The compromise has been made. The President is going to send 30 000 more troops to Afghanistan. The Generals have not voiced their dissent, but the right wing and the left wing nits have. To their credit though, they have not been as vocal as before.

This is more than the General Stanley McChrystal‘ initial minimum plan which required an additional 15 000 troops. This is also less than the safe plan that General McChrystal requested which was an additional 40 000 troops. The plan to add another 80 000 troops was not even discussed. It was flat out rejected.

Being in the Army before, I know that if Generals are not happy about it, they would voice things out. They have all the power to do so. The only other scenario is that there could be an order to maintain silence to the press but I think that this is highly unlikely.

I think the outburst by General McChrystal that happened before was something that was justified. I was also very against the idea of leaving the troop levels as it is when the Generals on the ground are asking for more troops.

I think 30 000 is a fair number for all parties. I think that Vice President Biden’s idea would also take into effect. While I do not think that cutting it down from 40 000 is necessary to save people’s lives, I also think there are financial implications if we increased it by 40 000 when we only required an additional 30 000.

As usual, there are wingnuts that see this differently. The far right claimed that the President’s unwillingness to increase the count to 40 000 is a signal that he is not willing to take on the base of his party and as a result, the troops pay with their lives. I think that this is absurd as he is taking on his base when he increase it by 30 000 and if the Generals are happy, so be it.

It is however, the far left that I am particularly pissed off with. They, as usual, are going all out with their no-war is good war stand. Have these people forgotten that it is not us that started the war, it was the terrorists when they attacked us on 9/11? Do these Liberals understand that if we do not get them today, they may kill us tomorrow? How many people should be dead before they understand that giving the other cheek is not the answer. We have got to smoke them out and finish the job.

However, I would be gracious enough, even to the wingnuts, to say that they have not made a big deal about this as they did before the decision was passed. It could be due to the Fort Hood tragedy or the health-care debate. They could be going for the issues that Americans are already aware of.

Either way, thank you guys. God bless America, God bless our troops!

Related articles by Zemanta
Enhanced by Zemanta