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Afghanistan Is Obama’s ‘Exquisite’ Foreign Policy Dilemma

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I find the defeatist comments made by left coasties deplorable . . . fair weather Americants.
Guys, seriously, grow a pair of something . . . anything. Nobody said life was going to be a sunday drive, walk in the park. This is life. To live life, necessarily means to make sacrifice. Occassionally blood and treasure have to be spent to secure our collective freedoms. A more astute observation is this: and where would we be IF we did not spend our blood and treasure. Surely that it your point. So let's look at the other end of the spectrum:
The WTC falls. We do nothing. Emboldened in thinking they got away with something, Al Qaeda continues to operate with impunity and their ranks swell from new recruits for their Jihad. Soon its Hoover dam, a few bridges, maybe a school bus full of children or mall. Perhaps, its mom and dad who get kidnapped and beheaded in Europe.
Still we follow the "do nothing policy".
Then maybe Venezuela welcomes OBL and his Jihad fighters, permits a terrorist training facility, and collaborates. Meanwhile, since we did nothing in Iraq, Saddam is soon emboldened to terrorist Kuwait, maybe Israel, or Saudia Arabia.
Still we preserve our blood and treasure through a "do nothing" policy.
As time goes on. The Middle East is destabilized. We have daily kiddnappings, bombings. etc.
Truth be told, we should have taken the terrorist out when they were fresh hatched out of the egg Osama Bin laid. It would have taken an extraordinary amount of chuspa from Clinton since much of these fomented during his two term tenure.
But, after 9/11, we changed our view of the world. We asserted and declared our right to globally pursue terrorist. We put the world on notice that we will act pre-emptively in our fight against terror. The problem is, some have taken that pre-emptive doctrice as an outflow of manifest destiny, hence our nation building.
But don't confuse this with Viet Nam or Korea . . . that is an apple/orange comparison. There is little similarity and few parallels between the two.

david of ID 3:50AM September 16, 2010

Chris D of MA wrote: "BUSH/CHENEY decided that OIL was MORE important then TRUTH & the AMERICAN WAY" Do you really believe that hog wash? Tell me Chris D of MA, what do you pay at the pump these days? If it was really about OIL then wouldn't we see a glut of cheap oil in the market? Wouldn't we be paying . . . say . . . 50 cents a gallon instead of $3.50 a gallon. In fact, it seems that gas has gone up rather than down.
But your probably one of those conspiracy theorist who will fabricate any story to make your lie believable. You'd probably say, "It would be 50 cents a gallon, except big oil is milking the profits and in collusion with each other, which is another reason to rape the rich for their profit taking."
Here's my point about Obama's spread the wealth by rapeing the rich. If you don't like it, don't buy it. If you don't like that Sam Walton is getting fatter and richer, then stop supporting the establishment. Get your fruitloops elsewhere. Heck, make your own.

david of ID 3:22AM September 16, 2010

Afghanistan, must it be the "long" war? Alexander the Great got it right when he "conquered" Afghanistan. You can never win a war against an entity that doesn't exist. That said, you can "conquer" a place such as the tribal region of Afghanistan as Alexander did. The Muslims conquered Afghanistan by the old adage "Join (embrace Allah) or Die"! Conquering this vast tribal region is as simple as genocide (removing all of those who refuse to "join").
President Obama's rank ignorance of this tribal region and his simple thinking of an easy victory against a stone age people who can't even manufacture their own firearms goes to show how an American president voted into office by simpletons who believed his message of "change and hope" can be easily overwhelmed by the burdens of his office. Obama fails to understand the way these primitives think and stupidly uses unmanned drones with missiles to kill those who are deemed "enemy combatants". Bad mistake. You wonder why the Taliban are recruiting in droves. The Afghans take offense to the "cowardly" way American is now fighting the Taliban.
I digress. How to win? You can't "win" in Afghanistan, you can only conquer. But America doesn't do conquer, so what's next?
America's second defeat since Viet Nam.

DODAVATAR of CA 5:31PM September 15, 2010

I would like to point out that it was NOT Obama that 'changed' the thrust of the Army mission but BUSH/CHENEY when 'they decided to 'libarate' Iraq from Saddam. We 'outsourced' the military to Blackwater Corp(and their ilk)because our military was stretched thin. Saddam was NOT involved with Al-Qaida yet BUSH/CHENEY decided that OIL was MORE important then TRUTH & the AMERICAN WAY. Also who appointed Gates to be the NEW SecDef AFTER the 'technical dismissal' of RUMSFELD ?? BUSH/CHENEY again. Obama kept him but DID replace the CJCS Gen Myers(the REAL boot-licker)with Adm Mullen as the NEW Chairman of the JCS. As for Gen PETRAEUS(the CORRECT spelling of his name), me thinks that you DON'T know how to count. Check again those 'stars' on his uniform. Last time I did he was STILL a 4-Star. The U.S. hasn't had a 5-Star since 'Ike' and/or 'Mac'(you're right on that count). As far as Obama being a Muslim, what do they put in that ARIZONA water of yours. Has the WHOLE state become unglued like you. Or do you see WAY to many ILLEAGAL IMMIGRANTS behind every rock(like Sen McCarthy of the HUAC was seeing COMMUNISTS behind every rock)to guage what's real and what seems to be in LALA-LAND. Let's get a LIFE here man, and STOP SEEING BOOGYMEN behind EVERYTHING that ElRushbo, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Sarah(waht's-her-name), Bill O'Reilley, at al think THEY see. You need to CALM down or YOUR blood presure will kill you for sure. Take some qualudes and 'chill-out' man. And NO, I'm NOT some 'twenty-something' but a 55 year old with a RATIONAL mind and thinking. HAVE FUN IN THE GENERAL ELECTION, if you can STAY ALIVE THAT LONG...............................

Chris D. of MA 2:10PM September 15, 2010

And so, as one of the other posters correctly put it here,Barack Hussein Obama
has clearly morphed the US Mission in Afghanistan into a pathetic dismal totally
incompetent quamire of National Building Obama Style and completely forgotten
and/or ignored capturing Osama bin Laden and all of those remaining Al_Qeada
Msulim Terrorist behind the 9-11-2001 Attack on the WTC and Pentagon as well. However, what else can we expect here from former Chicago community
organizer,failed shyster lawyer,sleazy Democrat Liberal,Muslim Inman Wannabe
with no military training or experience himself now then?...Gen George Patton
or Gen Douglas Mac Arthur or Ike or Napolean or what here?
Then we have a pathetic loud mouth glory seeking pogey medals and five star
happy incompetent battlefield commander like General David Petareus and a
sawed off like runt pathetic incompetent professional boot licker Sec of Defense
Robert Gates and a liberal Democrat has been Sec of State former New York
Democrat US Senate Quitter Hillary Clinton helping run the show? Get Out Now!
And Impeach Obama and Fire Petreaus and Gates and Clinton! These dismal total failures will destroy the USA and bankkurpt us forever. Enough Already!

Ralph of AZ 11:06AM September 15, 2010

Correct me if I'm wrong here.
First, the goal was to find Bin Laden and dismantle the Taliban.
That goal has now morphed into trying to civilize an entire country of rural peasants and stabilize a corrupt economic infrastructure.
This philosophy is so flawed its damned to fail. Even in the best case scenario, which we all know is not remotely possible, in ten years Afghanistan will see some stabilization of a corrupt government and economy. Does this make us any safer? We're holding a gun to the head of the Afghans and telling them not to allow violent tendencies in their country?
The war on evil is like a dog chasing its tail. You'll never get there. But I guess if the goal is to create a need for spending hundreds of trillions on the military, this is a perfect scenario.

TP of NY 10:15AM September 15, 2010

We tried; we failed. Knock off the finger pointing and bring the troops home. No more fighting for a population that does not want us. Let them stay in the stone age.

Bolis of FL 9:36AM September 15, 2010

Afghanistan, like Viet Nam and, now Iraq, is a quagmire. If we were dealing with an intelligent, functional populace, we might have a shot at creating prosperity. As it is, the odds against us are enormous as are our losses in life,limb and money. A careful, well planned exit is the only strategy that makes sense. Civilians, not the military, must end this war as expeditiously as is sensible.

Cleverboots of NJ 9:12AM September 15, 2010

What? Did I read it right? Did you not mean to say that it's "Bush's exquisite dilemma"? Wow! That's refreshing. Finally, Obama taken to task and held at least partially accountable. However, I did not fail to notice that you still attempted to throw Bush into the mix.

Ted of CA 3:01AM September 15, 2010

"Grab them by the balls; their hearts and minds will follow."
The above quote has been attributed to General Patton, General Westmoreland and a handful of others. Regardless of who said it (my money's on Patton), the strategy is sound.
We're over there blowing kisses, handing out candy and bribing terrorists to "switch sides", thereby funding our own opposition. THIS is a strategy?!?!?
Afghanistan was pacified twice before. The victors' names ring through history - Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan. They succeeded through simple, mass butchery. If we are unwilling to do the same, then we are unwilling to do what is necessary to win (if we believe winning matters here, and unless we want regular episodes like 9/11, I think it does).
Unless the general population fears us more than the Taliban, we'll just be playing whack-a-mole around the country. Afghans have fought for thousands of years, and they can fight for thousands more. They only respond to fear and intimidation, something the Taliban knows well.
Our troubles began when Bush backed away from his "crusade" comment, because that is precisely what this needs to be. The only way to defeat a group like al Qaeda is to give them EXACTLY what they crave most: a culture war, Islam vs. the West. Better to fight them when WE have the upper hand.
After all, they would butcher us, given the opportunity. Islam is only a religion of peace after the world is Islamic.

Rich of CO 3:41PM September 14, 2010