Obama's Haunting: A Surge, Then an Early Out

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Surge now,  and an early out.  

It is reported in the New York Times that President Obama,  on an afternoon when he was holding an Afghanistan review,  had just come from Arlington National Cemetery where he had wandered among the war graves.  

 Already,  his idea of a troop surge leading to an early withdrawal,  for all its self-contradiction,  had taken hold of him.    

In the White House Situation room,  viewing a bell chart of the troop surge which spread for years on the page,  he remarked with force,  "I want that moved to the left.  Surge in, and early out. "  

His advisors have said that he was haunted by the toll the war was taking on the US Troops,  on young American lives,  and had been deeply bothered by visiting the Walter Reed Army hospital.  Said the President after one of those visits,  "I don't want to be going to Walter Reed for the next 8 years".  

Thus can be seen the paradox and self -contradiction which may lead to trouble:   " A surge,  and then an early out. "  One can almost see the stunning logic in it,  while at the same time wondering if it isn't too perfect and far too easy to hope that all could run on smooth rails.   Already US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has qualified this idea of an exit strategy which would begin to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan by January 2011 as something that is conditional,  and she qualified  -  and contradicted  -  the President's statement with her own,  as did Gibbs,  starting by calling the exit a "transition":   

HILLARY CLINTON: We're not talking about an exit strategy or a drop dead deadline. What we're talking about is an assessment that in January 2011, we can begin a transition. A transition to hand off -- responsibility to the Afghan forces.

ROBERT GATES: We're not talking about an abrupt withdrawal. We're talking about something that will take place over a period of time. Our commanders think that these additional forces, and one of the reasons for the President's decision to try and accelerate their deployment is-- is the view that this extended surge has the opportunity to make significant gains in terms of reversing the momentum of the Taliban, denying them control of Afghan territory, and degrading their capabilities.

And Great Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that although he admires the US President's pledge to deploy troops, he believes promises of early withdrawal and timetables set up are a mistake. (See Gordon Brown rejects early withdrawal exit strategy.)