Life has been intruding lately and I have been absent from meaningful posting. Apologies. Even though it is very near the holidays, and demands on the “spare time” are high, I am working to remedy my absence.
We start with the POTUS address last night. I will wind up sending you to another blog that has dissected the address more carefully than I have, and brings you many of the same observations that I would.
Here are some of my knee jerk reactions:
1. West Point, with and audience? WTF? Is this a presidential address or a campaign stop.
2. Did you see the cadets? Not a lot of enthusiasm from them to be there, or to provide applause. I think perhaps BHO would have been better with a traditional oval office address.
3. A TIMELINE?? It is great to have a goal but, to announce a definitive timeline for withdrawl that is just fucked up. If I were the enemy, I would be celebrating my victory today. Step 1, ratchet down operations and plays opposum for the next 24 months. Concentrate on recruitment, training and planning. December 2011, all hell breaks loose in Afganistan, Pakistan, Europe, and the US.
3a. Alternatively, if BHO just lied outright and has every intention of fighting this thing to the finish. Bringing UBL to justice, dismantling Al Qaida and the Taliban, and leaving a politically strong Afghani government in place then my hat is off to him for superb disinformation, deception, and comprehensive strategic approach to one of our greatest security threats.
Given 3 and 3a — which do you think is most likely.
As a leader POTUS is providing direction and leadership. It has taken too long to make a decision, and in my opinion he has gone for a compromise decision. The fence sitting decision if you will. This is a long term “holy war” that has been hot and cold for centuries. We are again in a hot phase, and have the opportunity to tip the scales and push it back into a cold phase. It takes determination, fortitude, perseverance to complete this action. When it is complete, all that will have been accomplished is a return to a colder phase of a centuries old conflict. Our current course may result in a short term feeling of success but, the rebound from that initial success is going to be extreme and more painful than if we had done the job right the first time. For the sake of this country, I hope that I am terribly wrong.
Take a few minutes to head over to Cdr. Salamander’s for his reactions.
UPDATE: An interesting piece over at Hot Air. I particularly liked this, “…Obama has made opponents more or less irrelevant, since he seems to be opposing himself.”