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Posted By Klarissa 1 month, 3 weeks ago in Political Opinion
WASHINGTON - With a bloody suicide bombing near the Khyber Pass adding urgency to his words, President Obama announced on Friday that he plans to further bolster American forces in Afghanistan , increase aid to Pakistan, and set strict standards for measuring progress in fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban in both chaotic countries.
Obama's plans for Afghanistan in March 2009
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Klarissa
Berkeley conservative. Don't ask to be my friend unless you have a real bio.Eat your dessert first, life is uncertain. Bridge player, water ...
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Klarissa1 month, 3 weeks ago
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"He added, “We have a clear and focused goal to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future.”
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But President Obama promised neither to write a “blank check” nor to “blindly stay the course” if his risky new strategy, which includes the addition of 4,000 troops in a training role and several benchmarks for judging progress, does not achieve its ambitious goals. He had already ordered 17,000 combat troops to Afghanistan soon after taking office.
Shortly after Mr. Obama’s speech on Friday, Richard C. Holbrooke, the president’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, noted the corrosive role of instability and terrorist safe havens in western Pakistan, and said that the United States could not abandon the region.
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"The president said that “an uncompromising core of the Taliban,” the fundamentalist party that America and its allies ousted seven years ago, must be defeated militarily,
but that other opposition forces “who have taken up arms because of coercion, or simply for a price,” must be drawn back into the fold." -
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Goppy1 month, 3 weeks ago
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If there is a weakness in President Obama ... I believe it's in his desire to not scare the right wing. I'm sure he's aware of the fear that many white people have for the first black president.
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Anyone who doubts this, should simply recall opportunists such as Glenn Beck who is trying manipulating those fears by claiming Obama has a secret agenda to make 'Reparations' for slavery ... and calling Obama a Racist.
The end result is that Obama wants to assuage these fears ... and hew a "Right of Center" policy ... to ... I believe ... quell those stoked fears.
I believe this is futile.
The Modern Right does not care about The United States of America ... they make this very plain ... they only care about Tax Cuts for The Wealthy.
That's ALL they stand for ... well ... and protecting Large Health Insurance Profits.
There is no future for America in Afghanistan.
My suggestion would be this ... An announcement to the world that we will stay .... ONLY if we are a part of an international presence. And I would not accept a percentage larger than 25%.
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If the world does not pitch in ... we should get out.
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pc251 month, 3 weeks ago
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If there is a weakness in President Obama ... I believe it's in his desire to not scare the right wing. I'm sure he's aware of the fear that many white people have for the first black president.
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Atta boy keep play that race card........off course it has to be about race, it can not possibly be about the realities of being the President of 300,000,000 people and ultimately being responsible for their safety and the security of this country. It has to be about race......has to be.....
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Klarissa1 month, 3 weeks ago
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Goppy1 month, 3 weeks ago
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Hey Klarissa .. please reprimand pc25 ... he went off on some extraneous jag about ALINSKY ... queer eh?
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Then icono COMPLETELY diverted your story ... like the good ADHD person they are ... and went wild with what must be quotes from Karl Rove's playbook.
Or ... do you only castigate participants who you generally don't agree with?
LOL
No need to answer ... I get it ... y'all like to keep your "Rant-A-Thons" as ... members only!
LOL!
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sanyi_oradea1 month, 3 weeks ago
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The more history changes, the more it stays the same. The generals urged Andropov to send more troops, and he did, and the results are obvious today.
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McCain is an idiot, Obama may just be now is waking up.... He is lucky, there is a historic precedence, which did not exist in the Vietnam war for example. One can not fight unconventional wars of the "partisan" type, with regular armies. The Germans learned it in Yugoslavia and Poland, the Americans in Vietnam, the Soviets in Afghanistan.
Please program your artificial intelligence top secret computers that "think for you" and gives you tactics and game theory, with the information I supplied here, and it will tell you... run with your tail between your legs!!!!! -
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Tumultuous1 month, 3 weeks ago
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Obama has been under intense pressure from flag-waving Republicans, much of the media, and the hawkish national security establishment to expand the war, even though there are as few as 100 al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Israel's supporters, including many Congressional Democrats, and all Republicans want to see the U.S. seize Pakistan's nuclear arms and expand the Afghan war into Iran.
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Originally, al-Qaida only numbered 300 members in Afghanistan. Most have been killed. A handful escaped to Pakistan. Only a few remain in Afghanistan. Yet President Barack Obama believes 68,000 or more U.S. troops must stay in Afghanistan to fight al-Qaida and prevent extremists from re-acquiring "terrorist training camps."
Obama should withdraw western forces, and hand over security to a multi-national stabilization force. America should reconsider embracing peace, and abandoning our nation building practice.
The Congressional Research Service estimates that the Afghan war was running $2.6 billion a month in Pentagon expenses alone even before Obama added 21,000 troops this year. As of January 7, 2009, Congress has approved $864 billion for the overseas wars and other programs related to the battle against terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001.
Our American tax dollars at work, with only dead troops to show for it. -
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Klarissa1 month, 3 weeks ago
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This is for goppy:
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How did he get people on his side? He did it by promising jobs to the jobless, money to the money-less, and rewards for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, Europe, and across the world.
He did it with a compliant media - did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and ....... change. And the people surely got what they voted for."
Goppy we will all have change - pocket change.
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