Leaving Afghanistan

[Soggy in NOLA]

10 years is enough. Time to declare "mission accomplished" and get out. How do we ask Americans to make sacrifieces at home when we spend $1 billion a week in Afghanistan?

This was a botched operation from the word "Go". We never should have been there in the first place (Bush's fault), and we never should have upped our ante (Obama's fault). Get all of our troops and all of our money out ASAP, I say.

Be honest here, dont you think that war would be over if we didnt divert everything into the iraq war?

I really say that war would have been over a long time ago. Bush went of the rails by going to war with a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. No one will ever be able to explain that one away and we are paying for it ten years later still.

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[Mr. Shaman]

This was a botched operation from the word "Go". We never should have been there in the first place (Bush's fault), and we never should have upped our ante (Obama's fault). Get all of our troops and all of our money out ASAP, I say.

Be honest here, dont you think that war would be over if we didnt divert everything into the iraq war?

I really say that war would have been over a long time ago. Bush went of the rails by going to war with a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. No one will ever be able to explain that one away and we are paying for it ten years later still.

Just to correct your obviously and expectedly partisan statement....

" No one will ever be able to explain that one away "

It hs been explained many times and many of us understand and accept that explanation...you just prefer to ignore it.

And BTW....it was Congress that sent us to war in Iraq...not Bush.

Yeah.....you can see the gun-to-his-head.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkOCIfNQXP0]YouTube - ‪President Bush Announcing Invasion of Iraq‬‏[/ame]

 

[WillowTree]

My problem with the president's decision to pull out 30,000 troops is the timing. You don't do it in the middle of the fighting season over there, you wait until Feb - March to start doing it. To do it in Sept just before the election smacks of political rather than military reasons. Staying a few more months might help the Afghanis clear more areas in the east along the Pakistan border.

He's trying to jack up his plummeting polls.. soldiers are his political pawns. nothing more.

 

[WillowTree]

Correction.....

This was a botched operation from the word "Go". We never should have been there in the first place (CONGRESSES FAULT), and we never should have upped our ante (CONGRESSES FAULT). Get all of our troops and all of our money out ASAP, I say

But I still disagree with what you say....I just wanted to correct who you blamed.

We needed to enter Afghanistan to ensure homeland security. I am not in the mood to debate my sentiments.....but that is what I pay our government to do...protect us

As with most things, the sitting President, gets the blame as he is the CiC. While Congress may "allow" such operations, it falls to the CiC to say "go". Afghanistan posed no threat to us, just as with Iraq.

A-stan was harboring those that wanted to attack us...so A-Stan was our enemy.

As for the other part....you are actually incorrect....as based on what you say, then the blame should really go on the general that gave the go ahead..and maybe the field general that siad "move forward"...or maybe the Lty. Col....etc.

The CiC can only do what congress tells him to do as it pertains to war declaration.

And if congress says to declare war...HE CAN NOT SAY HE DOESNT WANT TO.

Congress is to blame.

For Libya too?

 

[Contumacious]

Obama had no choice in the Afghanistan matter. Bush started it and he could not just end it.

Why?

I thought he was the commander in chief.

 

[Jarhead]

As with most things, the sitting President, gets the blame as he is the CiC. While Congress may "allow" such operations, it falls to the CiC to say "go". Afghanistan posed no threat to us, just as with Iraq.

A-stan was harboring those that wanted to attack us...so A-Stan was our enemy.

As for the other part....you are actually incorrect....as based on what you say, then the blame should really go on the general that gave the go ahead..and maybe the field general that siad "move forward"...or maybe the Lty. Col....etc.

The CiC can only do what congress tells him to do as it pertains to war declaration.

And if congress says to declare war...HE CAN NOT SAY HE DOESNT WANT TO.

Congress is to blame.

For Libya too?

Nope. Libya is not a declaration of war.

As it pertains to war, ONLY CONGRESS can decide to go to war and the CiC has no choice but to either follow the orders OR, if he refuses, congress stops funding all white house activities and deem him NOT in compliance with the constitution and immediately begin impeachment proceedings.

That is why people in the know knew it was crap when Clinton and others claimed that Bush cherry picked intel.....for if he did, and congress made a decision based on his "cherry picked" intel, it would have been a major case of "fraud" and a manipulation of the consitution....and a very serious offense....and no doubt hearings and an impeachment.

 

[Too Tall]

10 years is enough. Time to declare "mission accomplished" and get out. How do we ask Americans to make sacrifieces at home when we spend $1 billion a week in Afghanistan?

This was a botched operation from the word "Go". We never should have been there in the first place (Bush's fault), and we never should have upped our ante (Obama's fault). Get all of our troops and all of our money out ASAP, I say.

Somewhere I heard that Osama bin Laden had his gang in Afghanistan and was being protected by the Taliban government. He sent 19 of his followers to the US and we had the World Trade Center destroyed and the Pentagon attacked on 911.

To say we should have not retaliated says a lot more about you than I want to know.

 

[initforme]

War brings money to certain people in this nation. Hence, we love war. Always have. Thats just the way it is.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

A-stan was harboring those that wanted to attack us...so A-Stan was our enemy.

As for the other part....you are actually incorrect....as based on what you say, then the blame should really go on the general that gave the go ahead..and maybe the field general that siad "move forward"...or maybe the Lty. Col....etc.

The CiC can only do what congress tells him to do as it pertains to war declaration.

And if congress says to declare war...HE CAN NOT SAY HE DOESNT WANT TO.

Congress is to blame.

For Libya too?

Nope. Libya is not a declaration of war.

As it pertains to war, ONLY CONGRESS can decide to go to war and the CiC has no choice but to either follow the orders OR, if he refuses, congress stops funding all white house activities and deem him NOT in compliance with the constitution and immediately begin impeachment proceedings.

That is why people in the know knew it was crap when Clinton and others claimed that Bush cherry picked intel.....

No.....it was The DICK; Cheney who did all the.....

....cherry-pickin'.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

10 years is enough. Time to declare "mission accomplished" and get out. How do we ask Americans to make sacrifieces at home when we spend $1 billion a week in Afghanistan?

This was a botched operation from the word "Go". We never should have been there in the first place (Bush's fault), and we never should have upped our ante (Obama's fault). Get all of our troops and all of our money out ASAP, I say.

Somewhere I heard that Osama bin Laden had his gang in Afghanistan and was being protected by the Taliban government. He sent 19 of his followers to the US and we had the World Trade Center destroyed and the Pentagon attacked on 911.

To say we should have not retaliated says a lot more about you than I want to know.

Welllllllll....ya' gotta understand.......​

"As the new Administration took office, Rice kept Clarke in his job as counterterrorism czar. In early February, he repeated to Vice President Dick Cheney the briefing he had given to Rice and Hadley. There are differing opinions on how seriously the Bush team took Clarke's warnings. Some members of the outgoing Administration got the sense that the Bush team thought the Clintonites had become obsessed with terrorism. "It was clear," says one, "that this was not the same priority to them that it was to us."

Some counterterrorism officials think there is another reason for the Bush Administration's dilatory response. Clarke's paper, says an official, "was a Clinton proposal." Keeping Clarke around was one thing; buying into the analysis of an Administration that the Bush team considered feckless and naive was quite another."

When BUSHCO "Punted"​

Lil' Dumbya wanted to show everyone.....especially his DADDY.....that HE was a BIG BOY.....and, could make decisions ALL BY HIMSELF!!!!

As usual.......he fucked-up.......

 

[Mr. Shaman]

War brings money to certain people in this nation. Hence, we love war. Always have. Thats just the way it is.

Ah, yes......Fate; that lazy-ass excuse for "moralists" & "conservatives" to do ZIP!!!!​

 

[Warrior102]

Buddy of mine - three tours there with the DOJ. Talked to him last week. He's home, finally. Said we need to get the hell out of there. Good stuff being accomplished is at night with drones, Special Forces. I tend to agree with him. Hell, I sat in Beirut for seven months in 1983. What a colossal waste of time.

 

[Wiseacre]

My problem with the president's decision to pull out 30,000 troops is the timing. You don't do it in the middle of the fighting season over there, you wait until Feb - March to start doing it. To do it in Sept just before the election smacks of political rather than military reasons. Staying a few more months might help the Afghanis clear more areas in the east along the Pakistan border.

He's trying to jack up his plummeting polls.. soldiers are his political pawns. nothing more.

You can bet your sweet ass Obama will give a speech on or about the 1st of October 2012, saying he kept his promise and brought the troops home, and then he will declare victory in Afganistan. Just in time for a bump in the polls, and screw the actual situation on the ground.

 

[boedicca]

It won't be enough.

The top issues for American voters are economic: Growth, Jobs, The Debt, ObamaCare.

 

[editec]

Get out!

We're never going to turn that place into our vision of it.

Wars of occupation in a place like Afghanistan are just idiotic policy.

At the risk of repeating myself ..

Get out!​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Buddy of mine - three tours there with the DOJ. Talked to him last week. He's home, finally. Said we need to get the hell out of there. Good stuff being accomplished is at night with drones, Special Forces.

.....Pretty-much how bin Laden was zapped.

Agreed.

It wouldn't hurt to rely (more) on Interpol, as well; not so much sledge-hammer surgery, in the future.​

"Eaton says stolen passports are at the moment a big deal.

Interpol has the world's only database on lost or stolen passports and travel documents. There are more than 15 million of them and every week 3,000 people try to use one to enter a country illegally.

"Every significant international terrorist attack that's occurred has been linked in some way with either a fraudulent passport, an authentic passport that's been modified or with a counterfeit passport," Noble explains. "So by catching the people with stolen passports, you get yourself closer to catching terrorists."

Security isn't the only reason that countries don't cooperate with Interpol. Sometimes they're just embarrassed. Last year, when 23 people escaped from a prison in Yemen, including the mastermind of the al Qaeda attack on the U.S.S. Cole, Interpol found out about it by monitoring Arab television.

"Worldwide in the last two years, we've had 43 countries where escapes have occurred. And zero of those countries -- zero of those countries notified Interpol. That can't happen. That shouldn't happen. People wouldn't believe it's happening, but it's happening," Noble says.

Not only is Interpol underutilized, Noble says it is also hopelessly under-funded. The U.S. contributes $5.5 million to the organization's $50 million budget, a pittance compared to big city police departments.

"NYPD, $3 billion a year. FBI, $6 billion a year. DHS, $42 billion a year. Interpol is about $50 million," Noble points out. "About the same amount that the Los Angeles Galaxy is paying for David Beckham to play football. That's what the world is contributing to Interpol to keep the citizens of the world safer that they otherwise would be."

The Man From Interpol​

 

[Mr. Shaman]

It won't be enough.

The top issues for American voters are economic: Growth, Jobs, The Debt, ObamaCare.

Maybe someone should mention that to....

....John Boner!!