'Obama's Troop Increase Means He 'Owns' Afghan War'

[Bluebear]

By Hans Nichols and Indira A.R. Lakshmanan

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will announce tonight he is sending an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan and that American forces will begin withdrawing by July 2011, administration officials said.

The deployment of the extra force will be expedited and will bring the number of U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan to about 100,000. Obama will outline a plan that includes a timetable for Afghan security forces to begin taking over from U.S. troops before the end of his first term, one of the officials said.

With the unveiling of his strategy, Obama is tying his presidency to the outcome of a war that has deteriorated since the U.S. ousted the Taliban from power eight years ago.

Obama’s televised speech from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point “is really going to prove that he owns the war,” said Karin von Hippel, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington....

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a9RmEdaf.1cM

[lame54]

1. agreed agreed agreed

[Mari333]

2. The Neocons are pleased as punch.

[tridim]

3. And you're pleased that the Neocons are pretending they're pleased.

We get it Mari.

[JuniperLea]

4. Indeed... eom

[arcadian]

14. Are you for escalation in Afghanistan?

If so, get rid of that peace sign.

[Mari333]

7. and you seemed to be pleased with the neocons

so we are back to square one.
why not just admit you are delighted that the neocons are so delighted with Obama?
its so simple.

[tridim]

8. The necons are proven liars.

I don't believe a word they say, including this one.

Do you believe them?

[Mari333]

9. I believe they adore Obamas strategy for the surge

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/01/bush-officials-rnc-praise_n_375400.html

they will keep making money.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mari333]

18. Oh, I see. The Republicans who spoke out about loving the Obama surge

are now lying.
the neocons who were in office for 8 yrs and sent our troops over to fight 2 insane occupations are now officially saying they are against Obama's surge, even tho here it is:


Two prominent Bush administration officials are publicly praising President Obama for his decision to send additional troops to Afghanistan.

In an incredibly rare occurrence, the Republican National Committee hosted a conference call on Tuesday in which the featured speaker, Dan Senor, a former Bush spokesman in Iraq, applauded the White House and said he was "quite encouraged by the president's decision."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/01/bush-officials-rnc-praise_n_375400.html

man, kid, talk about cogitive dissonance!
Obama is doig exactly what the republicans want..more war. he is making them very very happy.

[tridim]

22. Believe what you want to believe.

I don't believe ANYTHING the Neocons say. You're not going to watch the speech anyway, so what's the point even debating with you?

Oh, and your sig line is disgusting, but I know you don't care.

[Mari333]

23. ignore

[JVS]

20. Are you suggesting that Neocon support for the war is all head games or psyche-out stuff?

[tridim]

21. I don't know, but I do know they don't support the President as a rule.

And I also know they haven't heard Obama's speech yet. None of us have.

[Ikonoklast]

13. But not near as happy as YOU.

Rooting for failure.

[cbdo2007]

5. You have to own something before you can fix it.

[ixion]

6. and what, pray tell, do you define as 'fixing'?

because right now, the denizens don't really want us to 'fix' anything.

The only people who want things 'fixed' is the puppet government we put in power, and the oil companies. :eyes:

[cbdo2007]

15. I'm pretty sure the Afghan people want things fixed. Some kind of order restored,

roads, schools, hospitals rebuilt.

[ixion]

24. and the sooner we get the hell out of there and stop bombing them

the sooner they'll be able to rebuild. If you think we're sending 30k troops over there to build roads you are sadly mistaken.

[cbdo2007]

25. You sound like Bush....Go over there and bomb the shit out of them and then

leave and make them clean it all up and rebuild.

We already bombed the shit out of them and that can't be undone. If you think we're sending 30K troops over there just to shoot at and kill people...then I don't think you have a very good idea of what our troops actually are doing and it would help you to do some research.

[ixion]

26. uh, no, not even close

geez.

I wouldn't have invaded a sovereign country in the first place. That's a big difference from Mr. Bush.

[Sherman A1]

11. I disagree

I am not in favor of increasing troop levels, but I will at least hear the man out tonight and make my decision based upon what he says. At the very least I expect that we will now have a plan which has been sorely lacking these last years, which had we had one, might have ended the whole mess long ago.

[Bluebear]

12. you are free to. But it is already being painted as "his" war in the media.

And with that, popular opinion will follow.

[JuniperLea]

19. It is his war...

I think we should give him a chance to actually own it. No one else has taken responsibility for it. No one else has been keeper of it. It's not an easy thing, ending wars. I'm still hopeful, and I'm still NOT expecting miracles... unlike so many here.

[Sherman A1]

27. The media can paint things anyway they choose to do so

and you are correct that most popular opinion will follow, however that doesn't "make it so".

I find the media (with some exceptions) to be generally lazy and too interested in filling the 24/7 news cycle with the story of the latest "blonde girl, shark attack" or O'Reilly vs Olberman rant, so I tend to take them with grain of salt.

[JuniperLea]

16. I share your view...

I don't have a crystal ball like so many here. I'll watch on CSPAN, without commentary, and make up my own mind.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

17. Lock, stock, and bodies.