Thursday, November 12, 2009

Angling for the Retreat Option?

President Obama wants more options than those presented to him for waging the war in Afghanistan:

Obama is still expected to send in more troops to bolster a deteriorating war effort.

He remains close to announcing his revamped war strategy — troops are just one component — and probably will do so shortly after he returns from a trip to Asia that ends Nov. 19.

Yet in Wednesday's pivotal war council meeting, Obama wasn't satisfied with any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, one official said.

The president instead pushed for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government. In turn, that could change the dynamic of both how many additional troops are sent to Afghanistan and what the timeline would be for their presence in the war zone, according to the official.


Ah, he wants an "exit strategy," it seems. The term that those who like to pretend they understand military matters like to talk about. I've said it before and I'll say it again, an "exit strategy" is what you formulate when you want to define at what point you retreat.

I can understand that President Obama might not like that what the military has presented to him as the only options to choose from. But the president needs to understand that the military is at least focused on giving him options to win.

Exit strategies are for losers. Focus on victory. I fear that our president won't pass the gut check he needs to make.

We should fight until we win--even if we don't know when that will be. That's how you wage war.