The President is going to announce today that he is sending another 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan.  This is less than the General in charge asked for and more than the anti war left wants to send.

But troop levels are only one issue in a very complicated scenario.  As important as the number of soldiers are the rules of engagement those soldiers have to fight under.  I know a little bit about rules of engagement from my experience in Vietnam.  If our troops cannot fire back when they are fired on without approval from a general somewhere then we will lose.  If the rules of engagement are written to try to make this a “civilized war” where no civilians are ever harmed by US soldiers then we will lose.  The rules of engagement are as important as the troop levels.  If they are not written so that we can win we should bring the troops home now and not wait until we have lost another few thousand soldiers lives in another pointless war.

BTW Afghanistan has been called “The Graveyard of Empires” there is a reason for this.