AMERICAN.COM

Last week, the House of Representatives voted on a Boehner resolution expressing concern about ongoing operations in Libya. The reason Representative John Boehner introduced his resolution was to pull support from a much tougher Kucinich resolution that would have demanded a halt to operations within 15 days. Representative Dennis Kucinich is an isolationist. He, together with the Republicans and Democrats that supported him, might be masquerading as defenders of the Constitution, but they are the vanguard of American defeatism and retreatism. (Yes, I know it’s not a word.)

The House vote has laid the groundwork for an ugly battle over what was to be a nominal drawdown later this summer of troops surged into Afghanistan. Indeed, what should have been a moment to savor progress and consolidate is likely to become an opportunity for shameless posturing over budgets and America’s role abroad. And while the posturer in chief is certain to be Barack Obama, I fear the House GOP may not be too far behind. Fred and Kim Kagan take the issue on squarely in today’s Wall Street Journal:

If Mr. Obama announces the withdrawal of all surge forces from Afghanistan in 2012, the war will likely be lost. Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and other global terrorist groups will almost certainly re-establish sanctuaries in Afghanistan. The Afghan state would likely collapse and the country would descend into ethnic civil war. The outcome of this policy would be far worse than Nixon’s decision to accept defeat in Vietnam, for it would directly increase the threat to the American homeland.

Much of the blame for this sorry state of affairs can be laid at the president’s feet. He has abdicated leadership and command, playing Jack in the Box on national security issues, popping up only when it is congenial to him and his political cronies. The American people—Congress included—have no clue about strategy in Libya let alone in Afghanistan. War requires leadership. My colleague John Bolton takes the issue on nicely here. But the rap is not the president’s alone. Over the last half century plus, Congress has understood that the American defense of values, principles, and interests in the world is a vital priority, and accordingly resourced that defense. It’s right to ask the president where he is taking our nation, our troops, and our dollars. It is not right to suggest that because he is unclear about all three, we should retreat from the world. And worse still, that we should dance that retreat to the odious tune of Dennis Kucinich.