Capito Statement on President Obama’s Afghanistan Address

WASHINGTON – Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., released the following statement this morning in response to President Barack Obama’s address to the nation regarding his administration’s strategy for the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan:

“First and foremost, our men and women in uniform must know that we stand fully behind them and their mission. They‘ve made a commitment to prevent the spread of terrorism and work towards a stable Afghanistan, and it is critical that our government match their level of dedication.

“While any decision to send our service members into harm’s way is a difficult one, it has become increasingly clear that success in Afghanistan demands that our forces have further resources and manpower.

“As this process unfolds, however, it is critical that General McChrystal and his team of commanders have an appropriate opportunity to succeed. We must not be so quick to judge success or failure based on an arbitrary timeline that we draw premature conclusions about the effectiveness of this new strategy.

“As I have said before, our military efforts should be driven by the expertise of our generals on the ground who know the day to day demands of the mission, and not by the political winds of Washington.

“Put simply, I am encouraged by the President’s decision, but I urge him to let the facts on the ground – rather than a politically-driven timetable – guide our policy moving forward.”

Maybe Because He Wants to Win the War

General McChrystal has written, spoken, and probably leaked to the public his earnest desire to win the war in Afghanistan by requesting what the Democrats called for several years ago, more troops.

Back when Iraq's future remained uncertain, many Democrats, including the current Secretary of State, called for more focus on Afghanistan. They, including the current president, called this country the real war and Iraq the distraction. Now Afghanistan is the distraction and the Olympics are the real war.

Naturally the officers and soldiers have gotten fed up with the shifting of attention. Obama called health care the most important struggle of this generation (excuse me, are we not at WAR?) He has little concern or time for Afghanistan, so long as he can get one domestic victory and the Olympics (oops, may have screwed the pooch on that one.)

Danger does exist in too massive a buildup; after all, we trained them to hit the logistical units of massive concentrations of men and armor during the Soviet occupation. However we need to expand our presence in the countryside. Experts at the Army War College have studied two hundred years of irregular warfare in American history and figured out a gameplan for victory.

They concluded that you can pacify a region like Afghanistan in two ways, offer security or terror to the most important factor which is the population. Americans do not terrify civilians, even though that is the easiest way to win. Instead the goal is to establish permanent security. It makes no sense to advance into a town, secure it, gain cooperation, then abandon it to go after another objective. You need a long term presence to help train security units and home guards so that they can protect themselves. This requires time and more manpower.

Is Obama interested? Does Obama care? His generals have taken the extraordinary step of speaking out to try and pressure him into giving the war more attention than the Olympics. Let's hope they succeed. Failure in Afghanistan means emboldened terrorists and more attacks on our soil.

Is Obama turning Afghanistan in to his Vietnam?

As President Obama struggles whether or not to go for the win in Afghanistan we are reminded of a very similar decision made by a President over 40 years ago. General Westmoreland became Chief of Staff of the Army in March of 1968, just as North Vietnamese Army was destroyed by US forces at the end of the Tet Offensive. The media did not report this victory as the victory it was and the public was weary of the war. Westmoreland’s request for 200,000 additional troops had been leaked to the media and was ultimately denied for political reasons.

Today a similar request for additional troops sits on Obama’s desk. History repeats its self at General Stanley McChrystal's request for an additional 40,000 troops was leaked to the press.

Obama should learn from history. The first lesson is let the General fight the wars and keep the politics out of it. If Obama does not give the troops to McChrystal to push to final victory, then American soldiers will continue to die with no chance of victory. That is not an acceptable out come. We do not need another Vietnam.

The way I see it Obama has two choices. The first, if you will not give the troops what they need to win, then pull them out immediately. Do not sacrifice American lives without the chance of victory. However Mr. Obama needs to be prepared for what will follow. Afghanistan will revert back to the haven for terrorist bent on destruction of the United States and the western world. History also shows us that it will destabilize Pakistan, a nuclear armed country.

The second choice is not to repeat the mistakes of Vietnam. Keep politics out of it. Give the Generals what they need to push on to final victory. Win the war and keep America safe.