This is a story about a Senate hearing regarding how many troops are needed in Afghanistan. I've got another article with another interview with a counterinsurgency expert I hope to publish in the next day or two.

Here's why I'm interested in this article and I think you shoud be, too.

I was walking by a TV the other night. Fox News was on and Oliver North was holding forth about how screwed up (in his opinion) the policies of the Obama Adminstration are. He was spouting the usual schtiick about we're dealing with tough people, so we need to be tough, too. Maybe so, but let's be sure we can finish what we start.

In a country of over 300 million plus, I find the fact we quibble over whether to send 21,000 or 30,000 outrageous. If we need ten times that number, we should be able to expand our Army in a matter of months to reach that number. The reason we can't is the cowardice I've written about before.

Let's be clear, if we aren't willing to make the higher commitment, then we have no business making the lower commitment.

Here's a link to the article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/washington/02military.html?th&emc=th