The Obama Administration offers a pleasant surprise!

[therealUT]

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates said the U.S. risked failure if it did not set more limited objectives. Rather than the pursuit of democracy, Gates said the primary mission should be ensuring that Afghanistan did not again become a haven for Al Qaeda.

Afghan war is now top priority, Defense Secretary Gates says - Los Angeles Times

The strategy now should be to define "more concrete goals that can be achieved realistically within three to five years in terms of re-establishing control in certain areas, providing security for the population, going after Al Qaeda, preventing the reestablishment of terrorism, better performance in terms of delivery of services to the people, some very concrete things."

Gates sets modest Afghanistan goals - International Herald Tribune

I am feeling a "Linebacker II" vibe from this announcement. I am going to go out on a limb and say that the surge in Afghanistan will be used as a year long punitive measure against AQ and Taliban fighters, then we spend the next year fortifying three or four cities and withdrawal.

It is about time we leave Afghanistan.

 

[WA_Vol]

The problem is politicians overspending and not being voted out of office for it. For example, Bush and Congress have nearly doubled the national debt in the last 8 years, yet many of those congressmen are still in office.

 

[therealUT]

I am feeling a "Linebacker II" vibe from this announcement. I am going to go out on a limb and say that the surge in Afghanistan will be used as a year long punitive measure against AQ and Taliban fighters, then we spend the next year fortifying three or four cities and withdrawal.

It is about time we leave Afghanistan.

The problem is politicians overspending and not being voted out of office for it. For example, Bush and Congress have nearly doubled the national debt in the last 8 years, yet many of those congressmen are still in office.

Is there such a thing as "thread crashing"? I am completely confused as to what exactly you were referring to.

 

[allvol123]

War is sooooooooooo last administration.

 

[gsvol]

So we prosecute a war in Afghanistan, a country that has Sharia law as it's official legal code, no different than the Taliban we are fighting against and have a POTUS who avidly and openly supported a presidential candidate in Kenya, a man who is supported by a core group of insurgents who describe themselves as the Taliban????

Tell me again how I am pleasantly surprised.

Can you spell 'mobious loop?'

 

[Cartervol]

They still have to have a excuse for where all that money is going. Afghanistan will do.

 

[therealUT]

So we prosecute a war in Afghanistan, a country that has Sharia law as it's official legal code, no different than the Taliban we are fighting against and have a POTUS who avidly and openly supported a presidential candidate in Kenya, a man who is supported by a core group of insurgents who describe themselves as the Taliban????'

I am not exactly sure what this rambling is in response to.

You should be pleasantly surprised that it looks as though we are finally going to be leaving Afghanistan.

 

[joevol320]

The problem is politicians overspending and not being voted out of office for it. For example, Bush and Congress have nearly doubled the national debt in the last 8 years, yet many of those congressmen are still in office.

just wait, your boy will double it again in 2 years.

 

[GASOUTHERNVOL]

The problem is politicians overspending and not being voted out of office for it. For example, Bush and Congress have nearly doubled the national debt in the last 8 years, yet many of those congressmen are still in office.

since we are discussing the military strategy in afghanistan, one of the reasons for the increase in military spending is the fact that clinton cut the military budget, (i guess to get rid of that reoccuring itch he had)

 

[gsvol]

I am not exactly sure what this rambling is in response to.

You should be pleasantly surprised that it looks as though we are finally going to be leaving Afghanistan.

We are finally leaving Afghanistan when????

For that matter when will we be leaving Kosovo??

You are just talking in circles.

It's going to get worse before it gets better in Afganistan??

It's going to get worse for the American economy before it gets better??

Words are cheap. I'll be pleasantly surprised when something actually happens, so far all I've seen from Obama is a new regime that looks to be even more corrupt than anything we have experienced before.

On domestic issues he sounds like Bill Clinton.

On foreign policy issues he sounds like Jimmy Carter.

 

[therealUT]

I very much hope that my feeling is right on this and that all US troops will be out of Afghanistan in 3 to 5 years, time.

ABC News' Luis Martinez reports: ABC News has learned that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has deferred a much-anticipated decision on sending additional troops into Afghanistan until President Obama decides what force levels he wants.
The news comes after an anticipated Pentagon proposal to send three additional combat brigades to Afghanistan -- or 17,000 troops, as reported by ABC News last week -- was presented to Gates for his approval this afternoon.

Political Radar: Exclusive: Gates Delays Troop Decision

 

[gsvol]

I very much hope that my feeling is right on this and that all US troops will be out of Afghanistan in 3 to 5 years, time.

Isn't that what Trueman said about Korea????

Clinton said we would be out of the Balkans within a year!!!

Until this thread I've never thought you to be so naive.

Author William Dorich states that "The Serbs lost 52% of their adult male population fighting in the First World War as American allies. Twenty-four years later the Serbs were the only people in the Balkans to declare war on Nazi Germany. Hitler bombed the 'open city' of Belgrade on Palm Sunday in 1942, killing 17,000 Serbs in one day. Surrender followed ten days later as the Nazis invaded. The Serbs lost another one-third of their population in the Holocaust again fighting as American allies, especially against their own Croat, Bosnian Muslim and Albanian Nazis."

Canadian General Lewis MacKenzie; "We bombed the wrong side."

“So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”
Sun Tzu