I'm just curious what we are going to do the next time Obama asks for more troops. Will we go through the same whole process we just went through, or will we do it differently next time? I think it is good to look forward and consider whether our approach this time was effective toward achieving our goals and whether we should change tactics the next time Obama asks for more troops.
In Obama's escalation speech last night, he said he will be sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, and then he will start withdrawing troops in July 2011. But Obama didn't say much about what will come in between those two events. That's about 20 months unaccounted for. With Obama, it's always more important what he doesn't say than what he does.
Obama says he wants to stabilize Afghanistan and prevent the Taliban from operating there. Obama is sending 30,000 troops to do this. That is unlikely to be enough. It is a foot in the door. Next comes the leg. If the violence is still out of control in July 2010, Obama will not be able to leave troop numbers the same. He will have to escalate again.
Obama did not address this question in his speech last night. What will Obama do in six months if the violence in Afghanistan is still out of control? Obama is assuming the violence will be under control. That is plan A. But what is plan B? What will Obama do if Afghanistan is still out of control in 6 months? I remember another president who never had a plan B because he was always so sure of his plan A.
Whatever the case, if Afghanistan is still out of control in six months, Obama will not keep troops the same. He will instead tell us that we need even MORE troops. He will tell us that the people who did 9/11 are still operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that it is in our nation's vital interest to establish a secure Afghanistan in which the Taliban and al Qaeda cannot find safe haven. He will tell us that we need to finish the job. He will tell us that even more troops are necessary.
And then what will WE do? Will we again be asked to shut up and wait until the president has spoken? Will we be asked again to shut up because Obama is just doing what he promised when he said he would finish the job? Will we again remain calm and polite and mostly refrain from referring to Obama as a mass murderer?
I wonder, when Obama asks for more troops to Afghanistan again this summer, will we roll out the same old script and play it all over again the same way like we just did? Or will we do it differently next time? What I'm mainly concerned with is that what we did this time DID NOT work. We did not stop Obama from sending more troops. So our efforts were ineffective, completely. We might as well not have existed for all the good we did. So, next time, will we use the same ineffective tactics, or will we come up with new ways to oppose our brutal government?
Or maybe Obama really only wanted 30,000 more, and that's all.