Call me crazy, but this seems pretty conveniently timed politically. Although there is evidence Obama has been considering this ever since he entered office, and here, not to mention he talked about it a lot during the campaign.
Regardless, the political implications of this are good for Obama. It will allow him to regain the headlines and this is a decision that Republicans will be unable to criticize or else they will seem "soft" on national defense. Its already made some Democrats upset, which in a lot of ways is good for Obama as it helps him with the "middle" of the electorate.
All in all a smart move that should contain the situation that has grown much worse in Afghanistan.
http://www.startribune.com/39735797.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiacyKU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs
Defense officials say Obama approves several thousand new troops for Afghanistan War
WASHINGTON - Defense and congressional officials say President Barack Obama has approved an increase in U.S. forces for the flagging war in Afghanistan. The Obama administration is expected to announce on Tuesday or Wednesday that it will send one additional Army brigade and an unknown number of Marines to Afghanistan this spring. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the total is about 17,000 troops.
That would be the first installment on a larger influx of U.S. forces that have been widely expected this year. It would get a few thousand troops in place in time for the increase in fighting that usually comes with warmer weather and ahead of national elections this summer.
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke
It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...." Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson
