Michael Ware could be my favorite journalist right now. Also, this video kind of shows one of the problems with television journalism. While Ware is focused on the facts, John King seems more interested in the fancy map and making sure we get a picture of Osama Bin Laden.

The bottom line is that President Obama had to choose between two bad options in Afghanistan. Personally, I agree with sending the troops and I am hopeful about General McChrystal's approach about trying to engage the people and focusing more on protecting citizens than chasing insurgents. Obviously, all of this is a temporary fix since nothing ever lasts in the Middle East but we just couldn't pick up stakes and high tail it out of there after we blew up so much of the country. That's a decision that we'd be regretting for decades (much like we're regretting not sending aid to Afghanistan after we helped them defeat the Russians). We need to get their police force up and get the government (which will always be corrupt) to at least be able to supply the people with the basic necessities before we leave.

In fact, the one mistake that I believe that the President made was giving a timetable. It's going to be harder to get people to work with us when they know that we are going to be gone in 18 months or so. It's kind of like when cops ask residents to snitch on local criminals; when the cops are gone, the criminals friends will still be in the neighborhood and will likely be seeking some revenge.

And while you hate to worry about this when the lives of American soldiers are at stake but, politically, this was what Obama had to do. He tries the surge - if it works, he broke from his party and did the right thing and looks like a great leader; if it doesn't, the Republicans were wrong and pretty much everyone will agree that we should just get the hell out of there. I know some people like Michael Moore talk about standing up to the military but now is not the time. Moore's own example of President Truman firing General MacArthur didn't even work. Truman wouldn't fire MacArthur until he could win over the Joint Chiefs because he knew that without their backing, he'd be done politically. (Also, the example REALLY doesn't work since Macarthur's firing was followed by counter-attacks by US/UN troops and roughly another 2 years in Korea).

It's also odd when people say that Obama sounds a bit like Bush did when announcing the Iraq surge. By all accounts, the surge in Iraq worked. Of course it's only a temporary fix but ANYTHING we do in that region will just be temporary. But the surge opened up a window in which things looked brighter and we could start leaving and not look like we completely abandoned a nation that we helped blow up. If it wasn't for Bush's surge, Obama wouldn't be able to be pulling troops out of Iraq right now.

In the end, there was no right decision in this; it was a lose-lose situation for Obama. But shifting strategies in Afghanistan and giving the military what they need to meet their goals is the right call IMO. I do agree with Ware that the issue of the neighboring countries needs to be addressed but I don't think it's something that needs to be addressed in a speech. The continued conflict in Afghanistan is confusing enough for most Americans; I'm not sure if bringing that up or calling out the other nations would have really helped at all.

Obama made the right play here and this decision shouldn't make people forget about the work he's done so far to clean up America's image and to, most importantly, help prevent us from getting involved in another one of these quagmires.