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Gulliver In Afghanistan, Ctd
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — ... an investment is, in fact, worth the known costs and risks involved. The choice would then be between incrementally guaranteed failure and decisively embraced uncertainty. Instead, we seem destined to forever prepare the way for further escalation or, alternatively, accusations of giving up prematurely, by postponing the moment when we can say, "We did everything we could and the patient could -- or could not -- be saved." Peter Feaver: Without knowing the provenance of the leak, it ...

Debating Afghanistan
Outside The Beltway | OTB — ... Peter Feaver complains that the president has been rushed by leaks.  ...

Obama's Afghanistan Problem
Opinionator — ... administration. There was no revelation about the source or intent of the leak, but an accompanying analysis in The Post quoted an unnamed Pentagon official who admitted “a serious frustration” with the pace at which the Obama administration is addressing the situation in Afghanistan. Peter Feaver at Foreign Policy’s Shadow Government writes that the “Obama administration has been Woodwarded again, this time with a major scoop.” In the first two points of a seven-point analysis, Feaver writes : 1. It is not good to have a document like this leaked into the public debate ...

Things Heard: e86v3
Stones Cry Out — Right or wrong … I think is a mis-phrasing, perhaps mistake or not is better, and yet I think it was in fact a mistake. Preaching to the choir, i.e., the watchers of the other networks, is has its purpose. Reaching across to the other side, also has a purpose and deciding it’s not worth the bother … is a mistake. Three on the McChrystal leak of the Afghan report here, here, and here. Oops, sorry here’s a fourth. OK, OK … a fifth. Embarrassment? Hmm, I wouldn’t ...

A Brief Timeline of President Obama’s Benchmark Statements on the “War of Necessity”
Flopping Aces — ... who’s only been there a few months, has done his own assessment. I am now going to take all this information and we’re going to test whatever resources we have against our strategy, which is if by sending young men and women into harm’s way, we are defeating al Qaeda and — and that can be shown to a skeptical audience, namely me — somebody who is always asking hard questions about deploying troops, then we will do what’s required to keep the American people safe. I agree with Peter Feaver that the President of the United States should be able to conduct internal deliberations ...

What Gen. McChrystal Said
democracyarsenal.org — ... My concern is when those views become part of the national discussion about Afghanistan policy and end up politicizing that debate, which as near I can tell is precisely what is happening. And just to be clear this is not a partisan viewpoint. Check out Peter Feaver's response to McChrystal's review leak: ...

Leaking for National Security
The American Spectator — ... of the situation in Afghanistan has precipitated much tut-tutting by the chattering classes. The consensus seems to be that the leak of this document (to the Washington Post 's esteemed Bob Woodward) was an unconscionable violation of professional ethics, a hindrance to good government, and a threat to harmonious civil-military relations. Duke University political science professor Peter Feaver has well summed up the conventional wisdom: It is not good to have a document like this leaked into the public debate before the President has made his decision. Whether you favor ...