VP Biden on Afghanistan and Death Toll of US Troops

LA Times: Reports that Vice - President Biden has stated that the US should expect more deaths in Afghanistan, due to the planned surge of troops in Afghanistan. The reported surge of between twenty and thirty thousand troops, will make Afghanistan Obama's War. The War in Iraq has seen the US lose according to icasulaties.org 4,236 US Service Personnel, while the War in Afghanistan has seen according to icasulaties.org the loss of 641 US Service Personnel since 2001. In other words the War in Afghanistan has been under the screen, after the US withdraw from Iraq over the next sixteen months, the press attention will move to the badlands of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It can be asked how long will the US voter take a high body count coming out of Afghanistan. This is a chance for Obama not to make the same mistake as LBJ did over Vietnam. Its not a great idea to send thousands of new troops to Afghanistan, if it was a War the West could win, this blog would support it, still think the War in Iraq was a just War, also at the end of the day it was winnable, also lets not forget it might be more easy to get in to Iraq than to leave, it would be a disaster for Obama if Iran took over Iraq, a war won turned in to a defeat would not go down well with the voter. Also its a matter of definition, Obama has stated that he wants combat troops out of Iraq, a combat troop can be redefined if need by the Army Chiefs. Iran will be looking for weakness from Obama. Lets recall the Cuban Missile Crisis developed due to the idea that JFK was weak after the Failure of the Bay of Pigs in 61 and the frosty summit meeting between the Kennedy and Khruschev. Thus when it comes to Iran and Afghanistan, its more than the exchange of troops from one battlefield to another its how its perceived in the region and the reaction of Iran. Thus in 2012 if Iraq goes down the toilet and Afghanistan is even more of a mess the blame will be at the door of President Obama.

Obama, LBJ and Afghanistan

Salon: Interesting article on how President Obama is making the same mistake that LBJ did over Vietnam. As noted in previous post it can be argued that this is the time for the West to get out of Afghanistan, places bases around Afghanistan, when a terrorists threat or base is found then bomb. This would follow an old Imperial Policy, this worked on the whole in the region.