In his speech at West Point Tuesday night, President Obama announced he was sending 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and declared that the addition will "allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011." But in the very next sentence of the speech he stated, "Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground." (source) If this strikes you as a contradiction, you're not alone.

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At the Senate Armed Services hearing on Wednesday, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates if the July 2011 date for beginning to withdrawal troops is "locked in." Gates alluded to the potential for flexibility, saying that the president's declaration was "a clear statement of his strong intent" and that "the president always has the freedom to re-evaluate his decisions." Senator Graham said he took that to mean the date is "not locked in" and will depend on conditions on the ground. (source)

Later at the daily White House briefing, CBS News reporter Chip Reid asked White House spokesman Robert Gibbs if senators were incorrect calling the July date a "target." Mr. Reid wrote, "After the briefing, Gibbs went to the president for clarification. Gibbs then called me to his office to relate what the president said. The president told him it IS locked in - there is no flexibility. Troops WILL start coming home in July 2011. Period. It's etched in stone. Gibbs said he even had the chisel." (source)

All clarified, right? It was the first statement in the president's speech that was true, the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan will begin in July of 2011. The seemingly contradictory statement that conditions on the ground would be taken into consideration must have been a mistake.

But wait! Hours before delivering his speech, President Obama briefed senior members of Congress on the war strategy at a White House meeting. Included in the briefing was Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) who questioned the plan to begin withdrawing troops in July of 2011. The president responded to McCain by promising that the withdrawal would be based on conditions on the ground. (source)

It seems that, as always, Mr. Obama is playing politics, appeasing whoever he's talking to with whatever "plan" is most convenient. The stakes are way too high for him to continue employing his con artist tactics with US senators, the press and the American people. Our national security is in the balance.