YOU LIE! Al-Queda, NOT Taliban, Is Obama's Focus in Afghanistan: Not What He Promised At DNC Acceptance Speech

Barack Hussein Obama is signaling that he will fight a war of half-measures in Afghanistan, according to a source at Associated (with Obama) Press.

President Barack Obama is prepared to accept some Taliban involvement in Afghanistan's political future and will determine how many more U.S. troops to send to the war based only on keeping al-Qaida at bay, a senior administration official said Thursday.

The sharpened focus by Obama's team on fighting al-Qaida above all other goals, while downgrading the emphasis on the Taliban, comes in the midst of an intensely debated administration review of the increasingly unpopular war.

Aides stress that the president's decision on specific troop levels and the other elements of a revamped approach is still at least two weeks away, and they say Obama has not tipped his hand in meetings that will continue at the White House on Friday.

But the thinking emerging from the strategy formulation portion of the debate offers a clue that Obama would be unlikely to favor a large military increase of the kind being advocated by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

McChrystal's troop request is said to include a range of options, from adding as few as 10,000 combat troops to — the general's strong preference — as many as 40,000.

Obama's developing strategy on the Taliban will "not tolerate their return to power," the senior official said in an interview with The Associated Press. But the U.S. would fight only to keep the Taliban from retaking control of Afghanistan's central government — something it is now far from being capable of — and from giving renewed sanctuary in Afghanistan to al-Qaida, the official said.

The official is involved in the discussions and was authorized to speak about them but not to be identified by name because the review is still under way.

In other words, Obama's going to cut his losses and risk the lives of more of our bravest by fighting a micromanaged war, sparing the Taliban, who sheltered bin Laden and al-Queda in the late 1990s and after 9/11. That's like FDR or Truman deciding to only go after Hitler and his inner circle, but going after the rest of the Nazi Party.

The Obama strategy reported by AP is a far cry from the campaign promise he made the night of his DNC acceptance speech, under the Roman columns in rock star regalia at Mile High Stadium in Denver (video below).

We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans - have built, and we are here to restore that legacy. (LIE)

As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home. (LIE)

I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression. (LIE)

Someone cue Joe Wilson.