Obama: Time has come to wind down Afghan war

Sun Herald ^ | 3-6-12 | BEN FELLER

[SJackson]

WASHINGTON -- Amid fresh concerns over the safety of American forces, President Barack Obama on Tuesday said the accidental burning of Qurans in Afghanistan and the retaliatory killings of U.S. troops gave new credence to the need to end the war. "I think that it is an indication of the challenges in that environment, and it's an indication that now is the time for us to transition," Obama said during a White House news conference. Obama announced no speeding up of the NATO-backed plan to end combat missions in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, saying "that continues to be the plan." But he said the violence aimed at Americans in Afghanistan that followed the accidental burning of Qurans on a U.S. base was "unacceptable."

Six Americans were killed in retaliatory violence. Obama offered his apologies to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a move that was roundly criticized by his Republican presidential rivals as weak and unnecessary. From Congress, Obama was getting tugged from another direction. A letter calling for Obama to accelerate the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan had the backing of 23 senators, mostly Democrats but including two conservative Republicans, Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who circulated the letter with Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said in a statement that there "something fundamentally wrong with spending $88 billion for national building in Afghanistan while we're asking Americans to make tough cuts here at home."

[FlyingEagle]

Declare victory and leave on the next plane. Cruise missile for any back talk from Karzai.

[himno hero]

Don’t worry.

He is consistent.

Out with the crusaders... power to the people of Islam!

HE is not about the principles and processes which made America, rther, about how to empower islam and dhiminish the US of A.