Legacy Shmegacy

Not only has George Bush left President Obama a bad economy, he's left him with a mess in Afghanistan, too. I mean, come on, let's face it here, folks. George Bush blew it in Afghanistan. Back in '02 he had the Taliban on the run and Al Qaeda basically routed. And he even had what appeared to be a fairly decent regime coming up to replace the Taliban...........................................................But that was then, me-buckos. Because of the fact that Bush in fact took his eyes off the ball, we now have a totally different situation. Afghanistan has degenerated into an essentially failed state. The government is now corrupt (sorry to say) and the Taliban has rallied (both being helped by the fact that narcotics fuel the economy). And, yes, all of this while Al Qaeda has apparently found safe-haven in Pakistan. What may have worked 5-6 years ago (in terms of American policy, I'm saying) may not be appropriate now...........................................................If it were me advising President Obama (a radical thought, granted), I'd tell the fellow to basically wipe the slate clean/start again. That, and learn from the mistakes of his predecessor. Namely, Obama has to ask himself, how is putting 17,000 more troops into the middle of that grinder going to make America safer? And what about defining a mission (one, and sticking with it - Hello, Richard Cheney), determining an exit-strategy, cutting a deal with the lesser unsavories, etc.?..................................................................I'm telling you, folks, if it was me down there planning strategy, the goal would be precise. Kill as many of the people who tried to kill us on 9/11....and leave. LEAVE!!......................................................................P.S. The fact that Bush allowed Al Qaeda to escape into the mountainous region of Pakistan - that, in my opinion, may be the weakest part of his legacy. This, I'm saying, in that damned if it doesn't leave us in a quandary. If we don't send in the extra troops, we're never going to be assured of getting the bastards. If, however, we do (and/or continue to fire drones into northern Pakistan), we just might be risking an overthrow of that shaky (albeit, yes, nominally pro-western) government. Not exactly a lot of good options, in other words.