McCHRYSTAL'S REQUEST.

The United States mistakes in the Iraq war should not be repeated in Afghanistan, just as the delay of the surge that was needed to pin down the insurgency was. It was finally the strategy that brought relief to the forces on the ground and turned the Iraq war around.

At the time, the generals were asking for reinforcements, while many in Congress dragged their feet to respond to their call. They knew what to do, as they trained everyday and planned for new strategies to combat the enemy, and therefore their demands must never go unheeded by the government.

The general in charge in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, had requested more troops, but it was becoming more and more difficult for his demand to be met by the Bush government, when Senator John McCain approached President Bush in a private letter, exhorting him to show the "will" to win the Iraq war. It took the removal of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who was cutting corners in troop deployment, and thus slowing down the progress to quell the insurgency.

The same was happening in Afghanistan, presently being swamped by the Taliban, who would wait until a place, where the American troops had cleared, but did not have any back up or enough troops to hold and preserve, (they) would move in and disrupt the normal life of the civilians in that area.

Now, it was the turn of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was commanding the soldiers in Afghanistan, to ask President Obama to commit more troops, in order to "get the job done".

There were rumors of the general meeting with top ranking government officials in Germany, including the National Security Advisor James L. Jones, on the issue of additional troops for Afghanistan; but the outcome of that meeting was not seen to be resolving that issue; and Republican Senators were demanding that Gen. McChrystal testified before Congress, thus showing the seriousness of the situation.

However, the decision has to be made by President Obama, who has stated that his administration's aim was to defeat Alqueda and the Taliban, and that his ultimate goal was winning the Afghan war and bringing the troops home. Therefore any delay in answering the general's request would be seen as delaying the end of the war, which nobody would intentionally accuse the administration of.

Whatever the hold up causing the military advisers of the government to put off an immediate response to enable the president to make a decision on the issue must be swiftly dealt with, for Gen. McChrystal to get the troops he needed in Afghanistan. He has consistently maintained that the situation there was critical, according to many reports; and so, the sooner he received an answer, the better it would be for the nation in particular, and for all concerned, in general.