Ignoring the yellow lights.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: TILTING at windmills - Brief article

Before Obama finally went along with the limited escalation, Lute warned him, as Woodward explains, of the following risks: "First, there was Pakistan, the heart of many of the problems because of Taliban and al-Qaeda havens there. Second, governance and corruption in Afghanistan-huge problems with no practical fix readily available. Third, the Afghan National Security Forces--army and police--probably could not be fixed even with a decade-long effort costing tens of billions of dollars. Fourth, international support from the 41 U.S. allies in Afghanistan was in peril.

"'When you look at these [risks] discretely,' Lute continued, 'you might be left with the impression we can manage this risk. But I would offer you another model. Look at them as a set, and then you begin...