Added to all of this are our two wars. Iraq has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth even though we still maintain a large footprint on Iraqi soil. Afghanistan has become Obama's war. During his campaign, he called it the "just war", and a necessary endeavor for our nation to see through to the end. Now, he seems uncertain. Why? Of course, only he knows for certain but as a citizen, I am left wondering. Is he worried about his political base? Does he fear the ghost of Vietnam? Has he changed his views on the war or, could it be possible that he is unable to make timely and tough decisions? I've known many people who suffer from this malady. Many of them are highly intelligent but they allow an overload of information and viewpoints to override any ability to take charge and execute a plan. I fear that this is now President Obama's conundrum. During his run for the presidency I had major issues with the plethora of "present" votes that he registered while serving as a state and federal senator. I took them as a sign that he had difficulties taking a stance on hard issues. I didn't buy into his campaign's statement that these "present" votes indicated a somber ability to take the hard path while others either simply opposed or supported legislation without getting into the details of specific bills. Now, we all can see this trait rearing its ugly head while he ponders what to do in Afghanistan.
Warfare is an ugly and tedious human endeavor. Current leaders cannot blame former leaders. Whether they be in our nation's capitol or, on the battlefield, all battlefield leaders must take into account the latest battle space estimates and develop plans to support our nation's objectives in theater. Once developed, these plans must be implemented in a timely manner. Time is of the essence in warfare. In my view, our current president is unable, or unwilling to make tough strategic battle space decisions. His inability to make the tough choice can eventually lead to indecisiveness with the individual foot soldier in battle. I am not rattling my saber but, I am having a hard time following President Obama's strategic outlook for Afghanistan. He seems to vacillate with the wind and he would do well to study Sun Tzu's, The Art of War. Sun Tzu was an ancient Chinese warrior-philosopher who penned this important work over 2,000 years ago and his warnings still apply in our time. In chapter 3, Planning a Siege, Sun Tzu wrote:
"So there are three ways in which a civil leadership causes the military trouble. When a civil leadership unaware of the facts tells its armies to advance when it should not, or tells its armies to retreat when it should not, this is called tying up the armies. When the civil leadership is ignorant of military affairs but shares equally in the government of the armies, the soldiers get confused. When the civil leadership is ignorant of military maneuvers but shares equally in the command of the armies, the soldiers hesitate. Once the armies are confused and hesitant, trouble comes from competitors. This is called taking away victory by deranging the military."
As a former career soldier, I now fear for our troops in battle. President Obama's inability to make the tough choice hampers our nation's efforts abroad. I do not have the information to know for certain what we should do and I'm not saying that regardless of the difficulty, we should jump deeper into Afghanistan however; if we're not, then lets develop a plan of disengagement and get our boys out of harm's way. I call on our president to for once, make a tough decision while he stands alone on his own two feet!
De Oppresso Liber
1 comment:
Our president is called the commander in chief. However, in our present president, the term "commander" appears to be used loosely.
Post a Comment