Mr. Obama,

Through your waffling and indecision over what to do about Afghanistan, you have clearly demonstrated that you lack the intestinal fortitude to carry out the solemn responsibilities you’ve been so enthusiastically entrusted with, rendering you unfit to be Command-In-Chief of the US military.

While your sanctimonious gas bag, Robert Gibbs, who lies every time he opens that gigantic hole in his face, insists that your deliberation, dithering and debate is serving the best interests of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines that were sent to defend this nation, more and more of them are being served up to the enemy every day you drag your feet. That is a fact.

Even the most casual observer to this issue can see that you are, unfortunately, playing politics with the lives of US forces and innocent Afghan civilians victimized by the Taliban. Don’t give me that thoughtful deliberation B.S. Military decisions aren’t that complicated.

You already have thousands of people, weapons and assets committed. Men are dying and the general that replaced the one you fired; you know, the one you charged with assessing the situation and crafting a strategy? Well, he said that unless those units currently on the ground are reinforced, the mission is likely to fail. He offered a specific number of men that would allow him to win. You only have two choices: Send the reinforcements or beat a hasty retreat. So what’s taking so long?

You have the choice, the authority and the moral imperative to order the immediate withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan, should you feel that the mission is likely to fail, if you believe the cost is too high, or for any other reason. You could have ordered them home on day one. Not only have you failed to articulate a desire to withdraw, you have repeatedly stated that US forces will not withdraw. So, if we’re there to stay a while, the general needs more men and the body count simply continues to increase while they wait for your decision, wouldn’t it be fair to say that their blood stains your idle hands?

Get off your keister and make a decision.

When ordinary people voiced concerns at the breakneck pace of your reconstruction of American society; bailouts, stimuli, government contracting, cap and trade, renegotiating missile defense, Iran, North Korea, financial sector regulation and everything else you’ve now turned upside down, you assured them we could rid the world of nuclear weapons, save the environment, fix health care and rescue the economy. You said there was no reason that you couldn’t multi task. You said that all of these things were related to our success as a nation. Yet, you expect me to believe that you can’t pursue simultaneous military and diplomatic tracks, both vital for mission success, in Afghanistan?

Waiting for the results of the runoff election is both an excuse meant to buy time and political cover. Who is going to secure the polls? What if there is just as much fraud? Furthermore, considering your historical ties to ACORN and their umbrella groups, and our nation’s reluctance to crack down on fraudulent voter registrations of dead people and cartoon characters in our own country, next to Bertha Lewis and the Rathke brothers, you’re the last person on Earth who should be lecturing anyone on voter fraud. The military decision is completely independent of the political decision. If you can’t separate the two in that space between your ears, then, you’re unfit to even lick clean the boots of the men you’re leaving to their own devices in Afghanistan.

Focusing on what George W. Bush did or did not do is an irrelevant distraction. As is Hamid Karzai’s corruption and the Afghan election. I, for one, have had enough of your sorry blame game. Every single administration throughout our nation’s history has left a bigger mess for their successors:

Richard Nixon inherited Vietnam from Johnson, who got it from Kennedy. I never heard Nixon whine about Johnson or Kennedy like you are about Bush.
 
Ronald Reagan inherited a wobbly, anemic economy, hostile enemies the world over, an escalating Cold War and an Iranian hostage crisis from Jimmy Carter. I never heard Reagan whine about Carter like you are about Bush.

George W. Bush inherited the terrorist threats of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, an emboldened and more belligerent North Korea and China, a Clinton Administration that gave away warhead schematics to China and Clinton Justice Department that outlawed the profiling of Muslim airline passengers and erected the intelligence and information-sharing bottlenecks that could have interrupted the 9/11 terrorist plots. I never heard Bush whine about Clinton like you are about Bush.

I can literally count on one hand the number of times any president in my lifetime has placed his woes at the feet of another, yet your administration has used that excuse literally hundreds of times and still continues to do so, nine months after assuming ownership. That sorry excuse has now surpassed your teleprompter as your administration’s biggest crutch. It’s unseemly and childish, and unfit of someone of your supposed stature, much like your political attacks on virtually anyone who disagrees with the substance of your socialist agenda.

You know what I think? I think you made up your mind long ago, but you lack the courage to say so. I also think you decided against sending more forces, but will be forced to capitulate and send the bare minimum so you can focus on training Afghans, while the Taliban, whom you naively spoke of bringing into the Afghan political process, now threaten Pakistan. I think your biggest political mistake was being dishonest with Americans and campaigning as a hawk on Afghanistan to win Independents and moderates. Now that you’re faced with the tough choice, the pressure from MoveOn.org and other liberal interest groups and politicians who want our valiant men and women to return home with their tails between their legs is proving too much. So you waffle.

I’d like to remind you that no one forced you to take on these responsibilities. Perhaps you should have been more forthcoming about your true beliefs. You spent two years convincing Americans you were the one most eager and most qualified to win in Afghanistan and that you were committed. You also said McChrystal was the right man and you had conducted a full review and had a strategy. Yet, you’re now in the midst of still another policy review, while men continue to die. If you can’t bring yourself to make the tough decision that your country and, most importantly, your military is waiting for, then the Constitution and military order and discipline demand that you immediately step aside and allow your generals to assume command of the war without your meddling.

Both Afghan runoff candidates endorse McChrystal. NATO endorses McChrystal. US military families endorse McChrystal. If you spent half as much time listening to all of the stakeholders and supporting those in harms way, as you have dividing and conquering your detractors; attacking insurance companies, Fox News, the US Chamber of Commerce and anyone else who disagrees with you, we might have been able to seize the initiative already. It will take months from your decision to have additional forces in place. Stop dithering.
There is no alternative, than for our nation’s military men and women to return home victorious. Finally, just in case you think that I’m simply some sort of biased shill for the Republican Party, unlike you, 1). I bled for this country and know something of sacrifice. And 2). for me this isn’t about politics. I said the same thing to President Bush on his handling of Iraq.

The world, including our enemies, is waiting.

Jayme Evans, USN (Ret.)

verbosevet@warofwits.org

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