[…] In fall 2009, less than a year into Obama’s presidency, the cabinet had to decide just how far it was willing to depart from its predecessor’s (by then) highly unpopular foreign policy. At issue was “the surge”: a request for 40,000 additional troops on the ground in Afghanistan. The defense establishment was, of course, in favor, assuring the president that where naked military force had failed, military force under the guise of “counterinsurgency/COIN” and “nation-building” would succeed. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in favor, as were Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Michael Mullen, and just about everyone else. The only person who dissented, who made it a discussion at all, the person everyone else rolled their eyes at and dismissed as a crank, was the vice president.
He was, by their standards, a doe-eyed peacenik; he still supported increasing troop levels, but only by half the number the Pentagon wanted. He called the military lobbying for the surge “f*cking outrageous.” He did all he could in meetings to “punch a hole in the logic” driving toward a surge. He wouldn’t shut up about Vietnam. Läs artikel