Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« Overnight Open Thread – Payback - (genghis) | Main | Obama Not Done With The Public Option Yet? »
August 17, 2009

The Return of Cut & Run- Afghan Exit Strategy

We are about to enter an information battle almost identical to the one we fought about Iraq in 2006 & 2007. The cries then were that Iraq was lost and we should leave as soon as possible. They came from Harry Reid and Barack Obama in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi and John Murtha in the House among others. They were echoed and amplified by the media and led to a very pitched argument about whether to reinforce our new counterinsurgency strategy or to cut & run. Thankfully the arguments of Gen. Petraeus and the fortitude of President Bush prevailed and instead of defeat at the hands of al Qaeda and Iranian proxies, we won.

Now we face an eerily similar choice in Afghanistan, and the cut & run chorus has begun the siren song that we cannot achieve victory. The problem is that President Obama campaigned on the idea that the Afghan war was the good war and that he would kill the ghost of bin Laden in Pakistan if he caught wind of him.That made fine campaign rhetoric, but now the reality has sunk in. This is Obama's war as much as it is America's. He relieved the country commander, put in his own choice and he authorized 21,000+ reinforcements and a new strategy. The question is will the promises he made to get the job, be matched with the resolve to take the political heat he will get for trying to win. He has already eschewed the idea of a classic victory and I have long worried he will not be able to face the heat from his allies on the left. Here they come, with John Nichols, Capitol Times Editor and Washington correspondent for The Nation, who I had many quality arguments with in Madison and who is a well-respected voice of the left.

Members of Congress are using the August
recess to survey constituent sentiments on a host of matters. And
one of them deserves dramatically increased attention: the
misguided occupation of Afghanistan.



July was the deadliest month for U.S. forces stationed in Afghanistan since the invasion of that country almost eight years ago. Forty-three Americans were killed.


The death toll has continued to rise in August, and it will accelerate if U.S. commanders get their wish
and more troops are "surged" into the quagmire.


At the same time, according to the United Nations, civilian deaths in Afghanistan are increasing
dramatically. More than 1,000 civilians were killed in the country during the first six months of this year, an increase of 24 percent over the same period in 2008.


Dozens of dead Americans each month. Hundreds of dead Afghan civilians. And no end in sight.


That's not responsible, humane or sustainable.


And the Obama administration is not focused in a serious way on an endgame -- let alone an exit strategy.

Congress needs to uphold its constitutionally defined responsibility and put parameters on a war that was never declared or defined.


At the very least, members of the House should be signing on as co-sponsors of H.R.
2404
, which would "require the secretary of defense to submit a report to Congress outlining the United States exit strategy for United States military forces in Afghanistan participating in Operation Enduring Freedom."


While exit strategy sounds better than cut & run, there is essentially no difference and the same voices made the same calls for a date for our exit from Iraq. Well, by not giving a date for our exit we gave our enemies in Iraq no way to know and no hope for holding out. We gave the Iraqis hope that we would stay until the job was done and we have. We need to start that same battle of ideas about Afghanistan.We need to pressure Congress and the President to follow through on his promises about the good war.

We need to remind the American people who was wrong about Iraq and who was right. The left and the democrats and the current Commander in Chief were egregiously wrong and would have led us to defeat if they had their way. Gen. Petraeus, our military and all of us were right and we must wage the same fight or we will watch our troops leave a battlefield consecrated by the blood of heroes in defeat.

That is intolerable, I believe we can win and I support victory. I made this video Feb. 9th and it is even more apt right now.

digg this
posted by Uncle Jimbo at 12:10 AM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
... : "We MUST defend Ukraine. And we MUST stop Israel ..."

Dem Propagandists: "Republicans made Obamacare expensive and unafforda ..."

Ben Had: "JT, Good morning. Hope all is well with you ..."

JT: "Hiya BenHad ! ..."

m: "Where's our SFGoth? ..."

JT: " Birdbath status? Posted by: Just Wondering N ..."

Grandpa Mumbles: "Gonna... gonna take the train. Bridge over the Git ..."

pawn: "Chicago is really close to Dearbornstan. Ought ..."

Mister Scott (Formerly GWS): " "Combine that with the dimmed memory from the pas ..."

Village Idiot's Apprentice: "Going back to the FSK bridge collapse for a moment ..."

Ordinary American: "Everything is doublespeak. Posted by: LinusVanPe ..."

Skip: "Good morning JJ and horde ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64