Posted on 03/12/2012 7:05:49 PM PDT by Olog-hai
President Barack Obama said on Monday the massacre of 16 villagers by a U.S. soldier raises his determination to get American troops out of Afghanistan, while a U.S. official said the accused staff sergeant previously had suffered traumatic brain injury.
Sunday's shootings triggered angry calls from Afghans for an immediate American exit. Obama said there should not be a "rush to the exits" for U.S. forces who have been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001 and that the drawdown must be carried out in a responsible way.
The accused U.S. Army staff sergeant walked off his base in the southern province of Kandahar in the middle of night and gunned down at least 16 villagers, mostly women and children.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the death penalty could be sought in the U.S. military justice system against the soldier, whose name has not been publicly disclosed.
Referring to Sunday's massacre, Obama said in an interview with KDKA, a CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh: "It makes me more determined to make sure we're getting our troops home."
"It's time. It's been a decade, and, frankly, now that we've gotten (Osama) bin Laden, now that we've weakened al Qaeda, we're in a stronger position to transition than we would have been two or three years ago," Obama added, referring to the al Qaeda leader killed by U.S. forces last year in Pakistan. …
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
..Which begs the question, “How does a U.S. Soldier just ‘walk off a base’? Isn’t there ingress/egress control, not just ingress control? WTF? Remember the soldier who also just walked off a base and got kidnapped? Someone ‘splain please..
An accident or semi-accident occurs (maybe the sarge responsible for the controversial killings had gone mad and nobody noticed) and whoops, this is a reason to back out of an effort that is at least slowing down terrorist nests?
Maybe nobody is expected to abandon the base?
He helped set up the condtions where soldiers weren’t able to protect themselves and felt like they were getting screwed over, so they were less likely to respect the command structure.
This is exactly what Obama wanted.
Why don't we know the name of the shooter? The above statement reads a lot like
Sunday's shootings triggered angry calls from gun control advocates demanding immediate legislative action.
I wouldn’t necessarily fault the military on this point. Somebody will always figure out how to by-pass any procedure at some point.
My professional opinion is that the Quran burning and this shooting were setup to help the Food Stamp President get the troops out. He is getting loads of grief from the far leftists and needs the money to buy more votes. Don’t be surprised if there are more incidents and a sudden change to accelerate the withdrawal.
Obama’s plan in Afghanistan is based on election polls, not events on the ground.
I distinctly remember Obama saying in his 2008 campaign that the war in Iraq was a complete mistake, but that we should pursue the war against Afghanistan, Al Qaeda’s haven, vigorously. Bush dumb, Obama smart.
But, that was then, and this is now.
Unfit for command. Clearly.
The Staff Sergeant did FOUR tours and suffered from traumatic brain injury! IF anyone should be court martialed or put on trail it is the doctors that sent this guy back over...knowing his condition!
I read somewhere (yes, on the Internet!) that he was assigned to a special project affiliated with the locals, and that’s how he was able to leave.
Our problems started when the military mission of crushing the Taliban with unconditional surrender quickly gave way to “spreading democracy” for the ungrateful Afghans that are rioting and killing because their Mein Koran was burned, they seem content with Sharia, and it makes no sense to continue a war our leaders won’t acknowledge with Islam and devoid of the will to be victorious.
Maybe this would be a good time to talk about how many American military people are committing suicide.
No urgency when US troops die. Feckless jackass.
I said the other day I thought that perhaps he had a friend in the locals killed honor style or some similar, then says Blank-it and went gonzo. Now I REALLY wonder if that’s not the case.
Whatever happened, the only thing I can say with total certainty is that we are being lied to about the whole thing.
I personally am all for pulling our people out of there. Not one of our people is worth a thousand of theirs in my opinion. We are wasting lives over there and accomplishing nothing. If they want to kill each other, then let them kill each other. We don't need to be dying right along with them.
“They” don’t “want to kill each other”; they want to kill Americans. The liberal politicians are holding the command back, never mind the soldiers. But you said as much . . . problem is, pulling out makes them think they’ve won, just like in the former French Indo-China (and I blame the UN for that one, the old dictators’ club).
RUN BARRY, RUN! It’s the Ghost of Osama!
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