Why is Obama expanding the war?

[Pam]

Obama never made a campaign promise that he would end the war in Afghanistan he also made it clear that Afghanistan was the war to be fought and it needed more resources.

Yep, this shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. I didn't support him in the primaries because he wasn't for ending both wars.

[Ravine]

If the goddam Taliban builds up strength while in Afghanistan, and then slides on over to Pakistan, ousts its shaky-ass government and gets their disgusting mitts on nuclear tech, we just may wind up needing a whole lot more than nationalized banks and a one-size-fits-all health plan.

And if I see one more brainless twit, interviewed by a TV-news program "on location" at a gas station, yammering on about "we have so many problems right here at home why are we always trying to solve somebody else's problems," I'm probably going to grind what's left of my teeth into a coarse, tobacco-stained powder...

[johnsmith]

Well, looks like Obama completely blew his last chance to keep his promise of the FIRST thing he would do if elected. Where is the immediate withdrawal from Iraq he promised on the campaign trail? It's been around 11 months. Where are the anti-war protesters and the left-wing outrage that was prominent for 7 years during Bush? Did anyone see the sleeping people in the audience? Obama sure comes across as cardboard, cold and mechanical, and didn't change his expression once during the whole speech.

This interesting dialogue comparison comes from Michael Moore's web site:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Obama: "We Did Not Ask for This Fight"
Bush: "We Did Not Seek This Conflict"

Obama: "New Attacks are Being Plotted as I Speak"
Bush: "At This Moment ... Terrorists are Planning New Attacks"

Obama: "Our Cause is Just, Our Resolve Unwavering"
Bush: "Our Cause is Just, Our Coalition [is] Determined"

Obama: "This Is No Idle Danger, No Hypothetical Threat"
Bush: "The Enemies of Freedom Are Not Idle"

Obama: "We Have No Interest in Occupying Your Country"
Bush: "I Wouldn't Be Happy if I Were Occupied Either"

edit: I spoke too soon, I guess there were some protesters present at West Point last night.

http://www.lohud.com/article/2009120...-of-Afghan-war

[Pam]

Where are the anti-war protesters and the left-wing outrage that was prominent for 7 years during Bush?

Still going on. From two minutes on Google:

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/

http://www.codepinkalert.org/

Look even Fox says so!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...-war-strategy/

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/21776878/detail.html

Mike Moore on Larry King:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-2w2X8SMNE

[Lorax]

We all know Obama vowed to continue and ramp up Afghanistan, and also vowed to end Iraq. He should have started this in January 09 by pulling the first troops out of Iraq followed by a gradual draw down.

People need to see the visual in anything to assume progress is being made on campaign promises. This is a basic premise for anyone who wants to keep their job, whether it's a corporate middle-manager, a mayor, senator, or president.

Plow the streets, pick up the garbage, deliver the bacon.

Kielson has it right- the supporters of Obama need to see the promises fulfilled, and quickly. Much of what has been proposed can be accomlished with executive orders. What needs congressional approval can be shoved through with procedural measures such as reconciliation.

Obama has failed one sure test of his presidency, and that's where Bush succeeded- he needs to be feared by his political enemies, and unless he stops equivocating on every major policy initiative, then mediocre is how he'll be viewed as a president. And worse, we'll never get out of this economic death spiral, have comprehensive health care reform, or be extricated from these unaffordable and illegal wars.

[Pam]

Video of West Point speech protest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTgGatZFiq4

[johnsmith]

Video of West Point speech protest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTgGatZFiq4

Look for the sleeping cadets. I spotted more than a few of them last night.

[oladub]

What is this with the excuse making? Here are notes I took on Obama when he was campaigning to be President. These are among the reasons I voted for a third party peace candidate in the last two elections. Don't expect the two parties to come around as they are owned - as is the media that filters candidates. Kucinich was laughed off the stage when he was given a flying saucer question. There was a two month news blackout on Ron Paul. Nader wasn't allowed on to any debate stage. There were peace candidates. You just chose to vote for an 'approved candidate'.

Obama to establish "National Civilian Security Force"
“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set,” he said Wednesday. “We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”

Senator Obama campaigned to-
keep 50,000 "non-combat' troops in Iraq.
increase the number of troops in Afghanistan
increase the size of the military by 92,000.
keep US troops in Germany, Korea, and Japan.
double foreign aid to $50 billion by 2012.
involve us in Darfur.
pay 250,000 college students $40/hr. for up to 100 hours for volunteering.
grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.
perpetuate NAFTA.
include Georgia in NATO


Senator Obama-
voted to fund the war everytime President Bush has asked.
voted for second Patriot bill.
voted to limit the 4th Amendment and protect telecoms that illegally wiretapped Americans by voting for FISA.
believes the US "should support the immediate deployment of an effective international force to disarm militia, protect civilians and facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance in Darfur."
says he might send troops to Pakistan . "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won’t act, we will.”


Except for the broken promise of getting all but 50,000 non-combat roops out of Iraq, president Obama is doing just what he said he would do. That is what you chose to vote for. There were options but you made your choices. You voted to send more troops into Afghanistan. It is your war.

[Johnlodge]

It's the right move. If the doofus-in-chief hadn't split our forces to invade Iraq [[the country where the attack was not planned from) at the expense of our efforts in Afghanistan [[the country where the attack was planned from, are you keeping up here?) this shit would be over already. But, continue your nonsense party line bullshitting if it makes you somehow feel better about being wrong.

Don't really care who voted what or when, just care the correct actions are taken.

[johnsmith]

the media that filters candidates. Kucinich was laughed off the stage when he was given a flying saucer question. There was a two month news blackout on Ron Paul. Nader wasn't allowed on to any debate stage. There were peace candidates. You just chose to vote for an 'approved candidate'.

Spot on. I hope vast numbers of people realize this for the next elections.

[Danny]

The war in Afghanistan is JUSTIFIED! We Americans are countinuing to fight against Al Qaeda, find bin-Laden and stablize the new Afghan liberal government. Obama will send more troops to keep Islamofacists out of the way. Pulling our troops out of Afghanistan will allow The Taliban, Al-Qaeda to stregthen their forces and bring the free world to their knees. Until Islamic terrorism is defeated, Team America's blue army will crush them all.

[oladub]

The war in Afghanistan is JUSTIFIED! We Americans are countinuing to fight against Al Qaeda, find bin-Laden and stablize the new Afghan liberal government. Obama will send more troops to keep Islamofacists out of the way. Pulling our troops out of Afghanistan will allow The Taliban, Al-Qaeda to stregthen their forces and bring the free world to their knees. Until Islamic terrorism is defeated, Team America's blue army will crush them all.

If President Obama can't get Afghans to adopt a kinder, more gentle version of Islam, he isn't going to ever end his occupation of Afghanistan. Al-queda is also operating in Somalia among other places. Our current immigration policies favor reuniting families and Somalis have big families. The result is that in places like Minneapolis that have a lot of Somali legal immigrants [[Thank you President Clinton), Somalis are immigrating at a rapid rate. The problem with this is that this has allowed Al-Queda an entre into the US. So while Barack W. Obama is further bankrupting the country doing his John Wayne thing in Afghanistan, a suicidal immigration policy, which could be reversed for free, is allowed to remain intact - as it was under Bush.

Don't count on left over federal dollars for health care and other social benefits.

Al-Queda is actively recruiting in Minneapolis.

So Danny, you wrote that, "Obama will send more troops to keep Islamofacists out of the way." Since they are already here, how is that going to work?

[Gistok]

Really? Maybe someone should tell him that. I dont think he knew.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LsSppYxSHk


How are those tax cuts coming along?

Apparently some folks are not aware that there are 2 wars being fought!!

Maybe they should be spoon fed the words "IN AFGHANISTAN"... just to get them up to speed...

[dfunkycity]

Um... Again, pardon my language, but are you fucking kidding?

Did the Iraq [[illegal) War and Afghanistan Invasion start on January 20, 2009? I don't think so...

I suggest you put your liberal handbook down and try speaking the truth for a change.


The Iraq war is in no damn way shape or form an illegal war.

Bush the first took us there and we have been at war with them ever since never leaving their soil.

Now, on the other hand, lying about the reasons for ramping up the war in Iraq is a different story.

You want to moan and cry about Iraq, then do it truthfully.

[elganned]

I suggest you put your liberal handbook down and try speaking the truth for a change.


The Iraq war is in no damn way shape or form an illegal war.

"Illegal"? That can be argued. "Stupid"? No question.

Bush the first took us there and we have been at war with them ever since never leaving their soil.

If we never left, why did we have to invade again?

[pudsy]

The wars are both mistakes, were from the start, and shows he's unwilling to stand up to our military-industrial complex, which probably is behind many of the threats to his life, so he's giving in.

There is no national security purpose to staying, no economic reasoning to staying, and there is only the contracting, and the wealth powers behind the military insisting on continuing this.

Pulling out the troops last January was what should have been done, starting immediately. He probably would have been assassinated, though.

I have heard of the race card being played in regard to his plummeting poll numbers but now you are playing the Assassination Card!

thanks for the laugh

[Sstashmoo]

Quote: "Bush the first took us there and we have been at war with them ever since never leaving their soil."

Sheesh.. War? Ya know this is really an insult to those surviving members of our armed services that fought in any war. Iraq in no way shape or form has been a war. We invaded a country for no apparent reason. Saddam was cooperating with UN weapons inspectors and his contention was he had "nothing". We've spent 2 trillion dollars and continue to spend 10 million an hour to find out he was telling the truth. Was he an asshole? Probably. Was it any of our business? No. Bush and friends lied to all of us by trying to make a connection between an attack on our soil and Iraq, Not one connection has ever been made. They TOOK office with an agenda which they carried out.

"War" my ass.

And as far as this being one big war, 80's until now, what a fucking joke. If it was all the same war why did the two different invasions have two different names? We haven't been in a war in many years. The first trip over there was a get the hell out of Kuwait message.

I'll never forget 2 days after 911 on a saturday morning Bush saying we are going into Iraq [[If we were already in a war why would he say we are going in?), I was perplexed. I haven't understood our invasion of Iraq since day 1.

[dfunkycity]

quite obviously,u still don't understand

[Sstashmoo]

Quote: "quite obviously,u still don't understand"

What? Facts? Dispute anything I've said. With credible sources please.

I understand all too well...

[gibran]

if we would have fought the war like our Generals suggested in Afghanistan in the first place we would have been at a different place by now, if we would have gone and followed the terrorists into Pakistan in the first place we wouldn't be here, if we didn't go into Iraq for oil and Israel we wouldn't be here in the first place..

I understand why one last show of support will determine the course of the conflict....but I am also disappointed in how we are wavering in the Middle-east [[BIBI and the likes are winning) with the settlements, Gaza siege [[90% of the children are in poverty), resource stealing/slant drilling for natural gas off of the Gaza strip and in the West Bank [[ummm) and now we are losing the streets and missing opportunities to develop a smaller but stronger relationships with the moderates in areas where we could form a task force to hit terrorists faster...we are distracted and as long as we are bogged down in Afghanistan and now Pakistan we are missing out on many opportunities in the middle -east. That is disappointing, but it can still work out...but the troops had to go into a surge mode only because we didn't fight this from the beginning correctly.

[Bobl]

I believe that President Obama has made a huge mistake. I fear, after too many people are killed and maimed, the profiteers will have built their bank accounts and Afghanistan will remain what it has been for centuries: a feudal conglomeration of mini states ruled by warlords, this time armed and made wealthy by the US taxpayers.
However, those republicans who are criticizing Obama for "taking too long" to reach his decision are laughable, after remaining silent while the previous administration accomplished nothing over nearly eight years of futility.

[dharma4313]

Here's the deal, G-Dub had it right all along. Remember the strike he threw at Yankee Stadium only days after nine-eleven? Now let's give the devil his due. I can't stand Obama, but he wiped the floor with Princess Hillary, and don't mess with success. The guy does not like to lose, period, and that's his greatest strength. Let this thing play out.

[ccbatson]

We are in the war....you leave when you have accomplished victory. Before that, is a loss and this is not a game.

[elganned]

And what, exactly, will we "lose" if we just pack up and leave now, Cc?

[ccbatson]

Security...defense, safety, liberty, autonomy.

Try this exercise...replace the radical islamic terrorists with Nazis during WWII in your question...now do you see what is at stake?