Raimondo: Obama's troop decision has nothing whatsoever to do with what's happening on the ground in Afghanistan

(AntiWar.com) -- We hear daily reports that President Obama has made this or that decision about how many more troops to send to the Afghan front; the numbers vary. This Reuters report headlines "four options" the president is considering, but then names only three: sending 15,000, 30,000, or 40,000. Is the fourth option getting the heck out of that hellhole, before we destabilize the entire region? No way, no how. The numbers may change, but what doesn’t vary is the fact that this is quite obviously a political and not a military decision: it’s all about what’s happening in Washington, and not about what’s occurring on the ground in Afghanistan and environs. And the Washington political culture, which sees government action as the cure-all for society’s ills, is not about to take inaction as the cure for anything. We must "do something" – even if it means playing right into al-Qaeda’s hands. America’s leaders never knew what hit them on 9/11, and they still don’t. The U.S. response was to launch a conventional war against nation-states – Afghanistan, then Iraq – when neither of these constituted the real enemy...--Justin Raimondo...Cont'd...LINK
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Libertarian Today editor’s note:
I've made this point before elsewhere, but I will make it again because it is relevant to the dynamic Raimondo describes. The Democrats' ace in the hole is always the "race card," and the GOP's is always the "national security" card. If the Democrats withdraw from the Mideast, the GOP will ruthlessly portray them as weak on defense and say they are putting the country at risk; similarly, if the GOP opposes Big Government domestic measures aimed at this "vulnerable" group or that, the Dems will ruthlessly portray them as racist, sexist, heartless, etc.

The entire Washington political dynamic is like a bad marriage where the two parties despise each other but can’t get out of the tie for a variety of economic reasons, and thus exorcise their demons by bringing out the knives at any opportunity to get in a few stabs; the American people are like their dysfunctional offspring picking up all of their bad habits and absorbing their toxins; and the people of the Middle East are the collateral damage.

Americans have become a child-like people unable to take the decisive steps necessary to put an end to the dysfunction as a result of the size and scope of the government, and their dependency upon the malfunctioning two-party system. -- Chris Moore