Reply #39: No, really. [View All]

[TicketyBoo]

He was talking about Iraq only in that clip, and he said that Iraq was a distraction from the necessary was in Afghanistan. During the campaign, he did state his determination to continue and escalate the war in Afghanistan.

However, this is not the same war that existed during the campaign. We now have al-Qaeda mostly across the border in Pakistan. They are, for the most part, gone from Afghanistan; very few remain there. Also, we now have an illegitimate government there which was installed after a fraudulent election. This, too, has changed during this iterim.

All President Obama has to do is step up to the podium and say, "This is not the same war we were waging a year ago. Our troops are not accomplishing much of anything except getting themselves blown up. Current circumstances in Afghanistan require that we withdraw, at least for the time being."

Never mind what the Republicans say. A huge majority of the American people would be behind this, especially if he explained it properly.

When LBJ pushed heavily into Vietnam, he was facing an election that very year and worries that the Republicans would paint him as "soft on Communism." This President does not have those time constraints as far as his own election is concerned. He has the time to prove his leadership, and standing down at this point in time is the prudent thing to do. Cheney has already tried to paint Obama as "soft on terrorism." That isn't going to stick, in my opinion.

Getting pushed into another war because of political concerns certainly smacks of Vietnam, come back to haunt us once again. I don't think the American people will turn on this President nearly as hard for bringing our troops home as they will if this turns into another Vietnam, which it certainly has the potential to do.