I understand the point about choice.
I couldn't disagree more about tucking tail and leaving. I think it's absurd to fight to take the same land twice and 'waste' blood and treasure in doing so. The 'solution' of waiting for them to attack here, then punishing them, is just as bad an idea as it was on 9-10-2001.
The fact is that Steele was factually incorrect/irresponsible on multiple levels. The war in Afghanistan wasn't Obama's war of choice, it was initiated by Bush and Congress in response to 19 guys from Al-Qaeda, supported by the Taliban who killed nearly 3,000 people with airplanes.
Nobody despises Obama more than me, but the only thing he chose to do was to campaign against Bush by suggesting that Iraq was the wrong war and Afghanistan was the just war. He then got more or less pressed into expanding a troop surge, because he couldn't break absolutely EVERY campaign pledge.
Since we have committed our blood and treasure to the cause of battling Al-Qaeda and the Taliban (at a minimum), and that is the explicit policy of both the Republicans and the entire U.S., it is completely irresponsible for Steele to undermine that effort and attack the morale of our fighting forces, via the comments he made. He is PAID to represent the Republican Party and its policy positions.
He is NOT paid to misstate facts and undermine the nation's war effort. There are plenty of leftists/Socialists/Democrats getting paid to do that!