Bring the Troops Home Now!

I was a supporter of both the Afghanistan invasion and the Iraq war. I believed then, following the Sept. 11 attacks, that it was a matter of national security to hand Islamic terrorists stunning defeats in their own backyards.

Even a year ago, I would have said bringing the troops home prematurely would be tantamount to surrender to an enemy determined to do us in. But that was then. This is now.

Things have changed dramatically. The biggest change is one in America's leadership. I do not believe Barack Obama is capable of achieving anything remotely resembling victory in either Iraq or Afghanistan — at least not victory for the United States of America.

A president incapable of recognizing that war came home Nov. 5 at Fort Hood is certainly incapable of waging foreign wars. A president incapable of recognizing that terrorists are among us could never be counted on to do the right thing in remote places like Afghanistan and Iraq.

A president whose own worst enemies are the Republican Party, Fox News Channel and the tea party movement couldn't possibly ever understand the nature of real combat.

It's time to bring the troops home now!

It's not without considerable reflection and sadness that I make this call. Like most Americans, I hoped to see the forces that attacked our country without provocation eight years ago utterly destroyed, incapacitated, defeated, devastated, annihilated, demolished and obliterated. It's clear that is no longer an option.

Obama has been vacillating since August over what to do in the quagmire that has become Afghanistan — the one conflict he claimed to support in his election campaign. The man he chose to be his field general has requested a surge of 40,000 combat soldiers to finish the job we began eight years ago. Obama can't decide whether to listen to him and seems determined to meet him in the middle.

The middle spells uncertainty.

The middle spells doubt. The middle spells defeat. I'm not willing to see one more U.S. soldier die in Iraq or Afghanistan under that kind of ambivalent leadership.

Bring the troops home now!

It's obvious we've got a war on our hands right here — and we don't even have a president ready, willing and able to defend our unarmed soldiers and civilians at home. By the way, I wonder what happened to that anti-war enthusiasm that swept him into power in the first place? Where has it gone? Why has it dissipated? Where are the protests?

Barack Obama loves to apologize for American mistakes. Why doesn't he just apologize to the jihadists who attacked America and to all those villages we air-raided and call it a day? Get it over with.

If you disagree with me about this, ask yourself these questions: Do you feel Obama is up to the challenge as commander in chief to achieve American victory in either Iraq or Afghanistan in the next three years? If not, are you willing to allow U.S. soldiers to continue to die for these causes?

Obama is unfit for command. How can we win two conflicts with him at the helm? Obama has made it clear he is only seeking "exit strategies" — not lasting victories.

"Exit strategies" are easy. Put the troops on airplanes and ships and get them out of there — as fast as possible. Just make left turns at Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama should know how to go left — he's taken America in that direction for the last year.

Will there be consequences for precipitous withdrawals? Of course there will be. They will be grave. But there will also be consequences for Obama's half-hearted style of national defense.

As good as the U.S. military is, without a leader who genuinely understands the threat of Islamofascism, these wars are already lost.

Bring the troops home now — we're going to need them more than ever.

To find out more about Joseph Farah and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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