If Ronald Reagan Could Cut and Run From Lebanon, President Obama Can Withdraw From Afghanistan

[David Zephyr]

If our former tough-talking, super-macho cowboy President Ronald Reagan could publicly reverse his own decision to put our troops into the Middle East after a single terrorist attack in 1982, then certainly President Barack Obama can reverse George W. Bush's idiotic decision to establish a military presence in Afghanistan and now bring our soldiers and Marines home.

Ronald Reagan, at the expense of his own carefully crafted image of being a leader of resolution and determination, backed down and changed his mind when it came to the lives of our troops. To use a term dear to Republicans, he "flip-flopped". And he did it in front of the entire world.

On August 23, 1982, President Ronald Reagan had boldly ordered the United States Marines into Lebanon. By September, the U.S had 1,200 and then up to 1,800 Marines stationed there. Ronald Reagan was showing former President Jimmy Carter, the man who "gave away the Panama Canal," just how a real Commander-in-Chief did things. Yes, siree! There was a man's man now in the White House.

That Ronald Reagan was something else. No pussy-footing around with him. He saw the entire world as a stage of good guys versus bad guys. And he was our white hatted cowboy, and no one, not even an "evil empire" could push him around, let alone any Middle Eastern terrorists.

But then on early on the morning of October 23, 1983, terrorists exploded two truck bombs at the barracks where our Marines were stationed in Beirut. Two hundred and forty-one American troops were killed with sixty more wounded.

Ronald Reagan's famous bluster was immediate. He avowed that the death of those troops would not alter his determination and that his administration would maintain our military presence there in Lebanon. His Vice President, George H. Bush, swore that he "would not be cowed by terrorists."

But, a just a little over 100 days later, on February 7, 1984, President Reagan sucked it all in and publicly reversed his own decision when he ordered the United States Marines to withdraw from Lebanon. And just nineteen days after Reagan's order, the U.S. was out of Lebanon. We were out of there.

Fast forward with me to 2009. Unlike Ronald Reagan, President Obama did not make the decision to put our troops onto foreign soil. George W. Bush did that. Our troops have been in Afghanistan for eight years now. Eight years!

And no one on earth can demonstrate anything tangible that we have actually achieved there, or why so many of our fellow Americans have died there, or even where our billions of dollars of precious tax dollars have even gone there. Hell, Bush never even found Osama bin Laden. Eight bloody years.

If Ronald Reagan, that no-pussyfooting cowboy could eat crow and publicly change his mind and correct his own stupid military mistake in just 100 days after the attack in Beirut, then certainly Barack Obama can correct George W. Bush's stupid military mistake and now bring our men and women home again to their wives, husbands, children and loved ones.

If Reagan could swallow his pride and reverse himself in Lebanon, then Obama can reverse Bush's folly in Afghanistan, the mission that never was accomplished.

President Obama, thank you for taking your time in your decision. I am grateful that you are "dithering" as Dick Cheney says. Thank you for not reacting in a knee-jerk manner to the recommendations of General McCrystal or those of the NSC. And thank you for not being baited deeper into that quagmire by the likes of John McCain into rushing into something that he then will later taunt you as "Obama's War".

President Obama, you've seen the families of our fallen soldiers and Marines. You clearly see that there is nothing good that can come of propping up a corrupt, brutal government under the leadership of Dick Cheney's puppet, Hamid Karzai. You are smart enough to know that Al-Qaeda is not just in Afghanistan, but Somalia and many other places on the globe and we are not invading those countries too.

President Obama, you once said that "Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America". When Reagan pulled out of Lebanon, that changed a trajectory of his own making.

President Obama, change our trajectory. Pull our troops out of Afghanistan. End Bush's War. End Karzai's theft of our tax dollars.

President Obama, be bold. Do the right thing. Now, while you still can. And before it is too late.

President Obama, please bring our troops home.

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. K&R

[Kansas Wyatt]

2. Obama is just attacking in another direction.

[Hippo_Tron]

3. Actually it's quite the opposite

Republicans can do things like that and get away with it because the Democrats have never manged to be able to successfully paint them as weak on defense. Reckless warmongers, sure, but weak on defense no way. Democrats, on the other hand are constantly painted as weak on defense and Democratic Presidents have been worried about this label pretty much back to Harry Truman.

Nixon and China is another example. A Democratic President would've been slammed by the opposition for going to China and meeting with Mao Zedong. But Nixon's anti-communist credentials were impeccable and thus he was able to do this without being accused of being soft on communism.

[David Zephyr]

6. And this is why the GOP is baiting, daring Obama to continue on in Afghanistan.

Your point, Hippo_Tron, is precisely why I wrote what I did.

You have it perfectly correct when you write: "Democrats, on the other hand are constantly painted as weak on defense and Democratic Presidents have been worried about this label."

This is why we see John McCain and his ilk, who know that Afghanistan is a quagmire, daring Obama to stick us deeper in that quagmire. They believe that, like you said, that Obama also is worried about looking weak and they sense they, along with these Generals, can bully Obama into their dare.

But regardless: it's better to look weak than to be stupid.

Thanks for your comments.

[Hippo_Tron]

8. I think the best option is to make a "graceful exit"

And frankly I think that's what Obama is trying to do. He's not stupid and he knows that he's finished if this turns into another Vietnam. I think the one legitimate security concern in the region is Pakistan and their nuclear arsenal. But I keeping our troops in Afghanistan probably isn't going to keep Pakistan stable.

[David Zephyr]

9. Let's all hope you are right, Hippo_Tron.

He is being sucked in deeper and deeper by all the wrong people.

In many ways, I think we've been so sidetracked by this health care debate and we are missing a far bigger picture: Afghanistan.

And I agree, being in Afghanistan will not keep Pakistan stable.

[izquierdista]

4. He didn't "reverse his decision"

He just forgot where he put those troops -- an early symptom of his Alzheimer's.

[Gold Metal Flake]

5. Ronald Reagan did not have the entire corporate media machine against him.

If Reagan were a Democrat, he would have been destroyed.

That said, we must get out of Afganistan. The only reason to remain is to serve the avaricious corporations.

[David Zephyr]

7. Obama will make the biggest mistake of his presidency if he escalates in Afghanistan.

It will define his presidency. I think he knows this better than anyone. I hope he can muster the will to do, what even Reagan knew he had to do. Get out.

[Igel]

10. Perhaps there was a reason.

Beyond just wanting to end US involvement in the multinational force.

The MNF seems to have been a peacekeeping force that had an expiration date. Israel had attacked and laid seige to Beirut in order to wipe out the PLO. The MNF went in to allow a withdrawal. It had the support of some Lebanese factions.

As a result, a few things happened. The PLO was evacuated. Without the US, Italian, and French involvement the PLO might well have seen its last days.

The US shelled Lebanon. This provided an anecdotal grievance for OBL to rant on about.

During the last few months of the MNF's mission a few things happened. The US Congress pushed Reagan to pull out. There were additional attacks and threatened attacks. The Lebanese government collapsed. And fighting began between Lebanese factions. So the US pulled out a few weeks before the deadline, and about the same time as the Italians and the French. Mostly because what they were there to do--keep the peace between the Lebanese/PLO and Israel--had been accomplished. Their mission wasn't to keep the peace between the various Lebanon-internal factions.

I'm not sure that keeping the Marines there for the additional two weeks or so would have accomplished much.

They pulled out and most people thought it was a good thing, on both right and left. The criticism had been that Reagan hadn't pulled out directly after the barracks attack but stayed until the mission was done.

Of course, there's much to be said for your idea that the Marines should have left immediately after the barracks attack. Then Israel could have wiped out the PLO and its central committee. Now, whether that would have let a less militant faction come to the fore before the Islamists developed deep roots or not, and whether or not a deal could have been struck as a result that would have led to peace in the area, I can't know. Moreover, perhaps the Israeli presence would have helped the Lebanese forge a united front, and the resulting negotiations for Israeli withdrawal before God's Party really got revved up could have led to a peace treaty there, as well. Probably not.

[David Zephyr]

11. Reagan's winking at Menachem Begin's invasion of Lebanon

is what set that all in motion.

Begin was relieved when Reagan was drawn in to clean up the mess.

Reagan left because of the attack on the Marines. That exit early in '84 was a "multi-national" face saving no different than Gerald Ford's leaving Viet Nam ten years earlier.

We were in a pickle and had to get out. Face saved or not.

When you are being run out of town by a mob, grab a banner and tell everyone you are actually leading a parade.

Reagan grabbed a flag and called the exit a parade of multi-national agreement.

Still, the bigger point is he had the good sense to get the fuck out, something Obama should do.