A McCrystal Clear Strategy

Okay, follow me on this one.

You’re walking through the jungle and all of a sudden a lion jumps out from behind a bush and takes a mighty swing at you with his paw. Being quick on your feet you are able to elude the lion’s swipe and end up with just the smallest of nicks on your hand where the lion’s claw punctured the skin. Looking down you think “Wow, look at this. It’s just a little lion prick.”

Speaking of which, did you happen to see Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid leaving the White House yesterday?

The diminutive Mr. Peepers look-a-like was so blatantly dishonest that even his Democrat counterpart from the House of Representatives couldn’t hide her dismay. As news cameras rolled to catch another in the long string of historic moments of the Obama administration, Reid put his arm around Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and said that everyone will support whatever decision the President makes regarding strategy for the war in Afghanistan.

With that, in full view of the news teams assembled, speaker Pelosi rolled her eyes and seemed to recoil from the friendly embrace of Reid’s arm. Reid went on with his none too subtle prevarication and said what is important is “strategy before resources”.

In every aspect of Reid’s impromptu comments lies the deceit and misdirection of this latest chapter of America’s presidential on the job training.

First of all, we already have committed incredible resources to this most important military operation. The United States has been engaged in Afghanistan for 8 years and has tens of thousands of troops on the ground waiting for the new game plan. We regularly receive the sad news that more of America’s finest have lost their lives having been outnumbered by invading terrorist jihadists.

For two years the community activist now residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue said that winning this war by defeating Al Qaeda and the Taliban was a top priority. As recently as last March Obama made it clear that he intended to act like a real commander and chief, installing General Stanley McCrystal into the top position for Afghan strategy. McCrystal, one of the few Obama appointees that did not have tax troubles, had spent four years in charge of the military’s intelligence and covert operations in Afghanistan. There is nobody more in tune with what needs to be done than he.

But when McCrystal came back with his well thought out strategy of adding 40,000 additional troops to stage a similar surge to the one that was so completely successful in Iraq, well that’s when the commander and chief turned back into a community activist and began his protracted strategy debate.

While our brave volunteer military are actively involved in fighting a war against entrenched and treacherous Muslim fanatics, our less than brave Democrat politicians are debating, not war strategy, but political strategy. General McCrystal made clear the military strategy and even clarified further by stating publicly that anything less than his suggestion would mean defeat. That little press quote earned the general a trip to the presidential woodshed where he was summarily dressed down for speaking truth in a time when others are looking for excuses.

The delay in sending our military what they need when they need is criminal. This is not a new war with unknown adversaries in unfamiliar terrain. We have learned much over the past 8 years. But now the same brilliant minds that created the credit crisis and collapse of much of the world’s economy by insisting on giving loans to people who could not pay them back are trying to direct military operations in a politically expedient way.

Nancy Pelosi’s immediate reaction and the comments from her and others afterward make it McCrystal clear that she and her Democrat faithful will not support what needs to be done to win. It is impossible to not draw parallels to the political mismanagement of the Vietnam War and the tragic outcome of the political strategy of containment rather than the military victory that was eminently achievable.

But Reid, Pelosi and the other Democrats are not looking for ultimate victory in Afghanistan. They are only concerned with victory in the 2010 midterm elections regardless of the cost.

A cost that hopefully only these fallacious politicians will pay dearly.