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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
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 DAVID BROOKS ON AFGHAN WAR 
20

Obama Needs to Decide if He's in It to Win It

Hasn't proved he's truly committed to the fight

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(Newser) – These White House strategy sessions on Afghanistan are all well and good and full of questions, writes David Brooks, but they sidestep the big one: Is he committed to the effort? We know President Obama is a smart guy. What we don't know is whether he has the "tenacity" and single-minded focus to be a good war president. Obama's "most important meeting" isn't the one today with the joint chiefs. "It’s the one with the mirror."

He must look within for "some firm conviction about whether Afghanistan is worthy of his full and unshakable commitment," writes Brooks in the New York Times. "If the president cannot find that core conviction, we should get out now." Brooks cites a nagging sense among military experts that Obama's "gut" just isn't in this fight. "Some of the experts asked what I thought of Obama’s commitment level. I had to confess I’m not sure either." It's time for Obama to let us know.

President Obama speaks at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington.
President Obama speaks at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
President Obama, followed by Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, walks into the East Room of the White House in Washington.
President Obama, followed by Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, walks into the East Room of the White House in Washington.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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Every argument about troop levels is really a proxy argument for whether the US should stay or go. The administration is so divided because the fundamental issue of commitment has not been settled. - David Brooks

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20 comments
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Doctor_Zaius
Oct 30, 09 8:24 AM CDT
Maybe we had a shot at "winning" in Afghanistan 6 or 7 years ago, but a war bungled by the Bush administration and a corrupt leader seen as a puppet of the US has turned the Afghani people against us. Unfortunately their support was crucial for any type of success. They don't call Afghanistan "The Graveyard of Empires" for nothing. Reply
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+12
IN RESPONSE:
tomodachi
Oct 30, 09 9:06 AM CDT
The Afghanistan people have a history... of the US coming in to help them... then leaving them alone in the clutch. The Taliban were called Freedom Fighters in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan. It's my opinion that Bush used the Afghanistan invasion merely as a stepping stone to his true intention... creating a huge supply and demand issue for his oil buddies to reap Trillions from... and to feed Cheney's war-machine buddies for many years to come. Mission Accomplished.
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+5
IN RESPONSE:
Reader64481089
Oct 30, 09 9:23 AM CDT
The Right says "If we don't beat them now we will have them on American Soil", news flash, they are already ON American soil and arrests have already been made with many more to come and some will slip through and strike, that is just how it is. We have two choices, live life as free Americans and deal with it when it happens or hide in a hole like a scared rabbit and Americans do not hide. Regardless of what happens in Afghanistan the Terrorists are coming and shall continue to do so, all we can hope for it to catch as many as we are able before they detonate their plots. You want to give thanks to someone thank GW for multiplying the vast numbers of new people who hate America and Americans
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+3
IN RESPONSE:
rkossik
Oct 30, 09 12:39 PM CDT
Dang, Doctor! I frequently can't post cause you already nailed it with your post. You're right on. If there was a chance of "winning" it was lost when Bush diverted our military resources to Iraq. It's time to leave.
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0
Derni
Oct 30, 09 8:27 AM CDT
Not true-we never won in Vietname-and we will bnever win a ground war over there unless we stay forever-and that won't happen-we need to stop fighting for oil and using other smoke screens as excuses-and we need to stay out of other countries and protect our boarders-Just start a draft and make sure no one gets any favors do to economic wealth etc and tell people they're going to fight-this war will be over in a minute and no will care about the win or lose crap Reply
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+3

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