The nation’s armed forces are under sustained attack. Unfortunately, while the military is engaged in two conflicts overseas, the most serious fire they are taking comes from some of their fellow Americans, starting - incredibly - with their commander in chief.

In recent days, Team Obama’s hostility toward the uniformed services has been increasingly in evidence. Consider the following illustrative examples:

c Dissing his commanders: In the spring, President Obama replaced the commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan with a man skilled at waging counterinsurgency operations, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

He did so in pointed rebuke to what amounted to a counterterror campaign waged by the Bush administration - trying to kill or neutralize key Taliban and al Qaeda operatives without having sufficient forces to clear or hold territory and protect the affected population.

At the time, Mr. Obama reinforced his contention that Afghanistan was a "necessary" war. He assigned additional forces to the theater so as to enable his new commander to engage in the sort of operations required to win the "hearts and minds" of the Afghan people and defeat the insurgency.

But that was then; this is now.Gen. McChrystal and his bosses, Central Command’s Gen. David H. Petraeus and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, think that as many as 60,000 additional troops are needed to avert failure in Afghanistan.

But Mr. Obama and his key advisers, notably White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and campaign strategist David Axelrod, evidently have concluded that the public - or at least the Democrats’ base - has no stomach for such a buildup.

So the theater commander who thought Mr. Obama meant what he said five months ago has been left hanging in the wind. Read more....