[Greg Mitchell is the former editor of Editor & Publisher and author of nine books, including "So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits and the President Failed on Iraq;" "Why Obama Won"; "The Campaign of the Century"; "Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady"; and (with Robert Jay Lifton) "Hiroshima in America" and "Who Owns Death?"]

With each passing month, it seems, Andrew Bacevich gains more fans and influence--and turns ever more critical of President Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan. Until four years ago, Bacevich was best known as a professor and author, a self-described "conservative Catholic" -- Vietnam veteran, career military officer, West Point instructor. Since then, he has appeared widely on top newspaper op-ed pages, and on network and cable programs (Bill Moyers was an especially ardent admirer), and authored three major books, most recently Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War. He teaches at Boston University.

Today at The New Republic he has produced perhaps his hardest shot at Obama, his administration's lack of "moral core" and the war in Afghanistan. Long a critic of George Bush's war in Iraq, today he writes, "Obama doesn’t want to be in Afghanistan any more than Benjamin Netanyahu wants to be in the West Bank. Yet like the Israeli prime minister, the president lacks the guts to get out. It’s all so complicated. There are risks involved. Things might go wrong. There’s an election to think about. So the war continues."...