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34,000 troops will be sent to Afghanistan

Who's going to pay for it?
 
Let's get the hell out of dodge. I'm so tired of this war. It's ridiculous. For some reason, the Republicans are all happy about spending our money in a different country but try to get health care reform passed and OH NO THE SKY IS FALLING!
 
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formerroadie said:
Let's get the hell out of dodge. I'm so tired of this war. It's ridiculous. For some reason, the Republicans are all happy about spending our money in a different country but try to get health care reform passed and OH NO THE SKY IS FALLING!
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What do you mean try? Don't you mean shove down the throats of the American people the take over of 1/6 of the US economy? And against the wishes of those American people at that?


j-mac
 
formerroadie said:
Hey Joe, I see a pattern ;)
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Most of those terrorists were trained, given sanctuary by and recieved financial assistance from Iran, Afghanistan and Syria. I see a pattern as well.

Personally, I think we should have started on The West Bank and went East, stopping at the Indian border.
 
formerroadie said:
Let's get the hell out of dodge. I'm so tired of this war. It's ridiculous. For some reason, the Republicans are all happy about spending our money in a different country but try to get health care reform passed and OH NO THE SKY IS FALLING!
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You mean that bill that people hate?
 
formerroadie said:
Let's get the hell out of dodge. I'm so tired of this war. It's ridiculous. For some reason, the Republicans are all happy about spending our money in a different country but try to get health care reform passed and OH NO THE SKY IS FALLING!
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What unit did you serve in in Afghanistan? Or any other battlespace, for that matter?
 
apdst said:
Most of those terrorists were trained, given sanctuary by and recieved financial assistance from Iran, Afghanistan and Syria. I see a pattern as well.

Personally, I think we should have started on The West Bank and went East, stopping at the Indian border.
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What about Egypt?
 
reefedjib said:
What about Egypt?
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I was thinking about cutting Egypt and Turkey some slack, but if they wanted to step out of line, we can kick their asses, too.
 
apdst said:
I was thinking about cutting Egypt and Turkey some slack, but if they wanted to step out of line, we can kick their asses, too.
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I mean, while we're already over there, right?

But seriously, we have Iran surrounded on the west and east. When will we ever have a better shot to covertly attack the root of radical Islamists than this?
 
Arch Enemy said:
Joe, you are making the same mistake that Bush made when it came to Iraq.
There were elements of the Saudi royalty that financed the N.G.O currently known as Al Qaida, but this was at the time when the United States partnered with Saudi Arabia, and Pakistani ISI in order to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

Saudi royalty now has a very serious problem with Bin Laden (don't forget that Bin Laden's biggest disappointment and what ultimately led to him turning against his home was that Saudi Arabia didn't trust Bin Laden).
A.Q. detests the Saudi crown. They see them (as they see most of the Middle-East) as "not Islamic enough".

These funds that are reaching Bin Laden, and the 9/11 Hijackers are from private accounts-- Saudi citizens are more wealthy than many other citizens in the Middle-East.

There's friction between the Kingdom and Wahabism (I have personal experience with Saudi diplomats rejecting the term altogether).
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So tell me honestly which would really make more difference, invading a country that harbored a few terrorists and killing them, or invading the country that funds terrorism and whose Wasabi sect builds America-hating madrasas all over the world?
 
Joe1991 said:
So tell me honestly which would really make more difference, invading a country that harbored a few terrorists and killing them, or invading the country that funds terrorism and whose Wasabi sect builds America-hating madrasas all over the world?
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I never said Iraq was a smart decision. I'd rather take that card back.
 
Ziggae_6 said:
Time to get out those "I Support The President and Our Troops" stickers again?
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Do what you want. I'll be supporting our President in his efforts to defend the United States from its enemies.
 
obvious Child said:
Unless he's got some master development plan to overhaul COIN in Afghanistan, this is going to be a waste of time.
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Yea, we'll see. I have faith in our military.
 
Good speech, Mr. President. Some things I could have done without but the overall tone was good enough. I don't like the time-table, but that's not set in stone...

:2usflag:
 
Ethereal said:
Good speech, Mr. President. Some things I could have done without but the overall tone was good enough. I don't like the time-table, but that's not set in stone...

:2usflag:
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Indeed. Well said, well said.
 
obvious Child said:
Unless he's got some master development plan to overhaul COIN in Afghanistan, this is going to be a waste of time.
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Unless he plans on neutralizing the enemy, nothing will change.
 
Ethereal said:
Yea, we'll see. I have faith in our military.
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Military alone will not solve Afghanistan's problems. Furthermore, if we actually want to get out of their any time soon, there has to be a sustainable economic development path. Even if we just go and kill everyone as Apdst wants us to, people will eventually move back in and without economic conditions to provide better opportunities for people, they will revert to Afghanistan circa 1999.

I keep bringing up how Bush never dealt with this problem in 7 years. I really doubt Obama has a viable plan here. Iraq worked because economic opportunities arose. Much the same for Malaya and many other successful COIN operations. Thus begs the question, what can Afghanistan export to provide sufficient revenues?
 
This policy makes no sense to me from Obama's standpoint.
If your general asks for 40,000 and you are willing to send 35,000 (or 30,000) why not just go ahead and send the 40,000?
At 30-35 if the offensive fails, he gets blamed because he didn't send the troops that were requested.
 
Although I have reservations about the outlined plan (too much reliance on Kabul/Hamid Karzai, reliance on a weak and corrupt government in Pakistan, and an announced timetable when such a timetable should have been kept private), I very much hope that the plan will bring about lasting improvements in stability in Afghanistan. Certainly, its major objectives of denying the Al Qaeda terrorist organization a safehaven in Afghanistan and reversing the military gains achieved by the Taliban in its counteroffensive are urgent, important and well-focused. Nonetheless, I believe the challenges ahead are steep and the work ahead will be difficult to say the least.
 
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