The Democrats version of a Contract with America promises that if you will just put them in power they will issue a Contract on Osama bin Laden
Congressional Democrats promise to "eliminate"Usama bin Laden and ensure a "responsible redeployment of U.S. forces" from Iraq in 2006 in an election-year national security policy statement.
In the position paper to be announced Wednesday, Democrats say they will double the number of special forces and add more spies, which they suggest will increase the chances of finding Al Qaeda's elusive leader. They do not set a deadline for when all of the 132,000 American troops now in Iraq should be withdrawn.
So first off, what does getting OBL have to do with the temperature in Iraq? Nothing. Do Democrats really believe that capturing or killing OBL will end out obligation to help rebuild Iraq or is this just some kind of populist appeal?
Second, do they really think that the majority of our SpecOps troops are just sitting around on their hands with nothing to do?
Or do they think that just because they say so, we will suddenly be able to double the number of Special Operators?
The fact is it takes quite a bit to train a Special Operator to do the things they do. Perhaps Democrats should just reference the Wikipedia entry for Special Forces
The selection process for a special operations force is typically extremely rigorous, with recruit training often exceeding two years. Certain missions may require additional training. As the work of special operations forces is often performed covertly and involves classified information, candidates are put through extensive trials prior to acceptance, which have extremely high "washout" rates. Candidates must also have security clearance.
You don't just "double" the available Special Operators just like you can't just rebuild a Human Intelligence network after you've gutted it. Each of these things take time.
"We're uniting behind a national security agenda that is tough and smart and will provide the real security George Bush has promised but failed to deliver," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday.
It seems that once the Democrats fulfill their Contract On Osama, everything will be just peachy.
If you believe that, then by all means, put Democrats back in power.
But besides the problem of SF troops, they fail to detail how they will deal with the larger problem of getting OBL (especially without having the White House and the State Department) which is that Osama is likely either in Pakistan or Iran, with most thinking he's in Pakistan.
So how will Democrats get Special Ops troops into Pakistan without undermining President Musharraf's position?
And if he's in Iran, what will they do about that?
In fact, since this whole deal is about "the Democrats' national security platform" what are they planning on doing about Iran's nukes?
The fact of the matter is, the only plan the Democrats have for if they take power in Congress is to impeach the President during war time.
For the rest, they'll just wing it.
