±«Óãtv

The commander-in-chief walked onto the stage of the Eisenhower Theatre in the USA's most prestigious military academy to the slightly inappropriately bouncy music of a Marine band to face a sea of West Point cadets in smart grey uniforms.

He gave them an almost professorial short history of why the United States was in Afghanistan, focusing of course on 9/11. Then he announced it was "in our vital national" interest to send 30,000 new troops there to prevent a "cancer" spreading through the region. But "after 18 months, our troops will begin to come home."

There you have what the main argument will be in the coming weeks, with some, mainly Democrats, unsure that it really is necessary to send that number of troops, some, mainly Republicans, arguing that it gives succour to the enemy to announce that you will start to withdraw in a year and a half.

He carefully dealt with the main arguments that have been thrown up in the past weeks. No, he wasn't dithering, he couldn't have sent troops sooner. No, this wasn't another Vietnam.

He knows many in his country, and many more in his own party are weary of war, of its cost in lives and money. And there was plenty designed to reassure those who were worried about what is after all, a massive escalation.

So he said that if he didn't believe there was a real threat he would gladly order every single one of the troops home tomorrow. He mentioned his opposition to the Iraq war, and most unusually in this sort of speech the financial cost of war. The new strategy he said would cost $30bn for the military this year. So he declared:

"Our prosperity provides a foundation for our power. It pays for our military. It underwrites our diplomacy...That is why our troop commitment in Afghanistan cannot be open-ended - because the nation that I am most interested in building is our own."

The cadets had sat in silence through most of the speech but they came to life when he started to speak of America's special place in the world.

He said he had banned torture and planned to close Guantanamo, because "we must make it clear to every man, woman and child around the world who lives under the dark cloud of tyranny that America will speak out on behalf of their human rights, and tend to the light of freedom, and justice, and opportunity, and respect for the dignity of all peoples. That is who we are. That is the source, the moral source of America's authority."

There was more patriotic rhetoric, ending up with a plea that the nation should rediscover the unity that it had after 9/11 and "forge an America that is safer, a world that is more secure, and a future that represents not the deepest of fears but the highest of hopes".

He came down off the podium and shook hands with the grey sea, a most disciplined and diligent audience. As I write, reaction from the wider world hasn't gone beyond the most predictable praise and condemnation from the usual sources, but the more nuanced reaction will be the one to watch.

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |
• - What's this?