Afghanistan: 'First thing is not numbers'

We'd probably already be finished with Afghanistan if Bush and Cheney hadn't decided that it would be a great idea to blow it off and invade Iraq for no reason.

Afghanistan is a lost cause, the people who attacked us on 9/11 have already left (thanks again Bu$hco). By staying there we are doing nothing but wasting more blood and treasure.

There is no such thing as "victory" in the kinds of wars we’re fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The best one can hope for in these types of conflicts—counterinsurgency efforts in far flung corners of the globe with fuzzy objectives and vague necessity—is to not be seen as having "lost." For that to happen, unfortunately, you have to stick around for so long and fade away so gradually that, by the time you leave, nobody notices you’re gone.

The Republican/Neoconservative apparatus that got us into Iraq for reasons we still haven’t decided on threatens to keep us in Afghanistan indefinitely for reasons yet to be determined. Everything we’re doing in Central and Southwest Asia supposedly has something to do with eradicating al-Qaeda, yet there is no sign of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The argument for persisting in Afghanistan says that we have to make sure al-Qaeda doesn’t go back there, yet as former CIA officer Philip Giraldi recently noted, credible assessments suggest that "Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda has likely been reduced to a core group of eight to ten terrorists who are on the run more often than not."

For the sake of keeping fewer than a dozen evildoers out of Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his legion of Republican/Neocon supporters in the Pentagon, Congress and the media insist we need to bring increase U.S. troop levels to over 100,000, and the overall coalition force level to a half-million, the number of troops we had on the ground at one point in Vietnam.

I think it would be a mistake to leave now. There is much work to be done and should we leave prematurely, then our enemies will just setup shop again.

More analysis from the fool that called this the good war. Raise the number of troops, whoops, maybe we should lower them. Engage with the Afghan government, work around the Afghan government.

Hey mister "leader" of the free world make up your mind, you can't vote present any more. Maybe you should run off to Europe and commit more tax dollars you don't have for your corrupt Chicago pals.

think it would be a mistake to leave now. There is much work to be done and should we leave prematurely, then our enemies will just setup shop again.

Posted by: AMH in Illinois | September 29, 2009 2:57 PM
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Really? And you think staying over there another 5, 10 or 100 years is going to make a difference? Have you ever studied Afghanistan's history? Are you and your family planning on signing up for duty any time soon?

More analysis from the fool that called this the good war. Raise the number of troops, whoops, maybe we should lower them. Engage with the Afghan government, work around the Afghan government.
Posted by: Hans | September 29, 2009 3:45 PM
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Clown,
It was, and still is, the good war. Which begs the question, why did your heroes Bush and Cheney decide to blow it off and trump up a fake war in Iraq for their cronies in the Military Industrial Complex? And why should Americans we ever trust you Wingnutty Neocon cretins with the leadership of this country ever again?

Try again....

Blah Blah Blah Bush!

You morons haven't a brain in your heads. The ONLY thing, the ONLY person keeping us in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is president Obama.

He IS the president and He can make the decision to pull out any time HE wants. Go eat dirt if you think blaming Bush - Cheney - Count Dracula - Wolfman - Godzilla for the continued American Soldier death toll.

You all are dumber than a box of rocks. Keep making comments like Bush is in charge, it doesn't change the FACT that president Obama has these wars on his shoulders and as long as he increases the numbers of US troops on the ground and US dollars funding these wars, no amount of Bush blathering hate can change today or tomorrow's death counts.

NATO - SMATO these supposed "leaders" told our president (Obama) four months ago to head back home when he told them they would have to put more of thier people on the firing line and their money into the war pit.

Blah Blah Blah Bush!

You morons haven't a brain in your heads. The ONLY thing, the ONLY person keeping us in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is president Obama.

He IS the president and He can make the decision to pull out any time HE wants. Go eat dirt if you think blaming Bush - Cheney
Posted by: springfield | September 29, 2009 4:59 PM
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Hey Springfield the Goober,

The Bushco Repuglicans screwed things up so badly in this country the last eight years that we're still going to be trying to clean up your mess 30-40 years from now.

The kind of disasters that you Wingnuts mouth-breathers created for this country aren't going to disappear in only eight months. You're not getting off the hook that easily, Springfield the PuppetStick.

Huh, If Bush screwed things up so badly then why can't the current fool in the white house at least change the policies? Close Gitmo, move the prisoners to gitmo north, Patriot Act - check, torture-yes if necessary, Iraq timetable- check, Afghanistan-yes, no, maybe let NATO call the shots.

Why does the current fool keep supporting the industrial military complex? Why is Haliburton still getting millions in no bid contracts? Why are we still hiring paramilitary units to commit war crimes ala Blackwater?

This is the lack of change true Obamabots can ignore. Voting present on every important issue, your liar in chief.

Why does the current fool keep supporting the industrial military complex? Why is Haliburton still getting millions in no bid contracts? Why are we still hiring paramilitary units to commit war crimes ala Blackwater?

This is the lack of change true Obamabots can ignore. Voting present on every important issue, your liar in chief.

Posted by: Hans | September 29, 2009 6:00 PM
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Because everytime Obama tries to change something, the current and past fools (you) and Bush Republican politicians who supported everything Bushco did start crying like the selfish doughy white rich guys that they are.

Lars, Your messiah has a veto proof majority in the Senate, a clear majority in the House. He rammed through a stimulus bill that no one read, he signed an budget with over 8,000 earmarks after promising no earmarks. He can do whatever he wants, the problem he has is he doesn't know what he wants. He has avoided the difficult decisions all his life and now that he is forced to address some of these issues he doesn't know how. Tell me Lars, why doesn't our supreme leader stand up for his principles against the whiney, irrelevant out of power republicans? Bush was able to convince a majority of Dems that we should invade Iraq. Can't your messiah at least persuade a majority of dems that we shouldn't torture or illegally wiretap? He is so much smarter and such a powerful communicator Congress should be eating out of his hand.

Lars, Your messiah has a veto proof majority in the Senate, a clear majority in the House. He rammed through a stimulus bill that no one read, he signed an budget with over 8,000 earmarks after promising no earmarks. He can do whatever he wants
Posted by: Hans | September 29, 2009 6:40 PM
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Clown,
Democrats don't run things like your beloved Repugs do, they like Democracy.

And speaking of the Stimulus - not only did it save our economy from collapse, most of the earmarks (which actually fund things that states need and want) were from REPUBLICANS.
http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/10-lessons-for-tea-baggers

A lost cause, but not lost face for Obama yet.

Robert = Lithium = Bjorn = Huh? = Lars. Get a job, JohnEE. You monopolize every article with your blathering and Bush blaming. Loon.

President Obama calls Afghanistan a war of necessity.

His hand-picked, fully-vetted, battle-tested, much-applauded, go-to guy McChrystal says, "Send more troops."

So what's Obama's problem?

Obama was hoping that anytime post Jan. 2009 he could just hop off the horse he rode to victory during the 2008 US presidential campaign -- the 'off-mission/war-of-necessity' Afghan horse. And he thought that horse would then find its way back home -- all by itself. President Obama was counting on McChrystal to pull off all that candidate Obama promised while campaigning -- with minimal cost. But now in 2009 while sitting atop the Afghan horse as president, Obama looked down and instead of a stirrup, he sees the inevitable reality check of his right foot caught in a bear trap. McChrystal took out his sidearm with the additional troop request and fired a shot in the air. And the 2009 Afghan horse took off, throwing Obama, and is dragging him on the ground by one leg behind it as it careens north-east-west-south through the poppy fields.

It's not about fine-tuning any so-called strategy. Obama is desperately trying to figure out how to get his foot out of the damn bear trap and cut free from the Afghan horse.

He hoisted himself with his own petard, and all of us as well. Afghanistan was and is no-win. But as a presidential campaign issue it attracted the support of those who willingly never developed object permanence. No effective opposition curtailed Bush and Iraq. This time with Obama and Afghanistan, things will be different -- and rightfully so.

yep the war on terror , of course all the terrorists live in afghanistan and we will defeat them and the world will be free of terrorist forever
do you honestly think by killing thousands of innocents in this war on a tactic that if it was my family killed that i would ever forgive you , you are creating terrorists.
3000 killed in 911 120,000 killed in retaliation i think the US have made a point and now i know who are the ones to fear

Clown,
Democrats don't run things like your beloved Repugs do, they like Democracy.

Hey Lars, He who has the votes wins, that is democracy. Your messiah has all the dems he needs to get whatever he wants. He rammed through the stimulus bill without a single republican. He could do the same with his al gore tax plan and his kill the elderly plan except he can't even get people in his own party to support him. Fortunately that's democracy. Afghanistan is different, he has had years to formulate a strategy, he had one when he avoided being a senator to run for president. Now the fool is trying to vote present, our allies are pulling their troops and our soldiers are dying in record numbers. Meanwhile the liar flies off to support the Chicago machine rather than make a decision. Obambi is not only a liar, he's a killer.