Afghanistan: Obama's Vietnam

  Now the title may be misleading and some of you are saying to yourselves "Afghanistan is nothing like Vietnam, we lost so many more troops in that war" and to a degree you are right.  We haven't lost 50k plus soldiers in Afghanistan and I certainly hope the total of both there and Iraq never come close to that number.  Mr. Nobel Prize has done one thing to turn this war around in Afghanistan and ONE thing only; dictate a war from Washington ignoring commanders on the ground in the combat zone.  He was in Florida last week pleading with troops to be patient while he makes the decision weather or not to listen to his General's suggestions for a strategy and troop increase.  Frankly I felt bad for those men and women in uniform that had to listen to him make more excuses for his incompetence.  Find me one Marine or just about any service member that doesn't want to just get the job done and defeat our enemies by any means necessary.

  I'd say the vast majority of my generation knows little or nothing about the Vietnam war other than a lot of people died or they're parents got really stoned.  What they don't know is that we were there cleaning up after the French.  They certainly don't know the main reason so many troops died was because Washington told the Military where they could and couldn't strike, contrary to the recommendations of the Commanders in theater.  Now Mr. Obama finds himself at the helm of another toy, our military.  He is second guessing Commanders, some of which HE appointed.  In the meantime, unbeknown to him; there is no Pause button in war.  People die, insurgents gain ground and the forward progress we were making is gradually erased on a daily basis.

  Long Binh and Bien Hoa were battles fought during 1968 in Vietnam are forgotten in today's modern school of warfare but should serve as a lesson.  Outnumbered and outgunned the U.S. troops were able to win those battles because their Commanders allowed them to fight a war properly without politicians being involved.  They raided churches, holy sites and used massive tear gas attacks to flush out the enemy.  Troops were allowed to destroy the enemy at any cost and win what is today referred to as the first Tet Offensive.

  Our current military doctrine and rules of engagement now reflect a more politically correct stance.  Places of worship are strictly off limits and the famous order "do not fire until fired upon" no longer hold true.  This administration has taken the ROE's to a whole new level by basically only allowing troops to engage an enemy once permission has been obtained through almost the entire chain of command unless otherwise specified.  The call for reinforcements has up until this point been ignored by the White House.  Of all the negative effects Obama's change has brought to our beloved America, this is the most troubling.  Shame on you Mr. President for yet again disrespecting the men and women in uniform that fight for the very freedom which you abuse.