Is Obama making a mistake by sending more troops to Afghanistan?

[kentuck]

Yes. It will just be more targets for the Taliban and will have little or no effect on the stabilization of the country.

OR...

No. We cannot leave at this time. We have to have some form of government in place. Americans troops are the only ones that can do the job. We have no other choice.

[vadawg]

1. id go with c as long as there are allied troops there, then it would be tough to leave

if you dont remove all the troops then they have to stay...

[Cleita]

2. Yes. I can't pretend to know the situation, but my gut tells me yes.n/t

[Mind_your_head]

3. Yes. It's a HUGE mistake. eom

[ixion]

4. Yes, he is

:(

[FrenchieCat]

5. I wasn't in on those sessions with the President,

so what I will say is that it really depends on how this is approached....
If he just is going to throw some more troups in there, then yes, it's probably a mistake, IMO.

If he is going to put some troops in there with a clear objective and an exit strategy,
then he may be on to something.

What I am against in Afghanistan is an unwinnable war without end....
however if objectives are clearly defined along with a clear timeline of getting out,
then I believe that he should be allowed to send the extra troops to perform that feat.

[Mind_your_head]

10. "throw some more troops in there"

....you say that like they are 'cabbage'....

a cheap vegetable.

[FrenchieCat]

22. If they are going in without a clear mission, and without an exit strategy,

that is in essence how they would be utilized.

If you are trying to consider me uncaring,
I think you have misread me.....
If you just wanted a little drama,
and wanted to shake your finger at me,
then go for it.

[HughMoran]

6. The President was handed a mistake

No matter what decision he makes, there are significant risks.

[cherokeeprogressive]

21. I'd say he could significantly DECREASE the risk of losing American lives by pulling out.

And I'd add that pulling American Troops out wouldn't increase the risk to Americans at home.

[timeforpeace]

7. I wasn't at the meetings either nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express but

I support the President in whatever decision he makes.

[kentuck]

9. You don't have to be at the meeting to have an opinion.

But I would be careful to agree with "whatever decision he makes" without question? That does not sound wise to me. Just my humble opinion.

[greennina]

8. New boss, same as the old boss.

Not completely, but when it comes to matters of what his corporate masters want, they're the same.

[unkachuck]

11. yes, a big mistake....

....he'll become LBJ the second....I know he's President/Commander in Chief and all but I'm sure he still remembers we're a Party of mostly anti-war-mongers, the country's broke in part because of an unpaid for trillion dollar war(s) and besides, the American people think the Afghan war is bogus, which it is....

....has he forgotten that one of the main reasons he's President and Hillary isn't is because of his little anti-war speech and her intransigent stand on her IWR vote?

....the military is playing Obama just like they played LBJ; 'we can't tell you how or what a win will look like Mr. President, but we'll assure you we'll lose if you don't give us what we want'....all this in setup/preparation for our next repug administration....

[Rosa Luxemburg]

12. Afghanistan is for the world to sort out not the US

and Pakistan too which has nuclear weapons.

[Mind_your_head]

13. Lame n/r

[Rosa Luxemburg]

24. not as lame as you think

[kentuck]

14. My solution would be to turn it into a humanitarian mission...

instead of a military mission.

I would leave some troops at a base near the center of the country, well-fortified and protected, but with a landing strip for transport planes, to bring food and supplies that could be distributed outward from that point. I would leave it to the government of Afghanistan to distribute the food to different areas of the country that were in most need. This would help our farmers and our economy moreso than more of the same.

[UnseenUndergrad]

18. Agree with you there...

but still, I felt that I had to unrec for the express purposes that:

A) the OP was unclear, and I felt it failed to define between a possible outcome and a definate decision

B) Quite simply, no linkage.


Sorry about that, but if UI could rec this comment, you'd get a +100 (anything bigger is just silly).

[Arctic Dave]

15. Yes.

Afgahnistan was fubar before we showed up, it's not our problem. Just because some douchebag and a couple of his buddies lived there for a while is a crazy reason to kill people.

[Subdivisions]

16. 'You can take that to the bank' ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LsSppYxSHk

[amandabeech]

17. If he does, we will all regret it.

It is a sink hole that brought down the Soviet Union.

The British Empire couldn't do anything in Afghanistan, and the Brits did colonialism better than anyone else.

It also looks more and more like Viet Nam. The locals aren't interested and are incredibly corrupt.

If we have to have a presence, just pay the locals to avoid Al Quaeda. Al Quaeda isn't local to begin with, so it's no skin off anyone's teeth.

[Golden Raisin]

19. Yes. And unimaginably

and scandalously large sums of tax-payer billions will get flushed down that blackhole too, along with the lives of our brave, young soldiers that will be prematurely snuffed out.

[notesdev]

20. Making a mistake by keeping any troops there at all

Eight years and we haven't gotten done kicking the asses we went there to kick? If we ain't done it by now, we'll never have it done. Can anyone even define the strategic goal anymore?

Afghanistan is a third world hell-hole that is legendary for being the death place of empires. The British, the Soviets, and now us. Can we at least learn a little bit from history?

There is nothing left there that justifies the death of a single additional soldier.

Solution: Declare victory and come home.

[TexasObserver]

23. Yes, he's making a big mistake, his biggest mistake so far.

He really hasn't learned anything about staying away from sinkholes.