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Curtis</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b><a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright Dec. 2, 2009<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style4">&nbsp;G</span>iving the Republican Party an ealry Christmas gift, President Barack Obama makes official Dec. 1 in a nationally televised speech at West Point his decision to escalate the Afghan War, adding as many as 34,000 troops at a cost of at least $75 billion a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Agonized over for three months, after nine meetings of his war Cabinet, Barack announces a new counterinsurgency and training strategy, designed to drive the Taliban and al-Qaida out of entrenched positions, reinforce the Karzai government and eventually train new Afghan police and security forces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack s new strategy has the blessings of Centcom Commander Gen. David Petraeus and current Afghan Commader Gen. Stanley McCrystal, the same basic strategy credited with turning around Iraq.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Only one small difference:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>The U.S. military won t have an easy time buying off the Taliban, a nationalistic Islamic movement.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Barack hopes to turn the tide, driving the Taliban and al-Qaida out of fortified positions, largely supported by Afghanistan s multibillion-dollar opium trade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>For years, the Taliban has served as a de facto militia, protecting the wealth of the world s most powerful drug cartel, making the Columbian mafia look like Mickey Mouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While unlikely to announce a war on the opium trade, Barack tries to sell his troop surge as necessary to defend U.S. national security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He s bought the old Bush-Cheney idea that Saddam s Iraq and today s Afghanistan were connected to Sept. 11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While more skeptical about Iraq, Barack has bought, lock-stock-and-barrel, the notion that today s Taliban and remnants of al-Qaida in Afghanistan are actively planning the next terrorist attack on the U.S. homeland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack swallowed Pentagon logic that more U.S. troops would  finish the job. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Adding up to 34,000 more U.S. troops would bolster the force to 102,000, to be phased in over the next two years, a whopping number when you consider the U.S. continues to maintain over 100,000 troops in Iraq.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack wants NATO to add an additional 7,000-10,000, troops, an unrealistic figure when you consider that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown barely scrapeed together an additional 500 troops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> It s probably the most important decision of his career, said Karin Von Hippel, at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, a right-leaning think tank in Washington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>More than  important, it could be disastrous, when you look at the corrupt Karzai government and Afghanistan s history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Speaking the Brandenburg Gate Nov. 9, former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, whose country wasted nine bloody years in Afghanistan, doubted more troops would change the outcome.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Barack s  exit strategy involves a troop surge designed to do in Afghanistan what it did in Iraq.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Unlike Iraq, it won t be easy to buy off so-called  moderate Taliban, whose fanatical commitment to Islamic extremism far exceeds the more secular Iraq, whose tribal leaders and war lords care more about money than religious ideology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack faces stiff headwinds trying to explain the formidable costs, straining an already broken federal budget, pushing deficits toward $2 trillion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I know the president will touch on the costs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>I don t expect to get overly detailed in the speech tomorrow, said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, sidestepping the $64,000 question of how the federal treasury is supposed to accommodate escalating the Afghan War and paying for health care reform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Barack s critics will have a field day in next year s midterm elections calling him on the carpet.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Setting benchmarks for the Afghan government to augment police and security forces won t reverse the damage done to the U.S. military and treasury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Already stretched thin, the voluntary military can t absorb the loss of a Marine brigade from Camp Lejeune, S.C., two Army brigades from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky, and the 10th Mountain Division at For Drum, N.Y.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Expecting the Afghan army to go to 240,000 and police to 160,00 by Oct. 2013, raises real questions whether the corrupt Karzai government can lead the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> You will hear the president discuss that this is not open-ended, said Gibbs, placing the responsibility on the Karzai government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Escalating U.S. troops and pushing commitments out at least three years offers little relief to exploding budget deficits hurting chances of economic growth and eventual recovery.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Barack s new strategy offers few promises other than draining the tax base and assuring massive deficits into the foreseeable future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While he reserves the right to modify his plan, his expected commitment of U.S. blood and treasure hands the GOP the best chance since Newt Gingrich s 1994  Republican Revolution of taking back Congress and the White House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Obama s cautious approach opens him up to more GOP criticism and alienates mainstream Democrats who want to deescalate both Iraq and Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Hope for a more progressive domestic and foreign policy agenda sprang from the expectation that the U.S. would transition from a war to peace economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>When Barack won the Nobel Peace Prize Oct. 9, few thought he d escalate the war, especially with so few guarantees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Escalating the war doesn t bode well for his approval ratings or next year s midterm elections.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><bAbout the Author</u><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <i><a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a> </i>and <i><a href="books.html"> Operation Charisma</a></i>.</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td width="133" height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="133" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>