Rumblings that McChrystal's soon to be released review of Afghan policy is being downplayed by Obama officials because it concludes more troops are needed and they don't have any interest in hearing that. Believe I predicted this when a month or so ago news came out that McChrystal was overseeing yet another review, believe I said that they'd keep making him jump through review hoops until he came up with a plan that fit their agenda.
I don't recall anyone in the press, the commentariat, the intelligentsia - other than myself of course [you're not a member of any of those groups - indulge a lie to hear a truth] I don't recall anyone during the primary or presidential campaigns saying, like I did, that Obama's 'get tough' rhetoric on Afghanistan was a ruse, was phony, was politics at it's most cynical. In fact I remember being barred from the comments section of one prominent left wing blog for having the unmitigated gall to suggest that Obama was anything less than sincere.
Still, we're only talking rumblings at the moment - if the generals push and Gates backs them who knows how this plays out. Fact is though, if retreating from Afghanistan didn't look like retreating from Afghanistan and therefore involve all the negatives that come with that I believe I'm at the point of saying 'you're either all in - or you're out'. I seriously doubt all in is an option anyone's considering - which is probably a good thing 'cause when I say all in I essentially mean large scale incursions into Pakistan for the purposes of burning the tribal regions to the ground.
Of course, retreat is a scenario Obama himself has set up. He had two options when he came into office: go big or go small - he chose a safe middle ground, no doubt to preserve the appearances of a campaign promise while avoiding the risks of seriously escalating the war. Possibly he's about to pay the consequences for that dissembling cowardice. If things go south in Afghanistan, he won't be able to blame this one on Bush, although he'll no doubt try - he owns it now.
