Afghanistan

Well, it looks like the administration may be setting the stage for something other than just sending the 40,000 more troops that McChrystal says we need.

John Kerry (now Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee) said yesterday that it would be "irresponsible" to send more troops when we don't know what outcome of the election recount will be.

Today on the talk shows, Rahm Emanuel said: "It would be reckless to make a decision on U.S. troop levels if in fact you haven't done a thorough analysis of whether in fact there's an Afghan partner ready to fill that space that U.S. troops would create and become a true partner in governing."

And then he added: The central question "is not how much troops you have but whether in fact there's an Afghan partner."

At least this stance takes the wind out of the Republicans' sails when they try to claim that Obama is weakening America by not going in with dominant forces.

What a change from the bush war thinking, which was more like: we will send troops and then "fix" the intelligence to show we need to.

Ralph

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18/rahm-emanuel-no-troop-esc_n_325099.html

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18/rahm-emanuel-no-troop-esc_n_325099.html