Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Barack Obama: Redeploy troops to Afghanistan from Iraq(For "Over the Next Eight to Ten Years")
Telegraph ^ | July 21, 2008 | Alex Spillius in Washington and Damien McElroy in Baghdad

Posted on 07/20/2008 2:43:56 PM PDT by Red Steel

Senator Barack Obama has demanded plans be drawn up immediately for US troops to be redeployed from Iraq to Afghanistan.

Visiting Kabul on the first stop of his first major overseas trip since winning the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, Mr Obama described conditions in Afghanistan as "precarious and urgent".

"I think the situation is getting urgent enough that we have to start doing something now," he told CBS television. "We can't wait for a new administration otherwise it will be a year before new troops arrive."

Mr Obama, who is also due to visit Iraq during his eight-day tour, sought to seize the initiative on foreign policy from his Republican rival Senator John McCain, a Vetnam War veteran. Mr Obama met American troops and held talks with President Hamid Karzai, key elements of his trip to two war zones that is intended to convince doubters at home that despite his inexperience he is a plausible future commander-in-chief.

-snip-

Mr Obama has placed defeating the Taliban and al-Qaeda at the centre of his foreign policy. But in an unfortunate reminder of the worsening violence in Afghanistan, Nato admitted yesterday that its forces accidentally killed at least four civilians in the country's east, while coalition troops mistakenly called in air strikes against Afghan police, killing nine.

Mr Obama did little to disappoint critics who accuse him of arrogance. He said the objective of the trip was to "hold substantive discussions" with national leaders "who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to ten years".

He added: "It's important for me to have a relationship with them early."

After Afghanistan and Iraq, Mr Obama will visit Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and finally Britain in a grand tour that is attracting unprecedented scrutiny for

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; clown; foreignpolicy; gaffe; obama; obamasbigadventure; obamavisit; wot
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-104 next last

1 posted on 07/20/2008 2:43:56 PM PDT by Red Steel
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Red Steel

But aren’t the troops overstretched and need to come home? That’s what he has said before.


2 posted on 07/20/2008 2:45:58 PM PDT by ilgipper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Steel

Please tell me this is satire.


3 posted on 07/20/2008 2:46:20 PM PDT by Wiseghy ("You want to break this army? Then break your word to it.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Steel
Senator Barack Obama has demanded plans be drawn up immediately

Er, and exactly how does Mr. Obama think he has the authority to "demand" anything?

Hey, BO -- you're still just a "presumptive" nominee -- and getting less "presumptive" every day, it seems.

4 posted on 07/20/2008 2:48:24 PM PDT by JennysCool
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Steel
I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to ten years

Like the impeached ex-President, he is already planning how much money he will make lobbying and giving speeches after he is out of office.

5 posted on 07/20/2008 2:51:29 PM PDT by Libertarianize the GOP (Make all taxes truly voluntary)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Steel

Two thoughts:

1) There is no more obnoxious zealot than a reformed sinner.

2) How convenient.


6 posted on 07/20/2008 2:52:25 PM PDT by surely_you_jest ( Obamarrhoids are a pain in the ass . . . .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Steel; All

Can you imagine if McCain had said this???


7 posted on 07/20/2008 2:52:51 PM PDT by KevinDavis (Barak Obama: The Candidate of Clarification)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Steel

I can’t believe BO used the word “vigor” to describe how we needed to pursue the war in Afghanistan. Sorry BO, the correct pronunciation of the word is “vigah.” That’s they way JFK used to say it. If you’re going to be “historical,” at least get the pronunciation right.


8 posted on 07/20/2008 2:53:52 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (The U.S. Constitution was not written to protect those who want to destroy America.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

McCain = bad...Obama = very, very good. Much better.


9 posted on 07/20/2008 2:54:05 PM PDT by gathersnomoss (General George Patton had it right.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: JennysCool

8-10 years? He assumes he will have two terms, wants to start the first one early and is already figuring our how he’ll stay past the end of the second one?

“It is important TO ME that I get to know them early”???? Do they feel the same urgency in getting to know him? How many of *them* will still be in charge or have the same priorities in 6 months and how many will be where they are for the assumed 8-10 years?

He hasn’t already had his national security people draw up plans? Just whom is he demanding do this, immediately?

I’d say he is dangerously delusional and should be nowhere near the Oval Office, let alone the Red Phone.


10 posted on 07/20/2008 2:54:16 PM PDT by reformedliberal (Capitalism is what happens when governments get out of the way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Red Steel
"I think the situation is getting urgent enough that we have to start doing something now," he told CBS television. "We can't wait for a new administration otherwise it will be a year before new troops arrive."

Are the nominees (presumptive and presumptuous) getting briefings designed to help them from stepping in it too big time so that Obama would be aware of our plans to beef up our forces in Afghanistan? If so, is this him positioning himself when troop deployments are announced to make yet another statement that the Bush Administration is moving in his direction?

They are desperate to make it look like this guy knows what he is doing, which he clearly doesn't. But with 300 foreign policy advisors in his stable, maybe he isn't the only one who is basically clueless and wants to run policy based on ideology (and on whoever is bribing them), and not the realities of our world or the threats we face.

11 posted on 07/20/2008 2:54:32 PM PDT by Bahbah (Typical white person-Snow white)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Steel

So he plans on changing the Constitution to allow him to serve an additional 2 years if he gets elected?


12 posted on 07/20/2008 2:54:43 PM PDT by tobyhill (The media lies so much the truth is the exception)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Steel

13 posted on 07/20/2008 2:54:44 PM PDT by BenLurkin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ilgipper

The shortest route by which to move US forces deployed in Iraq to Afghanistan is - through Iran.

It would be a bloody fight, but one in which the relative merits of the army of the Islamic Republic of Iran would come face to face with the most technologically advanced military machines history has ever known.

There is no such thing as a “surgical strike”, there shall always be collateral damage. The good thing would be, almost all the collateral damage would be on THEIR territory, one of the better strategies for fighting any battle.

The other strategy is to win, quicker the better.

And who knows, the bulk of the Iranians may even welcome the liberation. But that is not the objective. Gaining swift transit from Iraq to Afghanistan was the original goal, and mission creep should be suppressed to the degree possible.


14 posted on 07/20/2008 2:56:26 PM PDT by alloysteel (Are Democrats truly "better angels"? They are lousy stewards for America.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: tobyhill; All

To people like Barak, the Constitution means nothing to them.. Why do I have a feeling that if elected Barak would do something to “suspend” the Constitution???


15 posted on 07/20/2008 2:57:11 PM PDT by KevinDavis (Barak Obama: The Candidate of Clarification)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Red Steel
Obama's just showing his appreciation for Orwellian math.

2 + 2 = 5
thus
4 + 4 = 10.

16 posted on 07/20/2008 2:59:22 PM PDT by TheWasteLand
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tobyhill

Sounds like he plans to become a dictator. 10 years? Why not just go ahead and say “for the rest of my life?”


17 posted on 07/20/2008 3:00:45 PM PDT by bamagirl1944 (That's short for Alabama, not Obama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

Woodrow Wilson mixed with Jimmy Carter?


18 posted on 07/20/2008 3:01:08 PM PDT by airedale ( XZ)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: airedale; All

I would say a combination of Jimmy Carter, LBJ, Woodrow Wilson, FDR and other failed rat Presidents with the exception of JFK..


19 posted on 07/20/2008 3:04:03 PM PDT by KevinDavis (Barak Obama: The Candidate of Clarification)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Wiseghy
Please tell me this is satire

Nope.

20 posted on 07/20/2008 3:09:58 PM PDT by Red Steel
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-104 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson