Rumsfeld Is Back

Donald Rumsfeld takes a break from his retirement today to offer
strategic advice to the president-elect. Rumsfeld says that Obama's
proposed troop "surge" in Afghanistan cannot merely replicate the
Iraqi version (which, Rumsfeld says, he did not oppose—contrary to
many reports). "Additional troops in Afghanistan may be necessary, but
they will not, by themselves, be sufficient to lead to the results we
saw in Iraq," Rumsfeld writes. "A similar confluence of events that
contributed to success in Iraq does not appear to exist in
Afghanistan." Rumsfeld proposes an "Afghan surge," with the Afghan
National Army backed by coalition forces. He also cautions against
negotiating with the Taliban: "offering the hand of peace to hardened
fanatics is not likely to prove successful."