The Decision
President Barack Obama is reportedly close to announcing a way forward on Afghanistan, vowing yesterday to “finish the job” and allowing aides to say (without attribution) that a decision could be out early next week. For students of history, such as Bill Moyers–who was White House assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson during the time he escalated the Vietnam War–Obama’s words will be listened to especially carefully:
I was 30 years old, a White House Assistant, working on politics and domestic policy. I watched and listened as LBJ made his fateful decisions about Vietnam. He had been thrust into office by the murder of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963–46 years ago this weekend. And within hours of taking the oath of office was told that the situation in South Vietnam was far worse than he knew.
What will Obama say about the conflict, now that campaign talk has given way to hard realities? What will he commit to and refuse to do? Will he propose to pay for any new troops with tax increases, spending cuts? How do the plans fit into the strategic vision for that region? Is Afghanistan linked in some way to Pakistan (as a modern-day “domino” in the larger Global War on Terrorism that cannot fail) or viewed in narrower terms? Will Obama level with us or give us spin?
For a look back at how one president made a similarly fateful decision, watch “Path to War,” a two-parter on “Bill Moyers Journal.”