While Rome burns II

Do you remember the good old days, when the world hated George Bush and NATO was all set to help us out once The Lord, Obama, was elected as leader of citizens in the world.

Well, it's not turning out that way.

In fact, while our beloved leader continues to twiddle his thumbs as our troops are getting pummeled in Afghanistan, NATO has decided to back the plan of General McChrystal.

During a trip to Germany and the Czech Republic earlier this month, I was surprised to find that many of the Europeans I spoke to seemed more cognizant than the Obama administration of how important it was to commit the resources necessary to win in Afghanistan.

This has not always been the case. The Bush administration tried repeatedly to obtain increased troop commitments from NATO allies and was often rebuffed. The soldiers that were sent were often of limited utility because of political restrictions placed on the areas they would deploy to as well as their rules of engagement.

In its nine months in office, the Obama administration has been unable to turn the president’s vaunted popularity in much of the world into major new international commitments of troops. Now, just as the president is publicly agonizing over what the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan should be, some European leaders seem willing to consider making increased commitments to Afghanistan. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is considering increasing the size of the German contingent in the country when the deployment’s mandate is renewed later this year, something that is nothing short of amazing given how publicly unpopular the German presence in Afghanistan is. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced last week that he was sending an additional 500 troops to the country.

Now, you may know General McChrystal as the military leader appointed by the Obamumists to handle things in Afghanistan only to have him take a back seat while the mull the plans of the military genius aka Joe Biden.

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