Which is more important, the Olympics or Afghanistan?

  Which is more important, the Olympics or the war in Afghanistan? This is an issue that I alluded to in this post  but that I would like to elaborate on further now.

  The question seems simple enough. We are in a war, a war that I support, in which Americans are dying every day. The general in command of the war has stated that unless he is given more troops the mission will fail.  President Obama has heard the warnings of the general and is now faced with a decision– does he agree with the general and give him the troops that he needs, does he tell the general that no more troops will be sent to Afghanistan, or does he cut and run from Afghanistan? The president has been unwilling to take a stand on the war in Afghanistan, he promises a decision but as of yet has offered none. To me the decision comes down to one basic premise– if the mission will fail without the extra troops you commit the troops needed to secure victory. If you are unwilling to do this than you admit defeat and pull all of the troops out of Afghanistan, there is no reason to shed the blood of more Americans if you are not going to give the general the troops that he needs to win the war. Further bloodshed would be for a futile and unattainable goal– by General  McChrystal’s own admission.

  He has not made a decision on the war even though he has known the situation there for quite some time now. He just doesn’t seem to have the time to make a decision in which the lives of American heroes lie. Or he doesn’t have the guts to do what it takes to win the war for fear of inflaming the far left that helped to get him elected, if so he is delaying a decision for political reasons.

 But.

  The 2016 Olympic committee is in the process of  naming the cities that will host the games and the president is flying off to Denmark in order to fight for his hometown and to try to convince the committee to  bring the Olympics to his home town.

  He has quickly made the decision that it is of the utmost importance that the Olympics be held in his adopted hometown, probably because of a windfall that will just coincidentally monetarily benefit his former colleagues in Illinois and possible himself down the road.

  So perhaps the question that I posed, which is more important, the Olympics or the war in Afghanistan, isn’t as simple as I had thought. At least for the president.  According to his actions one can believe that the president believes the Olympics are a bigger issue, and more important, than the war in Afghanistan.

  He can’t make a decision on Afghanistan yet he has time to fly to Denmark to fight for his hometown hosting the Olympics? It would seem to me that he could make a little time to figure out what he wants to do in Afghanistan but evidently the president has more important things on his mind– the Olympics.

  As a candidate Barack Obama said that he would listen to the generals on the ground before making decisions on Iraq and Afghanistan– he has listened to General McChrystal, the last remaining question is, did he hear him?

  If the president decides to send more troops to Afghanistan I will support him, if he chooses to withdraw from Afghanistan I will support him even though I think it is the wrong decision, however if he chooses to leave troop levels the same and ignore the general’s advice altogether I will never support that decision. That decision would be irresponsible considering we will be continuing to allow our troops to fight in a war that the commanding general said is unwinnable with the current troop levels.

  But the president remains MIA on this issue as he flies to Denmark on the taxpayer dollar in order to secure the Olympics for Chicago and that is the biggest sin of all. It is time that the president got his priorities straight. It is time to make a decision on Afghanistan no matter how unpopular it may be.

  The Olympics can wait, our troops cannot. Obviously the war in Afghanistan is more important, I just wish the president saw it that way as well.