The news story:
.. The new troop deployment is expected to include 8,000 Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as well as 4,000 additional Army troops from Fort Lewis, Washington.
“This increase is necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires,” Obama said in a written statement…
… Another 5,000 troops will be deployed at a later date to support combat troops, bringing the total to 17,000 the Defense Department said. A senior administration official confirmed the total.
The Obama administration has been conducting several reviews of U.S. policy in Afghanistan, including a review by Gen. David Petraeus, the commander in the region. The president and the Pentagon have been considering a request from the top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, to send as many as 30,000 additional troops.
It is to be hoped that this is being done right – the commanders seem to have asked for 30,000 troops, we’re sending 12,000 now, with 5,000 to go later, and maybe the rest of the 30,000 at some future point. Now, commanders do often ask for more than they need, because its always better to end up with too much than too little, so this reduction in numbers might just be the result of a more hard-nosed look at the mission requirements…or, it might be a sign of a vacillating President who can’t make up his mind to either 100% support or entirely over rule his military commanders. The prayer of all patriots is that we’re sending enough to win, not merely enough to lose slowly.
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