"Eleven American troops and three U.S. civilians were killed in Afghanistan Monday in tragic incidents. In one case, our forces won a firefight with Taliban thugs only to perish when their helicopter later crashed. As I write this, there is breaking news of eight more U.S. casualties after bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan.
In a speech yesterday at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida, President Obama defended his delay in deciding whether to send reinforcements to Afghanistan. He told the audience, “I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm’s way. I won’t risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary.”
That sounds good except for one little detail. He has already sent troops into harm’s way in Afghanistan. They are there now in larger numbers with their officers because Barack Obama sent them. This was the “necessary war” that Obama said he supported during the campaign, in contrast to the unnecessary “bad war” in Iraq, which was “Bush’s war.” Those soldiers and Marines are dying now while their officers continue to beg the president for reinforcements.
In 2008, candidate Obama was a tough guy. In the presidential debate on October 7th, Obama said if he was elected, “We will kill bin Laden. We will crush Al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority.” I don’t remember the last time Obama mentioned Osama. Neither do I hear much talk about Afghanistan being the “good war” that we have to win.
In fact, the president said in an interview on ABC that he was uncomfortable with the concept of “victory” in Afghanistan. I would wager he is not as uncomfortable as the Marines, special ops troops, soldiers, airmen and others who are putting everything on the line daily while the Obama Administration makes excuses for its failure to make decisions.
I hope the rumor going around Washington is not true – that Obama doesn’t want to send more troops before November 3rd because that would so outrage his leftwing base that it may not show up to vote in the important elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York. The lives of our men and women in uniform are more important than politics.
The clock keeps ticking while the president keeps meeting and golfing. President Bush stopped playing golf when the wars began because he said it sent the “wrong signal.” Obama played golf for the 24th time of his presidency last weekend – hitting a mark that took Bush nearly three years to reach. Every White House sends signals, and the signal the enemies of America are getting from this White House is one of vacillation and weakness."
Gary Bauer
Campaign for Working Families
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