[b4its2late]

I see Quagmire in the future..... and not the one from Family Guy....

[Nachum]

The list, ping

[Spok]

“U.S. troops are expected to start leaving the region ‘well before’ the end of Obama’s first term, the AP reported Tuesday.”

Looks like the MSM is conceding that it’s all about politics and the ‘bama not wanting to be a one termer. Very revealing.

[happilymarriedmom]

I get the feeling that every decision Obama makes is based on whether it will help him get relected or not. Maybe that is normal for a 1st term president but either way, I don't feel comfortable with anything he's doing just for that reason.

[McGruff]

U.S. troops are expected to start leaving the region ‘well before’ the end of Obama’s first term

sounds like

President Clinton said U.S. troops would be out of Yugoslavia by Christmas 1999

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

A senior government official told NBC contributor Col. Jack Jacobs that the president believes that a transition from American-led combat to Afghan leadership of the effort will begin in July 2011.

Obama's about to find out that the fortunes of war do not neatly comply with political timelines.

[Perdogg]

ping

[Deo volente]

Great. Tell your enemy when you’re leaving, so he can just lie low and wait it out.

Now THAT’s some military strategy for you!

/sarc

[G8 Diplomat]

There goes Afghanistan

[savedbygrace]

This is a political decision based almost entirely on political calculations. There is very little military calculation in it at all.

[rockinqsranch]

Obama has given me ulcers.

I’m sick of the SOB.

[anglian]

These people will take a principled stand when they know they are not alone. “They are as scared of us leaving as we are,” said an American officer. Afghan officials fear talk of exit strategy
19 hours ago

KABUL -Afghan officials hope President Barack Obama’s address on Afghanistan won’t be weighted too heavily on an exit strategy even though that’s the message many Americans and Democrats in Congress...
Afghan officials worry that political pressure in the United States might encourage Obama to pull out before the Taliban have been seriously weakened.
Much of the relative success of the Iraq surge was that it changed perceptions — convincing both insurgents and government leaders alike that the U.S. would stay as long as it took to achieve its goals. That emboldened many Iraqi Sunnis to break with al-Qaida — a move that was a turning point in the war.
http://news.aol.com/article/afghan-officials-fear-talk-of-exit/791156

[cll]

He wants to repeat this scene in Kabul:

[Wyatt's Torch]

Administration Outlines Afghan War Surrender Endgame

Fixed...

[Mariner]

If this is Obama's plan, we should pull out now.

He is not committed to winning the mission...so no further US lives should be lost.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

NYT Headline: More Troops To Afghanistan — Bush’s Fault

[historyrepeatz]

So if the Presidential election were in 2014 instead of 2012, we’d stay in Afghanistan until 2013, and Obamacare wouldn’t take effect until 2015. The Dems are a bunch of self-interested POS’s.

[don-o]

Stunning? Not in the least. Breaking? Been out there for a couple days. Is there anything new buried on page 2?

[LibWhacker]

Head fake, then cut and run. What a grand war plan.

[americanophile]

I'm going to wait to see what his majesty says this evening before I jump to any conclusions, but there's sure a lot of 'compromise' and 'exit strategy' smoke coming from Obama's campfire; one that should be signaling a commitment to victory.

...metaphorically speaking.