Regarding the President’s speech last night.  This is a question of American security.  We need to be honest, no matter where the chips fall.  The President was right to send the additional troops and right to call for a new start to the U.S.- Pakistan relationship.  He was wrong to have taken three months before approving his commander’s request, wrong to have set a deadline for withdrawal – it tells the enemy our intentions, always a bad thing in war – and unrealistically optimistic to believe that a surge which will not be completed until the summer of 2010, will have done its work by the summer of 2011.

Also, the Army – and the Air Force and Navy – need modern equipment if we expect them to fight.  The President should ditch his plans to cut military modernization.