Secretary Gates: We Are In It To Win.........NOT!

The total incompetence is heart breaking. The lies and misrepresentations to the American people are outrageous. The press should be hounded for its failure to cover the dishonesty inherent in this administration. I can no longer recommend to young men and women that they join the military under this President. He will send them into harm's way while lying about their mission and using them for short term political gain. Obama wants to quit without giving that appearance.

Secretary Gates told the public as of December 9th, "We are in it to win!"

Except, we're not.

President Obama declared that Health Care and Global Warming are crises demanding IMMEDIATE passage of bills that could destroy our economy without discussion. Meanwhile he dithered for months on his strategy in Afghanistan, his "necessary" war, stating that the situation demanded a thorough review. His general in charge of the theater was unable to fully brief the so-called Commander-in-Chief UNTIL OCTOBER. According to the Washington Post, upon review by the administration, they were amazed to learn that General McChrystal intended to defeat the Taliban, with this response from our leaders:

In June, McChrystal noted, he had arrived in Afghanistan and set about fulfilling his assignment. His lean face, hovering on the screen at the end of the table, was replaced by a mission statement on a slide: "Defeat the Taliban. Secure the Population."

"Is that really what you think your mission is?" one of those in the Situation Room asked.

Apparently, defeating the enemy is not worth our efforts. President Obama revealed his new strategy of sending in the "surge" demanded by patriotic Americans and also declaring that we were leaving without finishing the job......Cut and Run, I think that's called....

This review is now complete. And as Commander-in-Chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home. These are the resources that we need to seize the initiative, while building the Afghan capacity that can allow for a responsible transition of our forces out of Afghanistan.

Of course, this has NO affect on our allies....Pakistan has just refused to go after a major Taliban Commander and ally of Al Queda because they say that this man can help THEM influence the Taliban once WE LEAVE.....depending upon the "conditions on the ground," of course.....

.....and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011. Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground.

And now, along comes Vice President Biden, he of the Golden Tongue.

Vice President Biden said that U.S. troops would rapidly withdraw from Afghanistan. "You're going to see that [troop numbers] chart coming down as rapidly over the next two years," Biden said after looking at a chart showing troop numbers surging from 33,000 at the beginning of 2009 to 98,000 in the summer of 2010. "This is not a Coin [counterinsurgency] strategy," Biden said. "We just want to make sure that the Taliban is diminished enough so that the Afghan government can contain it."

Perhaps most troubling, Biden said: "the president has made something exquisitely clear to each of the generals: He said do not occupy any portion of that country that you are not confident within 18 months you're going to be able to turn over to the Afghans. Do not occupy what you cannot turn over."

So.......if our troops are victorious in a province, we must just turn it back over to the Taliban. For the above strategy to work, we cannot go on the offensive. So much for that "surge"........

And no, the Afghans WILL NOT be ready in 18 months. The Iraqi Army took years to re-train and they had a somewhat modern army. The Afghans barely have a central government, much less a modern military.

Bring the troops home. If you are not going to fight to win, no further action is justifiable or moral. Obama will not be able to paper over this surrender by declaring "victory."