Eugene Robinson: Why Does the War Go On?

[marmar]

from truthdig:




Why Does the War Go On?

Posted on Jun 24, 2011
By Eugene Robinson


Some heard a declaration of victory, others an admission of defeat. The many contradictions in President Obama’s speech about Afghanistan Wednesday night were perhaps intended to obscure the bottom line: Tens of thousands of American troops will remain for at least three more years, some of them will be maimed or killed, and Obama offered no good reason why.

The only debate within the administration, it appears, was whether to bring home the troops far too slowly or not at all. Obama decided on the too-slowly option.

A year from now, we will have withdrawn the more than 30,000 “surge” troops Obama ordered into combat 18 months ago. But this means nearly 70,000 U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan—about double the number deployed there when Obama took office. A “process of transition,” in which Afghans take responsibility for the country’s security while Americans come home, is supposed to be complete in 2014. But it sounds as if some sort considerable deployment will remain in a “support” role.

In other words, there will be three more years of war followed by a long-term presence of unspecified magnitude. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_does_the_war_go_on_20110624/

[ixion]

1. "In other words, there will be three more years of war followed by..."

more war. We are a hostile occupying force in a land that does not want to be occupied (what land does?). The 'war' a.k.a Turkey Shoot will continue, unabated by Obama's speech.

[leftistboy]

2. ....

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Overseas]

4. K&R. I hope we can withdraw sooner.

Our President got Osama bin Laden. Let's leave now.

[gratuitous]

5. It's achieved sentience now

The war is self-justifying, self-perpetuating. It just is. Accept it as a fact of life, like you do the earth's rotation. For as sure as the sun rises in the east, the United States must be at war.

[KoKo]

9. quote: "Nor was there any indication that he had thought through the mellifluous passages.."

From Eugene:

"Nor was there any indication that he had thought through the mellifluous passages designed to put the war into a broader foreign policy context. We cannot “retreat from our responsibility” but also cannot be “overextended,” and therefore we must “chart a more centered course.” We must be “as pragmatic as we are passionate, as strategic as we are resolute.” If you have any idea what this means, please let me know.

Obama did say that when military intervention is called for, it should be international rather than unilateral. As an example, he cited Libya, where NATO is nominally in charge. He must have missed the speech by his outgoing defense secretary, Robert Gates, who warned that NATO is devolving into a toothless joke."

[Octafish]

6. There does seem to be a disconnect.

We vote for Gore. We get Bush.

We vote for Obama. We get, uh, war.

Not blaming Obama -- I'm blaming the national security state which does not answer to the voters or the President.

[izquierdista]

7. Defense contractors gotta make those sales targets!

What, we need another sector of the economy to shut its doors? :shrug:

[LiberalEsto]

8. Oil pipelines nt

[Javaman]

10. Mr. Robertson gets it.

we are never leaving.

[bemildred]

11. Oh, we WILL leave.

An everybody knows it too.

[Javaman]

12. Well, there is always that way...

which, I might add, given the current level of governmental justification for our continual involvement over there, is probably the only way we will leave.

However, I think our leaving will be more on a scale of how the Soviets left.

It will be even less pretty than our leaving of Viet Nam.

[bemildred]

13. Yeah, you'd think they would want to avoid that, but instead the knee-jerk stalling continues.

Thus ensuring that when it does happen, it will be ugly. Not that it is not already ugly.

[classysassy]

14. One word

Money.