"The White House must stop dithering while America's armed forces are in danger"

God I miss this guy:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday night accused the White House of dithering over the strategy for the war in Afghanistan and urged President Barack Obama to "do what it takes to win."

"Make no mistake. Signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries," Cheney said while accepting an award from a conservative national security group, the Center for Security Policy.

Cheney disputed remarks by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel that the Bush administration had been adrift concerning the war in Afghanistan and that the Obama administration had to start from the beginning to develop a strategy for the 8-year-old war.

To the contrary, Cheney said, the Bush administration undertook its own review of the war before leaving office and presented its findings to Obama's transition team.

"They asked us not to announce our findings publicly, and we agreed, giving them the benefit of our work and the benefit of the doubt," Cheney said. The strategy Obama announced in March bore a "striking resemblance" to what the Bush administration review had found, the vice president said.

Emanuel told CNN on Sunday that the decision regarding what to do in Afghanistan is more complex than whether to send more troops. The U.S. commander there, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has reportedly asked for as many as 40,000 additional troops to combat the Taliban insurgency and al-Qaida fighters.

"When you go through all the analysis, it's clear that basically we had a war for eight years that was going on, that's adrift, that we're beginning at scratch, and just from the starting point, after eight years," Emanuel said.

Cheney said the Obama administration seems to be pulling back and blaming others for its own failure to implement the strategy it had embraced earlier in the year.

"The White House must stop dithering while America's armed forces are in danger," the former vice president said. "It's time for President Obama to do what it takes to win a war he has repeatedly and rightly called a war of necessity."

In the meanwhile:

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he could reach a decision on his new war strategy for Afghanistan before the outcome of an Afghan election run-off on Nov. 7.

The latest sign that Obama was closer to addressing the faltering Afghan war effort came as a new poll showed Americans deeply divided over sending up to 40,000 more troops there.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai removed a major stumbling block for Obama when he agreed on Tuesday, under intense U.S. pressure, to a second round of balloting after many of his votes from the August presidential election were tossed out as fraudulent.

"It is entirely possible that we have a strategy formulated before a runoff is determined," Obama told MSNBC. But he added, somewhat cryptically, "We may not announce it."

Can you imagine being in Afghanistan, putting your life on the line every day, while the President is making these kinds of statements?

Thank God for Dick Cheney.

Thank God for the professionals who serve us, and this Commander-In-Chief, in the military.

Crossposted(*).

Comments

[tim aka The Godless Heathen]

Pres. Obama has no inclination to “win” the war. One only has to remember his stance on the Iraqi Surge to understand his lack of intestinal fortitude regarding making a tough wartime decision.

Only a complete withdrawal would need to be “started from the beginning”. We will regret that decision years from now when there is another spectacular attack.

Worst. President. Ever.

[Shifty1]

Chairman Maobama's dithering should only be a surprise to those who base their appraisal of a person's beliefs on what that person says during an election campaign. The Dear Leader is simply another military-despising, blame-America-first, leftist, nothing more, nothing less. He does not believe in the use of the military EVER, unless approved by, and under the control of the UN. Too bad some of those 52%ers couldn't do any better than the official campaign website/stump speech to get information on what this guy truly believes...like his voting record, past scholarly writings, public statements made while NOT on the campaign trail (or to like-minded idealogical brethern)....

[Shifty1]

Oh yeah....and I heartily second the "Thank-God's" given above!!!