Next week Barack Obama will announce he is sending tens of thousands more troops to fight in Afghanistan as he prepares ten days later to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.
This juxtaposition raises questions about the “new climate in international politics” for which the Nobel Committee has cited him, observing, “Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts.”
But such instruments will not work against those committed to fight a Holy War to the death, and the President now says he “will finish the job” of what he deems “a necessary war” with some yet-to-be-disclosed combination of diplomatic and civilian efforts as well as military force.
When he tells the American people exactly how next Tuesday night, he will be facing a public that is deeply divided about the war. No matter how skillfully Barack Obama explains his decision, an older generation will be thinking of Lyndon Johnson and the war in Vietnam.
Bill Moyers, who worked in the White House back then, speaks for all of us:
“(O)nce again we’re fighting in remote provinces against an enemy who can bleed us slowly and wait us out, because he will still be there when we are gone.
“Once again, we are caught between warring factions in a country where other foreign powers fail before us. Once again, every setback brings a call for more troops, although no one can say how long they will be there or what it means to win. Once again, the government we are trying to help is hopelessly corrupt and incompetent.