However the best factor approximately his remark was once that, test as he may perhaps, he was once not able to recognize that electorate in NATO countries—including, in fact, the United States—had critical doubts approximately not just the surge however the struggle itself. conscious of the pervasive skepticism, Rasmussen didn't set an exact date for the transition to Afghan keep an eye on, yet asserted, “I’m convinced we will be able to begin subsequent yr. ” but Obama had placed a date on his surge. American troops may begin coming domestic in July 2011, he had promised at West element, a pledge that quick turned the focal point of excessive debate and feedback. certainly, Rasmussen’s op-ed piece prompted that discuss with its ultimate sentence: “Next yr we'll begin to see mild on the finish of the tunnel. ” gentle on the finish of the tunnel? Of the entire pictures to not use approximately Afghanistan, absolutely that was once #1 with its Vietnam echo banging on the doorways of coverage makers who desired to listen not anything that seemed like Pentagon press briefings from that period. Why on the earth, one needs to ask, may Rasmussen increase an echo of Vietnam and stir thoughts of the fake grants approximately eventual army luck? it really is difficult to appreciate how a politically skilled individual may have did not see that this one sentence undermined his credibility—and broken the president’s in addition. Rasmussen’s denial that Obama’s speech by any means indicated an go out approach was once on the middle of his message, insisting on “transition” because the right be aware to explain the method. yet eighteen months? That time limit used to be not often past the time the final of the surge troops may have arrived in Afghanistan and gotten unpacked for accountability. Taliban spokesmen mocked Rasmussen’s “light on the finish of the tunnel” optimism and the chronic reviews of development, noting, “If Rasmussen and all his allies depart Afghanistan thoroughly then the assaults on them will achieve 0, and he can propagate the suggestion much more and say that the variety of Taliban assaults have fallen extra. ”3 earlier than issues thoroughly went off course, Secretary of country Hillary Clinton and Secretary of safety Robert Gates took the 1st chance they can, NBC’s Meet the clicking, to again up Rasmussen—and again clear of any cut-off date. Clinton: “We’re now not speaking approximately an go out method or a drop useless cut-off date. What we’re conversing approximately is an evaluation that during [July] 2011, we will be able to commence a transition. ” And Gates: “We’re now not speaking approximately an abrupt withdrawal. We’re speaking approximately whatever that might occur over a time period. . . . simply because we'll have 100,000 troops there. and they're no longer leaving in July of 2011. ”4 That determine was once very important. Obama had insisted at West element that there have been no legitimate parallels with Vietnam, specifically as the Taliban lacked the preferred help the Vietcong had loved. yet even if there may ever be sufficient troops to hold out a counterinsurgency procedure used to be the true query. Obama had additionally made it look, abetted by way of Rasmussen’s one-man cheering part, that he had a grand alliance working in Afghanistan, in contrast to George Bush’s cobbled-together “coalition of the keen” for Iraq, however the forty-three international locations he claimed as companions had despatched only a few squaddies, a few numbering slightly above unmarried digits.