Why tell the enemy our future plans?

During World War II, we never would have announced to the Nazis or Japanese that we would start withdrawing our troops from an occupied location by a specific date. Now, we are announcing that we will withdraw U. S. troops from Afghanistan in 2011.

Al Qaeda and the Taliban must be happy with that bit of news. And now they are  more likely to dig in and take advantage of the big withdrawal.

Admittedly, things have not looked good for us in Afghanistan for quite a while. But neither was it promising at first in Iraq until the people there started awakening to the benefits of restoring democracy and freedom in that country. Now there is hope that its future can be bright.

President Barack Obama seemed to accept the fact that to preserve our freedom and safety at home, we must maintain our military strength. He should add to that resolve by retracting any hint of a withdrawal date.

Hopefully the appointment of Gen. David Petraeus to lead our Afghanistan effort, replacing Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who inappropriately made a joke out of our country’s leaders, will restore the seriousness and effectiveness of our mission there. It is just as important to eliminate the forces in the Mideast that are out to destroy us as it was to defeat the leaders who tried to take over the democratic countries during World War II.