OBAMA AND THE GENERALS.

The argument that "the Taliban in Afghanistan do not pose a direct threat to the U.S." did not hold water. On the other hand, the Commander of the U.S. forces in that country has asked for more troops to fight a war that we all knew existed. So, what was the fuss about. You either would send troops or you would not.

President Obama himself has emphatically stated on many occasions that Al Qaeda and the Taliban caused the greatest threat to the security of the United States, and he would do whatever he could to annihilate them. That should remain the objectivity of the government; to make sure that American citizens were safe wherever they were; either vacationing in Bali or anywhere else in the world.

The war, the war, the war, and it must be fought; that was the issue. The generals responsible for winning it had spoken, and they had to be listened to. They had said categorically that any delay to fulfill the obligation of sending more troops to Afghanistan would eventually cause the U.S. to lose the Afghan war. They were on the ground in the war zone, and they were reporting what they saw and recommending that the Commander-in-Chief, President Obama, should give them the tools and the opportunity to finish the work that they had been given to do.

Their request was a very simple one. They needed more men to hold down the areas that they had already cleared of the enemy, and to able to go after them wherever they were hiding. The terrain there was rigorous, and the Taliban hid in the caves in the mountains, and they should be flushed out. More equipment and additional soldiers were required for the work at hand.

Any excuses on the part of the government would not suffice. The new strategies thought out in the Situation Room in the White House did not have any guarantees that they (strategies) would succeed. There would be those members of the administration that would say that they did not want another Iraq on their minds, and that domestic issues must be dealt with instead.

By George, they could be right; yet, the question still remained that the legacy left in Afghanistan would be a disastrous one, if the Taliban was given the chance to take control in that part of the world once again; and who would be responsible if that should happen; the government or the generals?

Fighting a war was not a game; and there were men and women in the White House, yesterday, who realized that more than those of us on the outside. Therefore, the sooner they gave in to the demands of the generals, the better it would be for everyone. In the interest of the U.S. forces fighting to keep America safe, the president should acquiesce to the request of Gen. Stanley McChrystal; the commanding military officer responsible for the Afghanistan war; for more troops.