Posted on 11/01/2009 7:20:58 PM PST by kristinn
The Obama administration is considering an almost complete surrender in Afghanistan, if the report this weekend by the BBC's Katty Kay is accurate.
Speaking as a panelist on the Chris Matthews Show, a weekend public affairs broadcast, Kay reported on the internal debate at the White House, "There are real questions being asked, I think, about whether even with a big injection of troops this is a real country, a real war that you can win.
"And there's a new phrase which is floating around the White House which is 'minimum security'. That we're not actually aiming for a country which is stable that we are in control of, but we are aiming for a minimum amount of security and perhaps even a negotiated settlement with the Taliban."
This would tie in with reports that Obama has concluded the U.S. cannot beat the Taliban and that he has requested new studies this week, one of each province to determine which ones may be ceded to the Taliban and another for troop levels other than those requested by Gen. McChrystal over two months ago.
Kay's remarks start at the 19:10 minute in the backward clock on the video. She describes three different views on the situation in Afghanistan that have been presented to Obama: The military needs a large injection of troops to perform the current strategy; even with more troops Afghanistan will never be winnable; and "'we have no choice but to win this war' and that is what President Obama said back in March."
Obama has delayed making his decision such that it most likely will not be announced until the end of November, three months into the twelve month window left to win the war Gen. McChrystal stated in August.
Troop casualties in Afghanistan have skyrocketed in the past three months with over 1000 being wounded, and a reported 58 service members killed this past month making it the deadlist month of the eight-year long war.
On Friday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs bragged Obama has spent almost twenty hours in meetings on Afghanistan since August.
They should. It should be made very clear that this disgraceful act is his own doing.
SUING for Peace???? OMG!! What a Child he is.....what a DANGEROUS CHILD.
The only question that 0bama is asking himself is:
“How can I vote ‘present’?”
And didn't he, with a slip of the tongue, state he was muslim and didn't even realize it - and had to be corrected? (When was the last time you ‘mistakingly’ named your faith?)
I’m with you on this. What do we win if we “win?” And HOW can we win with the new rules of engagement.
I’m also a hawk. But I question why we haven’t shut down the poppy trade—which funds and arms the Taliban.
I don’t think there is any doubt that he’s planning on pulling out. If he can broker a settlement with the Taliban of course he will, and leave the country more splintered that before. Essentially it will be Pakistan’s problem. Any aftermath will occur so far down the road it won’t matter to him.
The short term effect will be positive as American’s don’t want us to be in there half-@ssed.
This president cannot stomach war. He doesn’t accept it as his war, but the one he inherited.
Problem is, DON’T YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN BROKER A BETTER SETTLEMENT WITH 40,000 MORE TROOPS THERE THAN WITHOUT THEM?
In fact, why not put 60,000 in there, and broker a full settlement. Pound them into submission and then settle for peace.
This guy will always have it backwards. Naive, inexperienced, and cowardly. I doubt if he was ever in a street fight of any kind.
Can't do that. It might lead to victory.
You post “islam will (attempt to) dominate the world - and I believe 0 is a willing accomplice to this end.
Remember, he can recite the islamic something-rather in perfect Arabic, and he believes the muslim call to prayer is the sweetest sound on Earth at sunrise.”
then there is this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OHyf9QbzC4
So in 2006, he tears the Christian faith and ridicules the Bible - In 2008, he slips and says “my Muslim faith”
He can recite the Muslim call to evening prayer in perfect ARabic and says it the most beautiful sound on earth -
Where is the NOLW gang since they suppose to care about womans rights??
Perhaps we haven’t shut down the poppy trade because that is one of the only forms of income for “friendly” Afghans. This is a country with no industry and no real products. If we burned all the poppies, ALL the Afghans would turn against us.
“More importantly, ineligible for it as well. “
He’s a pustule!
If there’s one bit of comfort we can take in this, it’s that Obama and the rats are killing any chance of military support if they really do try and start a marxist dicatatorship.
When such a time comes, dear leader’s decrees and edicts won’t mean a thing if he can’t enforce them, and I doubt his so called “civilian national security force” is going to be anything better than a bunch of corrupt thugs.
Looks about right.
..... IMO, there is a very simple explanation for this. Our people in Afghanistan believe that they are involved in a war. However, the current leadership in Washington view it only in terms of its influence on the present domestic political situation.
Someone posted 0bama’s Aug 2008 campaign rhetoric about the supposedly urgent importance of Afghanistan to American national security. It makes for sadly hypocritical reading nine months later.
I do believe these are fully legitimate questions worthy of discussion. This is true no matter who our President is when we go to war.
What has unfortunately happened is the politicization of the war. Bam (and for a long time the Demos) ran against Bush, against his decision to go to Iraq, often saying that we were fighting the wrong war. The message was that Osammy was in Afghanistan, why are we in Iraq.
Bam has followed up with that theme as a matter of policy and publicly. However, Presidents are allowed to change their mind, new info becomes available, new realities, etc. Not sure this is what has transpired here.
The problem is that the Demos have politicized the war, much like they have done since the 1960s. This has served them well politically as Americans do not like war, especially wars that take a long time to resolve. The Repubs have responded with their own politicization of the war, but usually not at the risk of the nation's security and far less vocally.
So Bam is seriously considering continuing down this path: make an expedient, short term decision based upon the polls. His base is not happy with him and Indies are very skeptical. So he will pander to his base, the anti-war, far left and we will pull out. A disaster will ensue of course, but the media will conveniently forget to mention Bam’s name when this occurs.
schu
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