There was no doubt after 9/11 that the Bush administration had to reply with force. The logical target was the Taliban in Afghanistan who gave Al Qaeda free reign to train and launch the terror attacks. On October 7, 2001, President Bush said this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH: On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against the Al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime.
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The Taliban were quickly overthrown with minimal American casualties and the USA celebrated a great victory. But eight years later, things are not so great in Afghanistan, and now President Obama owns the war:
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PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: This is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which Al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans. So this is not only a war worth fighting, this is fundamental to the defense of our people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And that remains true. If the Taliban prevails in Afghanistan, it will again become a terror haven. There's no question about that.
But there are plenty of questions about how President Obama is waging the war. Right now he is still deciding whether to send 40,000 more troops to the theater, troops requested by his hand-picked commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal. If Barack Obama does not send the forces, there will be a major controversy. And if things get worse in Afghanistan, President Obama will be blamed.
This is a potential third rail for the president.
Part of the problem for Mr. Obama is his left-wing base, people like Vice President Biden and Speaker Pelosi are not committed to more troops, despite the fact that Mrs. Pelosi said this about President Bush:
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NANCY PELOSI, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I remind you the president, when General Shinseki said that you need 300,000 troops in order to get the job done and come home safely and soon, he was fired. So this president saying that he listens to the commanders in the field, I don't know about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Again, that was Mrs. Pelosi talking about President Bush in Iraq. But now President Obama's in the exact same situation, is he not?
According to the latest FOX News Poll, 50 percent of Americans do not believe the president is doing what it takes to win in Afghanistan; 37 percent say he is doing enough. But on the subject of more troops, the nation is divided: 43 percent say send them, 43 percent say bring them home.
After eight long years, things should be much better in Afghanistan, but now is not the time to surrender. NATO is impotent. Only Great Britain, Canada, the Netherlands and Denmark allow their troops to launch offensive operations. That's insane.
So it, once again, falls to the USA to keep the world safe from Al Qaeda and the Taliban. We'll see if President Obama is up to the task.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Eighty-four-year-old Bob Barker, the "Price Is Right" guy, has donated $3 million to finish building a hospital in Maryland designed to help U.S. service people with brain injuries. Obviously Mr. Barker is a patriot for doing this.
On the pinhead front, we all deserve a break today, but apparently this guy didn't get it:
Click here to watch "Pinheads & Patriots"!
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (EXPLETIVE DELETED). All I want was a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) chicken, and you give me (EXPLETIVE DELETED) fries. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) I ordered it. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
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Pinhead? No doubt.
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