Oh yeah. Almost forgot. The other war. The good war gone bad.
"Before I support any more troops to Afghanistan, I want to see a strategy that includes an exit plan," said Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts liberal who at one point wanted to cut off money for the Iraq war.I'm not personally opposed to escalating in Afghanistan, but we have to know what the plan for victory is. It's downright criminal what Bush and the Republicans did, pushing Afghanistan to the side in order to invade Iraq on a whim. We are paying yet another serious price for GOP caprice. But I'm not convinced that that's a good reason to withdraw. Afghanistan is a mess, but it's a very dangerous mess to ignore, as we learned in September of 2001.
Added Wisconsin Democrat Sen. Russ Feingold, another fierce war opponent: "The idea of putting the troops in without having more clarity at least gives me pause."
The Obama administration is in the midst of a sweeping strategy review. The results of that assessment might not be released for several weeks. In the meantime, the administration is expected to approve an immediate request from the top military commander in Afghanistan for three more brigades, roughly 14,000 troops.
It is expected that more troops would follow, eventually doubling the presence from 33,000 to 60,000.
