Krauthammer Obama on Afghanistan Surge

Uncertain Trumpet
by Charles Krauthammer (more by this author)
Posted 12/04/2009 ET


We shall fight in the air, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we=20
shall fight in the fields, we shall fight in the hills -- for 18 months.=20
Then we start packing for home.

We shall never surrender -- unless the war gets too expensive, in which=20
case, we shall quote Eisenhower on "the need to maintain balance in and=20
among national programs" and then insist that "we can't simply afford to=20
ignore the price of these wars."

The quotes are from President Obama's West Point speech announcing the=20
Afghanistan troop surge. What a strange speech it was -- a call to arms=20
so ambivalent, so tentative, so defensive.

Which made his last-minute assertion of "resolve unwavering" so hollow.=20
It was meant to be stirring. It fell flat. In August, he called=20
Afghanistan "a war of necessity." On Tuesday night, he defined "what's at=20
stake" as "the common security of the world." The world, no less. Yet, we=20
begin leaving in July 2011?

Does he think that such ambivalence is not heard by the Taliban, by=20
Afghan peasants deciding which side to choose, by Pakistani generals=20
hedging their bets, by NATO allies already with one foot out of=20
Afghanistan?

Nonetheless, most supporters of the Afghanistan War were satisfied. They=20
got the policy, the liberals got the speech. The hawks got three-quarters=20
of what Gen. Stanley McChrystal wanted -- 30,000 additional U.S. troops=20
-- and the doves got a few soothing words. Big deal, say the hawks.

But it is a big deal. Words matter because will matters. Success in war=20
depends on three things: a brave and highly skilled soldiery, such as the=20
U.S. military 2009, the finest counterinsurgency force in history;=20
brilliant, battle-tested commanders such as Gens. David Petraeus and=20
McChrystal, fresh from the success of the surge in Iraq; and the will to=20
prevail as personified by the commander in chief.

There's the rub. And that is why at such crucial moments, presidents=20
don't issue a policy paper. They give a speech. It gives tone and=20
texture. It allows their policy to be imbued with purpose and feeling.=20
This one was festooned with hedges, caveats and one giant exit ramp.

No one expected Obama to do a Henry V or a Churchill. But Obama could not=20
even manage a George W. Bush, who, at an infinitely lower ebb in power=20
and popularity, opposed by the political and foreign policy=20
establishments and dealing with a war effort in far more dire straits,=20
announced his surge -- Iraq 2007 -- with outright rejection of withdrawal=20
or retreat. His implacability was widely decried at home as stubbornness,=20
but heard loudly in Iraq by those fighting for and against us as=20
unflinching -- and salutary -- determination.

Obama's surge speech wasn't a commander in chief's, but a politician's,=20
perfectly splitting the difference. Two messages for two audiences.=20
Placate the right -- you get the troops; placate the left -- we are on=20
our way out.

And apart from Obama's own personal commitment is the question of his=20
ability as a wartime leader. If he feels compelled to placate his left=20
with an exit date today -- while he is still personally popular, with=20
large majorities in both houses of Congress, and even before the surge=20
begins -- how will he stand up to the left when the going gets tough and=20
the casualties mount, and he really has to choose between support from=20
his party and success on the battlefield?

Despite my personal misgivings about the possibility of lasting success=20
against Taliban insurgencies in both Afghanistan and the borderlands of=20
Pakistan, I have deep confidence that Petraeus and McChrystal would not=20
recommend a strategy that will be costly in lives, without their having a=20
firm belief in the possibility of success.

I would therefore defer to their judgment and support their recommended=20
policy. But the fate of this war depends not just on them. It depends on=20
the president. We cannot prevail without a commander in chief committed=20
to success. And this commander in chief defended his exit date (versus=20
the straw man alternative of "open-ended" nation-building) thusly:=20
"because the nation that I'm most interested in building is our own."

Remarkable. Go and fight, he tells his cadets -- some of whom may not=20
return alive -- but I may have to cut your mission short because my real=20
priorities are domestic.

Has there ever been a call to arms more dispiriting, a trumpet more=20
uncertain?

Mr. Krauthammer is a nationally syndicated columnist.

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