Are We Going to Fall For It?

Ed Hoffman

Last week, the President announced that he will keep nearly 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan through most of next year, and then scale back to 5,500 when he leaves office in 2017. By doing this, Obama defaults on his promise to end the war on his watch, and virtually ensures that he hands it off to his successor (whoever that ends up being).

We shouldn’t be surprised by this; with a little research, one can find the myriad of empty statements and broken promises made on Afghanistan. Remember, Obama once called Afghanistan called our “good war” in order to look like a Commander in Chief, as opposed to Iraq, which he labeled the “bad war” in order to please the left wing of his party and keep all blame for the American lives lost there squarely on George W. Bush’s shoulders. Nevermind that Iraq is a country, and Afghanistan is a place with a lot of caves.

Here is a timeline of these statements; these are exact quotes from the President that I played on my radio show last week.

• June 4, 2009: “We do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan.”
• December 1, 2009: “I have determined it is in our vital interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.”
• June 22, 2011: “We will bring home a total of 33,000 troops home by next summer.”
• February 12, 2013: “By the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over.”
• May 27, 2014: “At the beginning of 2015, we will have approximately 9,800 U.S. service members in different parts of the country (Afghanistan). One year later, by the end of 2016, our military will draw down to a normal embassy presence in Kabul.” (What is a “normal embassy presence,” you ask? 1,000 or fewer.)
• October 15, 2015: “I’ve decided to maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through most of next year, 2016. Their mission will not change.”

So much for that normal embassy presence.

But of course, Obama found a way to absolve himself of any blame for these drastically fluctuating shifts in policy. He’s not the smartest President we’ve ever had, but he’s smart enough to know that lots of Americans are stupid. It’s easy: Just remind everyone that we’ve been making “adjustments in terms of our timetables” all along, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be in a time of war. Don’t let Americans believe that having a clear strategy and following through is the right way to do things, since that’s not the way he does it.

The question is, are we going to fall for it? Are we going to allow this President’s legacy to go down in the history books untarnished? There will always be media spinning it the way they want to and historians writing what they want your kids to learn. But you and I can tell our own children and grandchildren the way it really was, and hope that they keep passing on what we know to be true. Future generations depend on it.

Ed Hoffman is host of The Main Event on AM590, which airs Saturday 9:30 AM- 10:30 AM and Sunday 4:00 PM- 5:00 PM. Follow him on Twitter @EdHoffman, and like him on Facebook by searching The Main Event 590.