COMPLETELY RECKLESS - AT 6:35 P.M. ET:  The White House is out with a new party line on Afghanistan.  It sounds to me like a dodge, the start of a possible excuse to do nothing, or at least nothing effective, which this president has shown is his great talent.  From AP:

President Obama does not intend to decide about sending additional troops to Afghanistan until he is satisfied that the Kabul government can work effectively with the United States, a top White House aide said Sunday.

"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," said Rahm Emanuel, the president's chief of staff.

Oh, come on.  We know they have problems, but we have interests.  This isn't student government.  We may have to work to develop the Afghan government, but we can lose the whole effort at the same time...if we don't have enough boots on the ground.

Mr. Emanuel gave no timetable for a presidential decision in Afghanistan.

No sense of urgency.  That's the message being sent to our enemies.

He said the White House plans to have additional strategy sessions this week and next, extending a review process that began after the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, reported that more U.S. troops are required.

The central question, Mr. Emanuel said, "is not how much troops you have, but whether in fact there's an Afghan partner."

No, the central question right now is numbers of troops.  I don't minimize the problems with the Afghan government, but they can't dominate.  Also, Emanuel didn't address the fact that Pakistan, right next door, must be stabilized.  Will more American troops in Afghanistan assist with that?  I don't know, but it's a key question to be asked, and actually answered.

Councils of war breed defeatism, Douglas MacArthur's father taught his son.  And business schools warn of "paralysis by analysis." 

Looks like we're cursed with both.

October 18, 2009