Does the Obama administration understand why we invaded Afghanistan?  Does the Obama understand that we have no choice but to remain in Afghanistan until we can establish a stable government that will not allow the country to be a base for terrorism?

The Christian Science Monitor has reported that White House Chief of Staff  Rahm   Emanuel   told CNN it would  be "irresponsible" to send more troops into Afghanistan before the political situation is resolved.   Actually it would be irresponsible to wait for the political situation to be resolved before committing sufficient troops to stabilize the situation.

We invaded Afghanistan in 2001 because the Taliban government of Afghanistan had allowed the country to be used by a group of  al Qaeda terrorists who had attacked New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11.  We cannot afford to leave until we can be assured that the country has a government that will not allow the country to be used to stage any more attacks against the U.S.

Emanuel said 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 the U.S. troops would create."

Does Emanuel understand  what  the impact of  Soviet rule followed by the rule of the Taliban?    Both governments followed policies of discouraging, and in some cases eliminating, those  who didn't blindly accept government orders.

The only people who had any experience operating a government were in the Taliban and they relied on terror to rule.  Time will be required to find and train honest individuals who will not abuse their government positions.  

Early volunteers for government service have often been dishonest, because dishonest people are more willing to take risks than honest people.  It will be difficult to attract honest people until  we can eliminate the violence that discourages them from getting involved.
 
If none of those who currently are interested in leading the government are capable of providing effective leadership, we will have to  look for  and  develop new leaders.   We may have to rebuild the country beginning at the local level.

Withdrawal before the country  has a viable anti-terrorist government is not an option.   Osama bin Laden would claim a major victory for violent Islam and use the victory to substantially increase recruitment.

Afghanistan is sometimes compared to my war [Vietnam] because it is a difficult place to defend against a guerrilla war.  However,  our adversaries in Vietnam never attacked  American cities or supported terror attacks on American cities.  Our adversaries in Afghanistan have attacked American cities before and want to use the country as a base for future terrorist attacks   against the United States and other countries.

We need to stay as long as it takes to prevent the country from once again becoming a base for terrorism even if that takes another 20 years.  We still have troops based in Germany and Japan 64 years  after we defeated them in World War II even though they are peaceful countries.

I wasted  another evening on Tuesday watching one of  the media events ignorant  journalists  insist on misrepresenting as debates.   The candidates repeated the same cliches they used in their first debate.

Once again Sen. Barack Obama demonstrated that he is dangerously ignorant in the area of  foreign policy and the War on Terror.  Once again journalists ignored his mistake. 

Obama. is apparently incapable of understanding the fact that sending military forces into another country without permission is an invasion.  It doesn't matter why the troops enter the country, it is still an act of war.   The fact that Osama bin Laden might be in Pakistan  doesn't mean the U.S. can invade Pakistan without fear of retaliation -- and  Pakistan most definitely does have nuclear weapons.

Obama doesn't understand the volatility of the situation in Pakistan.  The country has been on the brink of a civil war for many years and its government could fall at any time.  An American invasion would force the government to declare war on the U.S. to try to keep the country united.  The first action in that war might be a nuclear attack that would wipe out our forces in the Middle East.

Obama's obsession with bin Laden and Afghanistan indicates he doesn't understand the War on Terror.  This war isn't a traditional war against an enemy with a geographic base. 

Al  Qaeda can function without bin Laden and might even benefit if the United States killed or captured him.  Others are available to head al Qaeda  if something happens to bin Laden.

Death at the hands of the U.S. would make bin Laden a martyr and violent Muslims would rally to avenge his death.    Capture of bin Laden would provoke efforts to capture Americans any where in the world in an attempt to obtain hostages to trade for him.

Al Qaeda doesn't have a fixed location that  it has to defend.  If pushed out of one area, al  Qaeda will move to some other area with a large Muslem population.  If  the U.S. leaves Iraq before the Iraqis  are able to  maintain stablity in  the country, al Qaeda will move in and use Iraq as a base.

It is no longer important whether or not Iraq should have become a battleground in the War on Terror.  The fact is that Iraq is a battleground in the War on Terror and we cannot afford to turn that battleground over to al Qaeda.

Believers in the god "Global Warming" have been insisting that melting in the Arctic proves Global Warming exists.  This winter  raises doubts about the existence of such a situation.    Alaskans don't remember warmer summers than last year. Afghans don't remember a worse winter than they are having this year.

800 people  are known dead in the worst winter  in  the memory of Afghan natives.  Many others are likely to be discovered later.  10's of thousands of farm animals are  also dead.  

Madison, Wisconsin, has broken its  all time winter snow record.   many other cities are 1 to 4 feet above normal in showfall.   The situation provides further evidence that  the   Pacific Oscillation  has been responsible for warmer temperatures.  Now that the  PDO has flipped winters may become worse.