Before we let our head slackers in the White House have a war of their own we should perform our due diligence and review their performance so far. This would entail some research since the daily death count and fawning over Cindy Sheehan has been conspicuously absent from public discourse since Obama took office. So it might come as some surprise to the media we are still at war in Afghanistan.
It might be a good time to ask how we are doing, what are we doing and how is it working out under Obama’s leadership. When Barrack took over six years ago he employed the progressive answer to every problem. If something is not working the problem is the leadership and the solution is even more of the same. Somewhat like raising taxes to fix the economy the number of American troops doubled from 34,000 under Bush to 63,000 under Obama. The rules of engagement were also transformed from” war is hell” to “thou shall not offend”. (http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/10/27/Soldiers-On-The-Ground-Obama-s-Rules-Of-Engagement-Are-Costing-U-S-Lives-In-Afgahnistan) Counting on the fact that no listens to his public teleprompter readings anymore he secretly announced during his State of the Union address that we would stop fighting altogether by 2014.
How did these changes work out for Operation Enduring Freedom? The administration can still claim with 310 service men giving their lives in 2012 it is safer than Chicago (506 murders), Philly (324) or even Detroit (386). The flip side is 75% of the 2,000 lives lost in total were under Obama’s command. In either a testament to our soldier’s bravery or Taliban’s habit of not taking prisoners there is only one POW and few MIA’s.
In spite of these “rosy” numbers things are not really going well in Afghanistan. Taliban strikes which were restricted to the south and east where we have little presence are now happening with increased frequency in the north and west. Just yesterday a Benghazi like attack on our consulate left seven dead none of which were American enough to justify informing the US public. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2419774/Taliban-attacks-U-S-consulate-Afghanistan.html) Last week in a reversal of policy to wipe the Taliban off the map, Obama has offered the Taliban a seat at the peace table. (http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-18/world/40037259_1_afghan-taliban-taliban-s-formal-peace-talks)
With a track record like this is any wonder support for a war of their own was hard to muster? Especially on the advice of 26 year old Betty O’Bagy-O-lies verses our own intelligence. Why not finish the war you two campaigned twice to accept responsibility for? Who would willingly put their life on the line for someone who would squander any gains made overseas for political points?
Bush can be blamed for starting our incursion in Afghanistan but that was eleven years ago. Six years after a change in management this war can rightly be called Obama’s war.
