The Political Left And The "Good" War [View All]

[RBInMaine]

I am a lifelong and active Democrat. I do not like war at all, and I was firmly against the reckless Iraq invasion from the beginning. But I, like most liberals, saw that the Afghanistan incursion was justified given that we had been attacked by terrorists with Taliban-backed safe haven there and resources from that country. I and most on the left/center-left saw Afghanistan as the real center of the needed effort to thwart international terrorism from that region in a multi-national way. When Bush went into Iraq, for years those on the left/center-left used as a centerpiece of the argument against Iraq that we needed to finish the so called "good" war, the "justified" war, in Afghanistan and that Iraq was a huge, costly, and irresponsible diversion from that justified action. In his campaign, Obama said he would wind down Iraq and finish Afghanistan. Indeed, he said he would surge troops there to do so. So what is the big surprise now?
He INHERITED this problem, and he is simply doing EXACTLY what he said he would in the campaign.
He is getting MORE NATO help, implementing a new strategy, and will have an exit plan. Much as we don't like and don't want war, we DO need to get the Afghanis to a place where they have a chance to govern themselves and protect themselves. The Taliban and Al Quaeda can not be allowed to re-occupy that nation if it can be helped. We DO also need a clear and firm EXIT STRATEGY by about 2013 at most, and then they have to be pretty much on their own with some residual NATO assistance. Iraq IS being wound down, and we will see many more Iraq troops out over 2010, also just as Obama said he would do. Again, I wish the war could end tomorrow. But allowing the Taliban and Al Quaeda to
re-take that nation or large chunks of it is unacceptable, and now that we are there we do need to finish the mission as best we can WITH NATO's help. It is complicated and very tough, but we do need to try to finish the "justified" mission that has been stalled for so long mainly due to BUSH and HIS reckless and needless invasion of Iraq. BUSH made this mess, and Obama is merely doing what he said he would in his campaign to clean it up. He deserves time, and he deserves a chance to do what he CLEARLY and REPEATEDLY said he would do in the campaign.