East Carolinian

Issue date: 3/3/09 Section: Opinion

In the foreign policy arena, I can honestly say I have found myself mostly in agreement with the president and his policies. I'm in agreement because, so far, President Obama has not fulfilled his promises to the anti-war, hippie left that was his original base of support in the election last year.

Unless things change, he has turned out to be a realist who will execute the war on terror vigorously. Several decisions have shown this to be the case so far.

First of all, Obama kept Republican Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense. Gates is an exceptional public servant. He was originally named by President Bush to the position to replace the previous Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The former CIA analyst has a keen intellect, and he is widely respected on both sides of the aisle. He works well with both the press and Congress. Holding over Gates also mildly ticked off the left-wing blogs -- if the left-wing blogs are ticked off, that usually means a good decision was made.

Regarding the war in Afghanistan, Obama has made the decision to "surge" forces there this year. Sen. McCain has recently said that the United States is losing the war there. His assessment is not far off. The situation there has been spiraling out of control for the last few years. The Taliban is resurgent and taking back more territory by the month. Al-Qaeda has reportedly regrouped and is hiding out near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Also, the U.S.-backed central government is losing legitimacy and control over its territory.

In response, the president is sending 17,000 more combat troops to Afghanistan to beef up our forces, secure the Afghan population, and hunt down al-Qaeda/Taliban fighters. However, more troops are not the entire answer. We also need a surge on the diplomatic side. Taliban members that are willing to negotiate must be separated from those that only want to fight. We can make peace with some Taliban fighters (as we did with some parts of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq). Gen. Petraeus has already suggested this as an option. NATO troops must also start sharing the load. Some foreign militaries (British, Canadians, Dutch) have fought valiantly, but some nations severely hamper their forces with ridiculous rules of engagement. For instance, German troops cannot leave their bases at night because it is "too dangerous." These nations need to allow their militaries to do their jobs and fight the enemy.

As I am writing this article, the president is about to announce that American combat soldiers will be out of Iraq within 19 months. At a closer glance, this is longer than the promised 16-month pullout that Obama laid out in his campaign. The timetable for withdrawal is actually very similar to the one Bush was already following. On an even closer glance, Obama is going to leave behind in Iraq a "residual force" of up to 50,000 soldiers that will be there indefinitely, maybe permanently. This has made some on the left uneasy. I'm glad that the change some people thought they were getting has given way to a more responsible drawdown of U.S. troops.

Obama will undoubtedly pursue some policies that I will disagree with, but so far so good. I'm just glad that the "change" he was selling people in the election hasn't completely come to pass in the war on terror.



This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian,com.

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