Health care, which the president acknowledges is not a crisis, requires us to act and act now. It's urgent and if people don't pass his plan (whatever that is) "people will die." That's what President Obama said before a joint session of Congress the other day. War, apparently, is different. Obama suggests the war in Afghanistan has been a waste of money and seems utterly indifferent to the fact that his "very deliberate process" may mean that people will, in fact, die. And not hypothetically.
Now the Washington Post reports that this very deliberative process is in fact a political process with inflection points based on what best suits the president's domestic political needs. According to the report in the Post:
Meanwhile, McChrystal has finished drawing up his request for what is expected to be thousands or tens of thousands of additional trainers and combat troops for Afghanistan, but he is awaiting instructions before submitting the request to the Pentagon.
Senior defense officials said that, in effect, McChrystal has been asked to delay submitting the request.
"We're working through the process by which we want that submitted," Gates told reporters, without elaborating.
What possible reason could there be for delaying a report that's already been prepared other than to prevent that report from undermining Obama's domestic political initiatives. The president is literally playing politics with a war, and undersourcing that war -- despite all his campaign promises to the contrary -- in an attempt to keep his Democratic colleagues on the Hill in line for a coming health care vote. It's a disgrace.
