Speaking to the American people from the White House Wednesday night in a televised speech that lasted about 15 minutes, President Barack Obama revealed no surprises when he announced the drawdown of the "surge" in Afghanistan during his much-anticipated speech.
Reminding viewers of the 2009 coalition military surge in which he deployed an additional 30,000 American troops into Afghanistan, President Obama also reminded viewers of his commitment to start withdrawing troops in July 2011.
"Starting next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by next summer, fully recovering the surge I announced [ during a speech] at West Point," stated the President.
While polls show a majority of Americans are tired of the lengthy military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, national security experts continue to debate the wisdom of what some call "retreating in the face of victory."
"We've never really defined the Afghan mission," said former U.S. Marine and NYPD police detective Sidney Franes. "Is it a counterinsurgency? Or a counterterrorism mission? If it's a counterinsurgency, then we are talking about a substantial number of troops. If we are out to kill and capture terrorists, then that would entail small special operations units sometimes working independently."
A source in Washington, D.C. told the Public Safety Examiner that the President's decision went beyond the advice of military experts and civilian officials who warned that a significant drawdown at this moment lacked strategic logic and would endanger the progress the surge has accomplished over the last eighteen months.
Reiterating his commitment to end the wars, Obama concluded, "Let us responsibly end these wars, and reclaim the American Dream that is at the center of our story. Get together to unleash innovation that creates new jobs and industry, while living within our means."
"We must rebuild our infrastructure and find new and clean sources of energy," said Obama.
"I noticed that Obama quickly moved the subject of his short speech from Afghanistan to his pet projects such as spending more taxpayer money on programs that fail to create jobs or that create jobs at a cost of close to a million dollars each," said political strategist Mike Baker.
After Obama's address to the nation, his former opponent in the 2008 presidential race, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) criticized the President's speech on the drawdown.
Displaying a solemn demeanor, McCain complained "that the withdrawal plan that President Obama announced tonight poses an unnecessary risk to the hard-won gains," McCain said, "This is not the 'modest' withdrawal that I and others had hoped for and advocated."
"Though I disagree with the President's withdrawal plan, I nonetheless believe that America's interests in Afghanistan are far too important for us to give up the fight and walk away, as many in Congress and elsewhere now advocate," said the Arizona Republican, himself a former decorated military officer
At the same time, Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told Fox News Channel that Obama's order for a significant troop reduction is badly timed. He stressed that now through the month of October is the warm weather in which the enemy will be active.
Jim Kouri, CPP, formerly Fifth Vice-President, is currently a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, and he's a columnist for Examiner.com. In addition, he's a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (www.kgab.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty.
He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer and columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. Kouri appears regularly as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Fox News Channel, Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, etc.