Americans don't want Obama's surge

Seems Americans like Obama, but not his policies:

Only 1-in-3 Favor Sending More U.S. Troops to Afghanistan
Business Wire

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan 23 - Most Americans feel very positively about President Obama, but that does not mean they support everything he says he plans to do. A new Financial Times/Harris Poll finds that they support his positions on some foreign policy issues but not on others...

A 46% to 30% plurality of Americans is opposed to the president's plan to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. On other hand, a 65% to 35% majority of Americans supports meeting with Iranian leaders, something he has said he would consider. The poll also finds Americans to be split on continuing the embargo on Cuba: 35% favor continuing it, 22% oppose it while fully 42% neither support nor oppose it... (link)

The American public aren't the only ones who oppose the surge, as even a number of military analysts have expressed reservations in recent weeks. Military blogger Andrew Exum comments:

Given the successes enjoyed by the United States military in implementing its new counter-insurgency doctrine in Iraq in 2007, one would expect proponents of the doctrine to be eager to attempt a similar effort in Afghanistan. But that’s not the case. Indeed, many of the military officers and theorists who championed this doctrine are divided over whether or not a similar approach would work in Afghanistan. For them, Afghanistan presents an especially difficult case study... (link)

And while the public abhors the war, Obama expects them to pay more dearly for it:

Obama administration warns public to expect rise in US casualties
Guardian

JANUARY 24 - The Obama administration warned the US public yesterday to brace itself for an increase in American casualties as it prepares to step up the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan and the border regions of Pakistan.

Against a background of widespread protests in Pakistan and Afghanistan over US operations since Obama became president, the vice-president, Joe Biden, said yesterday that US forces would be engaged in many more operations as the US takes the fight to its enemies in the region...

Biden, in an interview with CBS news, defended the [Jan 24 Pakistan] strikes, saying that Obama had repeatedly said on the campaign trail he would not hesitate to strike against any high-level al-Qaida targets... (link)

Note that it was Biden this time who defended the Pakistan attacks - again, not Obama himself.