Obama ready to ramp up in Afghanistan?

He wants to send 34,000 more troops, reportedly; that’s four-fifths of a loaf for Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, but far less than Army doctrine says will do:

The Army's counterinsurgency manual estimates that an all-out counterinsurgency campaign in a country with Afghanistan's population would require about 600,000 troops.

And, are we at risk of “going it alone”? There’s this:

n an interview last week with The New York Times, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner complained that the American administration is leaving its NATO allies in the dark about its new strategy.

"What is the goal? What is the road? And in the name of what?" Kouchner asked, according to the Times. "Where are the Americans? It begins to be a problem . . . . We need to talk to each other as allies."

The New York Times says it’s it’s the middle of three options on troop numbers.

Vietnam, anyone? One-term president, anyone?