Obama and the Aussies

First, I find it appalling that the first major criticism of Barack Obama has come from a foreigner. The man really has no solid ideas, at least on foreign policy. The cornerstone of his foreign policy seems to be "withdraw immediately from Iraq." The CDR summed up how I feel about that in a comment over at his place:

"If I heard any logical argument how us leaving Iraq would make it better, I would join in yesterday, as would 98% of the professionals I work with. The cold hard truth is that if we leave it will get worse by an order of magnitude - and our nation's security would suffer immeasurable damage for decades and more.

That is the reality I live with every day."

I couldn't agree more.

More importantly, nothing pisses me off more than those who denigrate the contributions of our Coalition partners, especially a partner as staunch and steadfast as Australia. The sad fact is that no nation on Earth has the capabilities of the U.S. military. Australia has contributed as many troops as it feels it can. Something often overlooked is that Australia (and to a lesser extent, New Zealand) has several not insignificant military commitments in its sphere of influence in the southwest Pacific. But I wouldn't expect a petty politician like Obama to understand the military realities of the situation.