The problem with this scenario, as Amy Wright should have realized, is that determining an "exit" strategy is not something the military should be charged with.

How to get out of this mess will require statemanship and diplomacy, not military action.

Once a plan is in place, the actual orderly and safe withdrawal of American troops becomes the responsibility of the military.

Why not let the military just run everything and put all of government under the DoD?

There's no escaping it, Obama is truly clueless.

Sorry it took me so long to see it.

Does Barack Obama really need someone from the military to advise him that a military solution to Afghanistan is no solution at all? It is as if in Obama's world the Vietnam conflict never occurred. But of course it most certainly did happen with close to 60,000 Americans returning home in body bags, hundreds of thousands maimed and crippled, and approximately 3 million Vietnamese slaughtered by the U.S. military. Unfortunately Obama's memory lapse should not come as all that much of a surprise as he has been on record as stating that he was never a big believer in the values of the 1960s. Perhaps like George H.W. Bush Barack Obama believes that he too will someday say to the American people that he has licked the Vietnam syndrome. But one strongly suspects that the Afghan people will have something to say about that.

Obama is no fool. Obama is a tool. I for one can hardly believe that all the made up chatter about seeking 'options' is no more than a pretense of leadership. This country, in it's distant past actually produced political leaders now and then. It was possible for a real candidate to run and win so along with all the chaff, occasionally an actual leader could emerge. That does not seem possible any longer. All the great leaders of the past, from Washington to Lincoln,to Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt warned the American public about the dangers of private wealth and power to overwhelm our republic. They knew the difference between honest assessments and a careerist's ambition. Obama does not know. He thinks all those jackals are 'savvy' He gained the trust and votes of many millions of people campaigning on the virtue of change. Now in office, he no longer trusts their assessments.

And Pete Seeger is still singing and standing tall [at 91] once a week at the peace vigil near his home in Beacon NY!

==
I turned over the piece of paper, and there, there on the other side - in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on the other side - in parentheses, capital letters, quotated, read the following words:

( "KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?" )

I went over to the sergeant, said, "Sergeant, you got a lot a damn gall to ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I'm sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin' here on the Group W bench 'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington."

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm singing you this song now is 'cause you may know somebody in a similar situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if you're in a situation like that, there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into the shrink wherever you are, just walk in, say "Shrink, you can get anything you want, at Alice's restaurant". And walk out.

You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and they won't take him. And if two people -two people do it, in harmony - they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.

And if three people do it, can you imagine, three people walking in singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And, friends, they may think it's a movement.
--Arlo Guthrie
==

I just don't get it.

Where did Obama get the idea his options were controlled by the military?

I thought he was their Commander in Chief. I thought he told them what THEIR options were, not the other way around. Plus I thought he set the options in the campaign.

He really fooled me. I thought his promise about Afghanistan in the election was to send in some elite forces who'd hunt down Osama Bin Laden and when they got him we'd bug out with a Victory March down every mainstreet in the country. Wasn't that what "Finish the job" meant?

Instead he channeled Bush's attitude that Bin Laden didn't matter but somehow securing all of Afghanistan did.

Barack Obama is an uncle tom to the power of ten. The man is pure evil.

“(Obama) was looking for choices that would limit U.S. involvement and provide a way out . . . But Obama ended up not forcing the military to provide any real options to increased war."

Obama is not merely the very antithesis of a leader; he is a truly evil human being. I can't read this any other way.

Our wars will finally end when our people, the pawns used by the Ruling Class to fight their wars for profits, wake up and refuse to be dragged into them any more.

This election season, use the facts and figures from the National Priorities Project (http://www.nationalpriorities.org/) to show how much $$$ our wars cost us and how that $$$ could have been better used (see Trade-offs).

Then DEMAND of all candidates that they support a progressive war tax, especially on war profiteers, so our war-caused budget deficits can be decreased. Any candidate who refuses to support a tax to pay for our deficit-causing wars can then be accused of treason and not supporting our troops.

As USMC Major Smedley Butler told us long ago, "War is a Racket".

Tax that despicable, sociopathic racket into oblivion.

The US military is a disgrace. Their leaders don't even do what the President commands them to do. Gates, Mullen and Betrayus should have been removed from government as soon as they failed to provide Obama with real options. Monkies could do better work than these miscreants.

Obama was carefully selected. Monies to win office would not have gone to him were he not meeting the approval of the Corporations and special interest groups sending him that money.

This not and issue of "Bad advice" or being "used by the Military officers". It has nothing to do with ghosts of Vietnam or terrorism.

It is to implement a long sought after policy to dominate the energy rich regions of the world with the US Military, and to encircle Russia and checkmate China so as to maintain American Hegonomy.

This at the behest of the Corporations which want to extend their tentacles everywhere and control the worlds resources.

Hilary Clinton has already warned China that unless they support sanctions on Iran, China would risj losing the Middle East as a source of Oil. Anti Missile bases being put in Poland can not possibly intercept Missiles launched from Iran.

Ann Wright is a very brave individual, not because of her military service, but because of her stand against injustice and institutional corruption. She was on one of the boats that attempted to break through the illegal Israeli blockade. (she had her personal belongings stolen by the Israeli military thugs if I recall)

One thing that I find a bit inconsistent about using Woodward's account:

I recall very clearly that throughout Obama's campaign he repeated that he would draw down forces from Iraq and escalate the occupation of Afghanistan and repeated the usual Teorrism blah blah, Al-Quaeda blah blah, Taleban blah blah lies of the Cheney administration. He spoke of the Aghan war/occupation as being a worthy and just endeavor.

Perhaps I am missing something, but why is Obama portayed as being against escalation and occupation?

These wars are completely criminal! Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld should be in jail cells awaiting trial for crimes against humanity. All troops should be withdrawn IMMEDIATELY! No more bullshit! Every day the criminals of the military industrial congressional complex make millions more in blood-soaked profits. The heads of the military industrial corporations should also be tried right along side Bush and his criminal cronies.

Obama should to sack the whole warmongering lot of 'em, Mullen, Gates, and most of all, the lousy Petraeus. Then he should put some decent, rational people in there, like maybe General Tuguba, and force the military to come up with a decent exit plan that will quickly move us toward peace.

Oh, and he'd better have the Secret Service step up patrols of the White house. We don't want any military-industrial fascist coups here!

If not Obama, who? If he can change, terrific.
And, I hope it happens soon as we're all on a collision course with the fate of this nation, such as it is.
China waits for the hammer to fall.

Wright sez: "I had hoped that when Obama became President he would have ..."

***
It's probably not your fault. That "hope" thing was pretty contagious at the time.

Obama is not a leader. He isn't even a good follower.
Real leaders keep their promises and they govern in ways their constituents expect and can understand.
Real leaders stand up for what they believe in.
Obama leaves the military to run itself and puts BP in charge of the environment. He puts vicious health care corporations in charge of our health and crap shooters on Wall Street in charge of the economy. He lets the Democratic Party suits decide policy. He's not even a good figurehead.
You'd think someone of his race and background would understand the special importance of his presidency and at least put a little effort into it.

This is what the end of empire looks like. It's not pretty. The oligarchs have already gotten out. Off shore tax havens anyone? The military is in charge of the government. It exists simply to justify itself. Expect more wars in more places before the whole thing comes crashing down. The idiots are in charge.