Did Obama's West Point speech make the case?

Guessing at the response of the audience on hand -- some of which will likely end up fighting in Afghanistan or Pakistan -- based on a few selected shots of cadets that have been prepping for finals and were there near the end of their day after an evening meal is fairly difficult. I think it’s safe to assume the range of reactions at West Point was broad, but there certainly were many cadets who seemed very eager indeed to shake the President’s hand and have their picture taken with him afterward.

I’d say the President laid out supporting evidence for the decisions he’s made, and articulated the goals and mission scope rather succinctly given it’s a distillation down from months of meetings and briefings with countless military and civilian advisors and other world leaders or their emissaries.

Nonetheless, those with an ax to grind were quick to fill the airwaves and the internet with every negative angle they could remotely connect, from comparisons to Viet Nam (which Obama had already effectively rebutted during the speech) to the dollar cost relative to enacting health care (a valid point, which utterly fails to address the reality that neither NATO nor the U.S. is prepared for the chaos that would ensue if we simply recalled every allied soldier as quickly as is logistically feasible.)

There’s no, “deadline that guarantees the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters will hide their weapons until the coast is clear,” as some have suggested There’s a target for turning over control to a sovereign government that nonetheless includes the potential that they can’t be entirely ready that promptly. A Jihad-oriented, radical branch of Islam calling itself Al Qaeda and/or the Taliban is as bent on controlling the world as Hitler was, and the choices are clear: deal with them there, now, or they will export terror around the world at the time of their choosing.

The bottom line is that after nearly a year of consultation President Obama made a very difficult decision to commit more American lives to help ensure a NATO success, thereby limiting the probability of Al Qaeda mounting an effective strike against countries not enamored of this radicalized, extremist interpretation of Islamic law. Naturally audience reaction is mixed, and the emotionally charged nature of this decision means that even among those who watched him speak many weren't listening to what the speech said, but for what they expected to hear.

That effect will only be magnified as the echoes of supposedly informed opinion rebound on the talk shows and websites which depend on ratings to generate ad revenues. The President was organized and thorough, the rest is up to the listeners. If you didn't get it, "raw and unfiltered," and/or you don't track down transcript you're likely to be hearing what you expect, too.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, journalist, and political analyst who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

The Ongoing Pakistan Issue

In light of Pakistani President Zardari's warning that US troops crossing the border into Pakistan without authorization would be subject to attack, a new BBC poll on world attitudes toward Al Qaeda is particularly interesting.

Zardari's cover for his position, while asking out of the other side of his mouth for US aid, is that the terrorist organizations in his country will 1) unify; and 2) attack inside Pakistan in protest if the US continues its policy of only informing Pakistan of its cross border actions instead of asking for permission from that sovereign nation. His point was more than borne out when terrorists blew through the Marriott in downtown Islamabad on September 21 of this year. It should be no surprise that Al Qaeda is suspected in the attack.

Which brings us full circle back to the BBC poll regarding world attitudes toward Al Qaeda. To a country, attitudes were negative toward the organization, except in Egypt and ... can you guess? ... Pakistan. We are in the process of spending obscene amounts of money and obscene numbers of American lives to "root out" Al Qaeda in Iraq and, to a lesser extent, Afghanistan only to encourage it, by our actions, to gain strength in Pakistan. We are playing a very dangerous game in Pakistan: enforcing our will against the wishes of the people and government with the effect of strengthening the one terrorist organization we fear most. This is one to watch, folks, and watch very closely.