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On a Roll
Author: Raine    Date: 06/23/2011 13:04:59

Way back in May, we found out that Osama Bin Laden was no longer on the FBI most wanted list, very early this morning Scoopster informed us that the FBI finally captured 'Whitey' Bulger. I know the New England contingent of the blog will be happy with this news. Plus there is the added bonus that there are 2 more job opening on the most wanted list! I am waiting for Mitt Romney to take credit for this one. He did, after all, force his brother out as President of UMass...

Also in this mornings news is information that the person involved with last week's security scare at the Pentagon may have been involved with shootings in Chantilly Virginia and Quantico. It appears that a much more critical situation has been averted. This pleases the Virginia contingent of the blog. Law enforcement is doing its job. Much like the alleged Times Square (almost) Bomber, this is what provides national and local security: capturing those that would harm us before they succeed in doing so. This I like to see.

And, last night we heard from the President with regard to our troops in Afghanistan. From the Atlantic:
Tomorrow's newspaper and TV headlines will, undoubtedly, focus on the President's announcement that he will be drawing down 33,000 surge troops by the summer of 2012. There's no question that this matters, particularly to those 33,000 Americans and their families. But more important than troop numbers is how the military prosecutes the war going forward. The military will now have only one more fighting season -- between now and the arrival of winter -- to wage war against the Taliban at relatively full troop levels. Plans to send more troops into Afghanistan's eastern provinces will likely be permanently shelved. And unlike his 2009 West Point speech announcing the surge, the President was clear in stating that the troop drawdown will "continue . . . at a steady pace" and not be dependent on conditions on the ground.

All of this suggests that the Obama administration is pushing the military away from a strategy of stabilization and pacification in Afghan's most insecure regions (proponents call this approach counterinsurgency, critics tend to call it nation-building) and toward a more limited counter-terrorism strategy. On the ground, this will likely mean more drones, more special forces operations to eliminate high value targets, and a focus on consolidating what Obama called the "fragile, but reversible" gains already made in Kandahar and Helmand provinces. That is perhaps not as far as some in the President's own party would like him to have gone, but it is a clear renunciation of the military's preferred approach to the war.
While I have made it clear that I wanted to see a much larger drawdown, I can appreciate this approach. The President doesn't appear to be basing his decisions as the former administration said in 2007: "White House officials on Monday said the political pressure to leave Iraq would abate when conditions on the ground appeared more positive." That was a mere 4 years into that particular combat front.

I know this is not Iraq, but I am pleased to finally see the end in sight. After 10 long years, we can hold out hope that this will end. As the President said last night,
This decision is not based upon the conditions on the ground.

The question is: does Congress have the fire in the belly to help accomplish this? There are a lot of other people doing their jobs, as referenced above. Now is the time for Congress to step up and help rebuild this nation. Now is the time for them to stand with our country to make it better. The President is doing his job. It may not be enough for some people, and too much for others (cough-John-McCain-cough) but he is doing what he said he would do. I would like to see the Legislative branch of Government do theirs. I could make a few suggestions. How about we start with a jobs package, maybe one that invests in rebuilding OUR nation's infrastructure? One man can't do it all. Law enforcement can't do it all. It takes a team effort to make this country go forward and recover. If we want to be exceptional, we need to take care of ourselves here at home.

and
Raine
 

35 comments (Latest Comment: 06/23/2011 21:19:59 by livingonli)
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