Better Donkey

President Obama announced plans for a surge in Afghanistan on Dec. 1, saying he would add 30,000 troops to the country within six months to fight the Taliban and threats from Al Qaeda in Pakistan. But, he said, the United States would start bringing American troops home by the middle of 2011. You can read Obama's remarks here.

The New York Times has a must-read, lengthy explanation of how the Obama administration decided on the strategy. It's daunting, but definitely worth a read.

Obama's announcement left many conservatives concerned that by advocating both a surge and a withdrawal date, Obama was not giving the troops enough time to do its job. Liberals, on the other hand, said the surge was not a good use of American resources, both in money and personnel.

So what can 30,000 additional troops do in just 18 months? Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he believes the time can be used to disrupt the Taliban enough that it will be eas...

It's not even 2010 yet, but you might want to already scratch a name off the list of Republicans running for president in 2012. Mike Huckabee may be the front runner in early polls, but he faced what is likely to be a catastrophic blow to his reputation. And it happened clear across the country.

Maurice Clemmons, the man suspected of killing four off-duty police officers in a coffee shop in Washington state - who was killed by police Tuesday morning after a two-day manhunt - had been serving a life term in an Arkansas prison when his sentence was commuted by Huckabee, then the state's governor.

Huckabee, who surprised many by winning the Iowa caucuses and outlasting most of his rivals in the 2008 GOP presidential primary, had been accused on the campaign trail of issuing too many pardons and clemencies. He was specifically criticized for releasing Wayne DuMond, a convicted rapist who raped and killed a woman less than a year after he was paroled.

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