69. Another Viet Nam?

This article is an update to the debate on sending 40,000 troops to Afghanistan. Master served during the Viet Nam war and reminds me how President Johnson decided to casually toss a few troops into the war again and again and at no time put the required number of troops there to finish the war. Also, with an unstable Afghanistan government, we are in the same predicament as we were in Iraq -- you have to militarily stabilize before you can comfortably train the foreign forces AND rebuild the government and land. I'm afraid to say, sending 10,000 troops at a time, every six months or so, will worsen the conditions. Not enough to turn it around. Too little to matter. This will increase the Taliban confidence and increase attacks. It means more US deaths for a longer period of time. I'm in disbelief that Obama cannot learn from history. However, I am not in disbelief that he is clueless in commanding a war. Let's hope his strategy is to put 40,000 troops over there to support existing troops and reduce the deaths. Then to send 10,000 at a time over to train. Followed by more to rebuild. If we estimate the number of troops over time instead of just this initial surge, we should be able to discern, like saving for college, investing today is the better payback over time. I would venture we'd get out years earlier if we invested now, than to make another Viet Nam out of this. Didn't he learn from the Soviet Union's effort in Afghanistan either? Don't wimp out now or all our Allies will leave you there alone too!