Don't let politics govern war decisions

Politics should not enter into military decisions, but that appears to be the case with President Obama's reluctance to accept his hand-picked general's request for an additional 40,000 troops to be sent to Afghanistan. General McCrystal suggests the troop surge to implement a change in war strategy from counterterrorism to counter-insurgency. This recommendation to the Commander In Chief was made in late August.

President Obama, who called the Afghanistan war a "war of necessity," is now trying to "get it right." His vice president, Joe Biden, prefers to continue a counterterrorism approach with an emphasis on predator drone aircraft to destroy al-Qaida. Biden's previous foreign policy judgments were to vote against the first Gulf war, suggest a tripartition of Iraq into Sunni, Shiite, Sunni and Kurd factions, and oppose the successful military surge in Iraq. That's some poor advice there.

President Obama may be waiting to see the results of the runoff election in Afghanistan scheduled for Nov. 7. The first Afghanistan election was marred by widespread fraud, which resulted in a fourth of the ballots being thrown out. Karzai, the current president and leading vote-getter, was pressured by the U.S. to have a runoff election. Perhaps Obama wants to see the election is a fair one before he commits more American troops to the area. Perhaps he's afraid a troop increase would offend his supporters on the far left in Congress, who he will need to pass his health care reform legislation. Perhaps the winner of a Nobel Peace Prize doesn't want to be perceived as a warmonger.

This is unfair to the current troops in harm's way. While they wait for additional troops, President Obama is checking the political winds. If you're going to fight "a war of necessity," Mr. President, fight to win and give the warriors the firepower they need.

Tom Jones

Pingree Grove