President Obama Making Same Mistake as President Bush

President Obama is making the exact same mistake that President Bush made in the first few years of the Iraq war. Consistently wanting to win but at the same time pushing a strategy of disengagement. You either fight or you withdraw; you can’t have it both ways.

In the first few years of conflict in Iraq, President Bush pursued a strategy of succeeding in Iraq at the same time articulating a policy of disengagement. Unfortunately this policy resulted in failure and it wasn’t until the surge strategy adopted in 2007, that implemented a strategy to win instead of advocating disengagement.

When military strategy is implemented you have to see it through you can’t advocate engagement at the same time that of wanting to remove yourself from the fight; all this brings is confusion.

President Obama needs to learn the lessons of previous administrations when engaged in conflict. Much has been stated about U.S. involvement in Vietnam, but one has to remove the partisan glasses and truly look at whole picture. U.S. policy was to engage but wanting to extricate ourselves as well. The result was mismanaged and confusing military strategy. The same outlook was evident in Iraq, but changed with General David Petraeus surge strategy.

The president needs to articulate that he is committed and not sending signals that he is wavering on his commitment to Afghanistan. Since the president’s address to the nation, the debate has centered on his statement on beginning the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 2011.

Recent statements by his national security team have muddied the water and made it unsure of how committed the president is to his policy. Statements the president has made on how he reached this decision have made his commitment seem empty handed.

The question will come in the months that follow once casualties spike as they did in the early months of the Iraq surge will the president continue or disengage in the face of a public backlash. One has to look back at the early months of the surge and the political backlash that followed casualty increase, even President Obama was against the surge and now has grudgingly accepted its success.

The president needs to speak forcibly and convincingly that he is committed to the surge of forces into Afghanistan. The American public will respond to a president who is confident and reassured of his plan of action; if not they will be confused as the sacrifice is not worth the price.