By ELISABETH BUMILLER,NYT
Obama can’t vote present as Commander in Chief
Only nine months ago,the Pentagon pronounced itself reassured by the early steps of a new commander in chief. President Obama was moving slowly on an American withdrawal from Iraq,had retained former President George W. Bush’s defense secretary and,in a gesture much noticed,had executed his first military salute with crisp precision.
But now,after nearly a month of deliberations by Mr. Obama over whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan,frustrations and anxiety are on the rise within the military.
A number of active duty and retired senior officers say there is concern that the president is moving too slowly,is revisiting a war strategy he announced in March and is unduly influenced by political advisers in the Situation Room.
“The thunderstorm is there and it’s kind of brewing and it’s unstable and the lightning hasn’t struck,and hopefully it won’t,” said Nathaniel C. Fick,a former Marine Corps infantry officer who briefed Mr. Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign and is now the chief executive of the Center for a New American Security,a military research institution in Washington. “I think it can probably be contained and avoided,but people are aware of the volatile brew.”
If Obama does send more troops to Afghanistan,his decision won't be taken until the election there is resolved. With November 7 scheduled for the vote date,figure that the results will take at least 30 days –just as the Afghan winter begins blowing in. Hostilities usually decline during winter,so a decision not to send more troops until the spring thaw will be easier to sell to a war-weary public –but cause heart attacks in hawks.
Should Obama not send additional troops,it seems more than plausible that a withdrawal –under any number of guises save victory –will begin. History will judge the wisdom of that call,but the present will demand to know why Obama claimed Afghanistan the necessary war in March 2009 and found it unnecessary just one year later.