Obama's War: Afghanistan and More Troops

During the campaign, all Obama was saying is give peace a chance.

No more.

He's waging war.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says he needs to see how fast Afghanistan can be stabilized and led toward a more democratic government before deciding whether more troops are needed.

In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Obama said the hardest thing he has had to do so far in his administration was to order 17,000 troops to Afghanistan on top of an estimated 38,000 that were already in Afghanistan. The interview was released on the Web Saturday.

He did not rule out the possibility of sending even more troops, while stressing such a decision was premature at this point and that U.S. military action is not the only answer to bringing stability to the region.

"We have to see our military action in the context of a broader effort to stabilize security in the country, allow national elections to take place in Afghanistan and then provide the space for the vital development work that's needed so that a tolerant and open, democratically elected government is considered far more legitimate than a Taliban alternative," Obama said.

"My strong view is that we are not going to succeed simply by piling on more and more troops," he added. "The military component is critical to accomplishing that goal, but it is not a sufficient element by itself."

More troops.

Obama's base can't be happy with that, though some of his supporters are willing to cut him slack.

"We have to see our military action in the context of a broader effort to stabilize security in the country, allow national elections to take place in Afghanistan and then provide the space for the vital development work that's needed so that a tolerant and open, democratically elected government is considered far more legitimate than a Taliban alternative," Obama said.

I wonder if the Associated Press got that wrong.

To me, that sounds like something President Bush would say. Bush, of course, was deemed a rigid ideologue by the Leftists. It's a different story with Obama.

Whether it's dramatically escalating the war in Afghanistan or stalling on closing Gitmo or flip-flopping on releasing the detainee photos, Obama isn't delivering on his campaign promises.

I've heard Leftists defend Obama's broken promises by citing his alleged superior intelligence and willingness to be flexible. His failure to deliver what he promised is depicted as brilliance and great leadership rather than the result of his naivete prior to becoming the commander in chief.

I have to believe at some point Obama's supporters will lose their patience with the cool guy.

The fact is Obama is escalating the war in Afghanistan. Civilians are being killed during the fighting. Our troops are being injured and killed.

And Obama is responsible. He's calling the shots. The buck stops with him.