ESCALATION OF AMERICAN TROOP LEVELS IS A SLIPPERY SLOPE. JOHN F. KENNEDY SENT 16,3000 AMERICANS TO SAVE SOUTH VIETNAM FROM THE VIETCONG.

By Tom Hayden President Obama obviously has no intention of sending hundreds of thousands of American troops into Afghanistan or Pakistan. But escalation, once it begins, is increasingly difficult to stop. Already Obama’s generals want more troops than the president is sending. The neo-conservatives and Republicans are demanding a “Must-Win War” and denouncing any talk of an exit strategy. A gradual American escalation may play into the jihadist game plan, drawing more Western troops into jeopardy, or permitting a retreat into mountainous wastelands if necessary. Any “redeployment” [another word for retreat in the minds of the neo-cons] other than returning with Bin Ladin’s head on a platter, provokes a right-wing reaction at home. The easy solution to these pressures is another escalation followed by another, like one drink at a time. [See D. Ellsberg, Secrets, 2002]