Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Foreign Policy As Sudoku

David E. Sanger:
In declaring Tuesday that he would “finish the job” in Afghanistan, President Obama used a phrase clearly meant to imply that even as he deploys an additional 30,000 or so troops, he has finally figured out how to bring the eight-year-long conflict to an end.
I like that "finally figured out." If you think and think and think, we are being told, you can solve the problem of how to escalate a war a little in order to guarantee the outcome of ending it expeditiously.

Tuesday's address will be the most momentous of Obama's Presidency. It may be the first time a full-on policy wonk has stepped up a ground war in Asia, notwithstanding Douglas MacArthur, Vietnam, and "The Princess Bride." This Thanksgiving, pray for those who have volunteered to fight for freedom and are serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and those who will soon be deployed, and for all their families.

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