Thankful

I am thankful for my family and friends, thankful for this great state, thankful for this great country. Thankful for the men and women of the military who continue to defend the freedoms that we were founded upon, understanding the sacrifice, and protecting our way of life.

I am thankful for those who I have been able to call my family and friends who I have lost over the past year for being allowed to know them and have them in my life, Mike Player, my great-grandmother Maw Bradford, and my Uncle James Riley.

I am also thankful for the life I have been given, for all those whom I have crossed paths with. I am thankful for the many blessing God has bestowed on my life and my family, but I think what I am most thankful for, is the swell job that President Obama is doing.

By waiting two months to formulate a position on Afghanistan while over 120 troops in Afghanistan were killed in combat, for the Healthcare that he and other Democrats in Congress are proposing that will only help to spiral us into further debt and destroy the concept of choice in medicine, I am thankful for President Obama’s continuing Tour de Apologia, apologizing for the many evils our country has purported over the years while we are the country to first come to the rescue in the third world with humanitarian aid. The country that has looked down the likes of Hitler and spilled American blood on foreign battle fields to protect our friends and allies. Freeing those from tyranny and oppression in the ideals that all people deserve to know freedom and the power it possesses for the individual.

Honestly thankful for President George W. Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rice and others who exhibited great pride in our country and who were not afraid to do what was necessary to protect us.

I am thankful for America, our people, our values, our principles, and what we have stood for since our founding, and I say that with the utmost pride and without apology.

OFFICIALLY DITHERING

When General Stanley McChrystal, the US Commander in Afghanistan gave his assessment regarding the current conditions in Afghanistan and a plan going forward on August 30, 2009, I do not think he thought there would be a two month delay before a decision would be made. When President Obama made his statement about dismantling and defeating al Qaeda, we all thought he was serious. Now that his liberal wing is calling for a full redeployment from Afghanistan, a decision has not been made.

Since the release of the initial assessment and General McChrystal's troop request, more than 107 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan while President Obama, as Vice President Dick Cheney put it, is "dithering" in making this decision.

Over the past week, information has leaked out that President Obama is contemplating a “hybrid” option that would give General McChrystal less than the prescribed 40,000 troop number but would also implement a partial counterterrorism strategy, which Vice President Joe Biden has been lobbying for. The current troop levels, NATO and all coalition forces are estimated to be about 100,000 in Afghanistan, with 68,000 being American forces. Add the 40,000 troops that the general requested for the counterinsurgency strategy to work, and then subtract the number of troops that were requested but did not make it into President Obama’s strategy and then subtract those who will be focusing on the counterterrorism efforts and not the COIN operations. Right now, we do not know that number, but to put the operations into context, General McChrystal will have less force to focus on the counterinsurgency strategy that he has set out.

When politics comes into play, as it clearly has over the past few months, beginning when Nancy Pelosi mentioned in August that President Obama would face opposition if he wanted to increase the troop levels in Afghanistan, the “decider” faces pressure from all directions. Current polling suggests that it is about 48% of the public opposes sending more troops and 46% believe that you should supply the General with the resources he needs to succeed.

This is a war that we have been fighting for more than eight years now, that for six of the eight years had been under-resourced and allowed the Taliban and al Qaeda to gain the initiative. The status quo is not the answer, with the credibility of the government being called into question and the looks of the run-off election in Afghanistan between President Karzai and his challenger Abdullah Abdullah already with calls of fraud and boycott. The Afghan people need to be reassured of their safety. Currently, the Taliban and al Qaeda act as mayors in these towns promising to provide protection, as long as they do not aid the coalition forces, which could result in the loss of their life if the citizens do so. The people are looking for safety, and the only groups that have stepped up to the plate are those who wish to terrorize. The counterinsurgency strategy would provide for troops to assist and aid in each community and province and essentially root out the insurgents.

With that being said, successes need to be made. The violence is paralyzing the Afghan society and without any sign of success by the coalition forces, the will of the coalition will continue to erode only allowing the enemy to celebrate because their end goal is to see us leave the region in defeat. To avoid such a disaster, the strategy must be changed, but to continue to wait only puts more troops in danger and the American people will continue to question President Obama’s role as Commander in Chief. General McChrystal spent over three months putting together a strategy based on conditions on the ground, President Obama has met with his military and political advisors for less than 30 hours to discuss the Afghan strategy in a matter of six weeks. If you were the American soldier or an Afghan citizen, who would you wish to have your fate in the hands of?