above the applicant’s pay scale.
This applicant, Obama stated that the security of the world and the vital national interest of the USA, in Afghanistan, were limited to an 18 month objective to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future and during this same 18 month period deny al Qaeda a safe-haven and reverse the Taliban’s momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government because of the costs.
Yet in the text of this resume for the job of Commander and Chief for winning or finishing the war on radical Islamic terrorists, Obama will open the door to these same Taliban terrorists who abandon violence and respect the human rights of their fellow citizens, to create the conditions for an American troop pullout after 18 months from protecting the world from the common security and the vital national interest of Americans just prior to the 2012 USA Presidential elections.
The American people will be the judge on Obama’s application in 2012 for the job of Commander and Chief.
Posted by: peterclarke | December 02, 2009 at 10:34 AM