Posted on 01/21/2015 10:32:44 AM PST by Citizen Zed
Under the original plan, this was to be the State of the Union address in which President Obama would be able to go before the nation and declare that he had fulfilled his vow to end two overseas wars. Only the wars did not exactly cooperate.
Mr. Obama pulled American troops out of Iraq in 2011 and ordered all combat forces out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. But before he could seize the mantle of peacemaker in Tuesday nights speech, the rise of a terrorist group called the Islamic State prompted Mr. Obama to send forces back to Iraq, and security challenges in Afghanistan led him to leave a slightly larger residual force.
The total American military commitment overseas has shrunk significantly since Mr. Obama took office, with just 15,000 troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, down from 180,000 six years ago. The situation in both countries, however, is not as clean or as settled as the president had hoped. Instead of ending American wars abroad, he now faces the prospect of finishing his presidency in two years with at least one of them still unresolved.
Even so, Mr. Obama asserted on Tuesday night that his more restrained approach was the wiser course. The question is not whether America leads in the world, but how, he said. When we make rash decisions, reacting to the headlines instead of using our heads, when the first response to a challenge is to send in our military, then we risk getting drawn into unnecessary conflicts.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.nytimes.com ...
His brain trust (2 heads are better than one, right?):
“When he says “our heads”, who is he talking about?”
The heads that will be lopped off by the ISIS terrorists.
Oh, dear, oh, dear. The New York Times blames ISIS, not for cruelly murdering thousands of innocent victims, but for spoiling Obama’s planned victory speech.
Now, where have I heard that before? Oh, yes, Iran spoiled one of his earlier SOTU speeches. And then there was Egypt, too, which threw out the precious Muslim Brotherhood.
Those Muzzies are so inconsiderate, after everything Obama has done for them.
Every day I hear from fellow american’s that they don’t care about what is going on in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria. They say just let them kill one another and let’s stay out of it.
Well, well. Very little good news about Obama in this NYT article.
You can almost hear the NYT writers crying as they wrote this. The Lightbringer, the Dear Leader, was supposed to heal the nation and lead us to live in peace and harmony with the rest of the world. Evil Bush had been defeated. But, dear boy, those damned events keep getting in the way.
America uses the bottom door. Obama has a special ladder for him to use the top one.
You can only end a war if both sides quit fighting. You can only have peace if both sides want peace. He has unilaterally declared ‘we give up’. Nothing more.
He could have eliminated “IS.” But he didn’t want to.
He’ll keep the Nobel though, thank you very much.
Agree, the NYT language is so wussie, one would think they were writing about a garden party spoiled by rain.
Meanwhile, over at Forbes, the language is stronger:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2015/01/21/obama-has-no-heart-for-the-war-on-terrorism/
How many governments has he overthrown or abandoned now?
Egypt - Overthrone, Retaken from Muslim Brotherhood by Egyptians.
Libya - Overthrone, now Terrorist homeland.
Syria - Arming terrorist in overthrow effort.
Iraq - Abandoned, On their own.
Afghanistan - Abandoned, On their own.
Ukraine - Hiding & Watching Russian take-over.
Yemen - Iranian friends stage coup
---------------------------------
Iran -- Nuclear Weapons program on track
Israel -- Most hostile US President ever
ISIS -- Not Interested, plays golf
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