Obama: Afghanistan War Is "Fundamental"

Source: CBS NEWS

August 17, 2009 2:16 PM
Obama: Afghanistan War Is "Fundamental"

The war in Afghanistan is "fundamental to the defense of our people," President Obama said Monday, addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars conference in Phoenix, Ariz. -- but the fight will not be easy.

"The insurgency in Afghanistan didn’t just happen overnight. And we won’t defeat it overnight," the president said. "But we must never forget. This is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9-11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans."

The president said he is increasing financial support for both the military and veterans, but that waste will need to be rooted out of the system. He announced a new competition, challenging all 57 regional Veterans Affairs offices to come up with the most efficient ways to harness information technologies and breakthrough the bureaucracy.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/17/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5247265.shtml

It is unwinnable and will be endless. Get our bases out of Iraq and Saudi Arabia then they will leave us alone.

was another of Al Queda's rationales. As long as westerners visit or do business in Muslim countries, they'll have an excuse for terror. BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT RATIONAL ACTORS.

Should we also cry Mommy Mommy as we turn tail and run?

God I think the only thing worse than the Blue Dog Democrats are Yellow Belly Democrats.

who are almost as bad as the chickenhawk warmongering repubs.

But too late to rescue this one.

You run up to the 80th floor and sing kumbayah to the planes. Let us know how that works out. If we did not properly take care of these things. There would be a whole lot more mean and nasty things in your face interrupting your naive lil peace, love and understand fantasy. We're not there YET. Until we get there we're gonna have to kick butt every once in a while. So they'll keep on fighting so you can keep on dreaming. Because there is nothing worse than waking a dreamer. But on 9/11 we got woke up. Not all of us are ready to back to sleep and resume dreaming yet.

In eight years what have we accomplished besides enriching the MIC? Squat!

So someone tell me again how we're going to "finish the job" outside of actual genocide.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

NT!

They wanna kill us. Well good for them! If they wanna play. We'll play. But were gonna play our game our way. It's really that simple. Pure child's play.

Whole different ball game.

I would not mind if indeed it was for National Defense. If we were fighting a real army with uniformed soldiers, but we are not. We are asking our soldiers to do police duty and more civilians are dying than any real terrorists. When you are a hammer all problems resemble a nail..

2,350 Americans were killed. On 9/11 3,066 American we're killed. Why shouldn't we go to war with them?

We should get our priorities in order. Are you excusing the USA killing civilians in a much higher ratio than we are killing terrorists. I somehow don't find that acceptable.

No government, no war. Becomes a crime scene, find and prosecute those responsible.

They were hired by the Taliban who was the defacto government of Afghanistan to help with internal security. So they are allies and a viable target.

Good luck on this thread. (btw, it is "toe" the line (referring to your other post))

Tow the line is drag it behind you. Like towing a car except with a line. The line is a metaphor for an agenda or line of thought.

Refers to boxing. You step up and put your toe on the line and wait for the bell to ring. This was how boxing was conducting before the neutral corners rule. So when you toe the line, you..... get it?

BTW, I disagree with your analysis of Afhganistan, the graveyard of empires.....

After the Russians left (and with covert aid from the US and with the able fighting of our CIA trained leader, Osama Bin Laden, we looked for a strong anti-Communist group to put in charge. The Taliban fit the bill, and the US put them in charge.

It turns out they are also anti-oil pipeline, so we put former oil company exec Karzai in office and started a war against our former puppets, who simply turned out not to be puppet-like enough.

We often dispose of regimes when we're through with them - Saddam, Noriega. You desperately need to do some reading about this country's real history.

If we give up on taking out Al Qaida and they attack again. There will be a big transformation. Suddenly George Bush will be the wisest President we ever had and Barack Obama will be the biggest dumbass to ever set foot in the White House. If the country wouldn't flip on you over a huge "mistake." We wouldn't be where we're at now. Don't think it can't happen again or it can't happen to us.

It's all about who's gonna finish it.

I guess you've served, which might give you the right to call someone a yellow belly dem. So tell us about your war experiences which would leave you to believe we are doing the right thing in Afghanistan. No war experience? Well then just tell us about your service we know you can still serve without going overseas in a shooting war. No service?

THEN SHUT THE FUCK UP.




Full disclosure: served US Army 72-75 759th MP Bn. 511th MP Co, MPI Provost Marshal's Office, Fort Dix, NJ all stateside.

All The way back to Lincoln. The first bodyguards a President ever had was Pinkerton hired by Abraham Lincoln. They foiled an assassination attempt against him. Lincoln wasn't assassinated until after his security was taken over by the US Army.

I've been all through the Middle East. If it's not a war zone. It's a high risk zone. Even in friendly territory you have to be on your guard for culture clash. There are things that are no big deal here. But it'll land you butt in jail or worse over their. I've had enough interaction with the military to know you do not speak to a civilian that way.

Alexander trekked through and desert to avoid the area, losing 2/3 of his force to the elements, and felt he had made a prudent decision.

LBJ would have gone down as one of our greatest Presidents if the the war lovers hadn't gotten to him.

It is not as easy when it is your ass on the line.

Why aren't you there? Why isn't your ass doing it's time on that line? Are you afraid to get shot? Been there done that. Would you like me to tell you in graphic detail what that's like?

I mean really. How can you expect someone to tow a line you're not willing to fight for? Why should they tow your line when they can just take it from you? What are you gonna do about it? Go to war to defend it? Uh huh. I don't think you fully understand their mind set. I do. I assure you we are doing the right thing in Afghanistan. In the long run our presence in Afghanistan can only do more good than harm. Al Qaida has moved across the boarder into a destabilizing Pakistan. Pakistan is a nuclear nation. If the government falls. We must be in a position to move in immediately to secure or destroy their nukes. That position is Afghanistan. We cannot back down from that position. We really have no other choice that would not constitute gross negligence. It's not about 9/11 and past threats. You cannot defend against past threats. You can only defend against current and future threats. You would not want to live in a world with a nuclear capable Al Qaida.

all we will accomplish is getting more people killed.

Join me in a stirring redition of the Have Gun, Will Travel theme song:




Have Gun Will Travel reads the card of a man.
A knight without armor in a savage land.

His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind.
A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin ...
*

I guess it could be true.

They would decide my client was a dead man walking. I would say BS! My client will dance on your grave. Believe it or not defense is not a bad thing. I don't know how to tell you this. So I guess I'm going to have to do it bluntly. Most of these terrorists. When they say they are going to rip your head off and shit down your neck. That's not a metaphor. They will literally rip your head off and shit down your neck. You're not going to get them to change their way with a hug and a good stern talking to. When you get into places like Somalia or Darfur where they've been doing this since they were kids. Kill or be killed is the only way of life they know. More so than not. The kids are actually far more vicious than the adults. What do you do with a 10 year old that already has 50 kills under his belt. Ground him? I don't think so.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

is that you're just jealous because the voices won't talk to you. Now I understand why they won't talk to you. My God.......



:rofl:

No more military aid for the Zionist invaders of Palestine.

The only aid we should give Israel is transportation OUT of Palestine to someplace more welcoming and less antagonistic towards them.

As well, we should learn to be more respectful of Islam. Quit calling them terrorists and trying to impose western culture and moral values on them. It is THEIR land, THEIR history, THEIR belief, and westerners throughout history have never done anything except steal their resources and p!$$ them off.

When they feel free to live their lives and run their nations and expatriot communities according to their faith, without our disturbance, THEN they will leave us alone!

It's vital to the pipeline that was in planning before 9/11 even took place.

Remember when we had that surge in popularity? It's because we said we'd give them jobs. If we hired THEM to rebuild instead of contractors, then this shit would be over. But we don't want it to be over.

They're Pashtun nationalists of sorts. We're building grand palace embassies in Peshawar, and Islamabad. But really, all we'd have to do is give the people jobs and let them rebuild themselves.

how about getting repaid for all the money it's costing from all the countries that are benefitting. On the other hand, If we left Afghanistan tomorrow, there is no metric that would show we're any worse or better off than if we stayed. And here's the point, What makes anyone think that since we're devoting a substantial amount of US military to Afghanistan that our enemies are going to oblige us by staying there so we can pick them off?

Get your priorities straight.

We're gonna need it really bad. Because we'll be teaching them that anytime they want something. All they have to do is go BOO! to America and we'll wet ourselves and give it to them. Sure, lets play their game their way. We might actually win.......one time.......one day.

Is there a limit to power? Seems so.

You're talking about the PNAC/projecting the American hegemon thing. The Wolfowitz/Bush doctrine.

Let's draw-in, have a robust national defense & henceforth avoid foreign entanglements.

We tried what you're talking about. It didn't work.

It's pathetic to see one of our own so terribly misled. Afghanistan isn't called the "graveyard of empires" for nothing. There is only one way for us to win this the way you imagine and that would be outright genocide; no more people, no more problems. Obama is so wrong on this one. It will be a continued waste of lives and funds, nothing more. As for your comment on preaching peace, love, and understanding to the oncoming planes, I can only laugh at such facepalm-worthy ignorance. If W. would have actually paid attention to the warnings, it would have never happened. Remember, David killed Goliath with nothing but a sling.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I don't want anoth 60+ years in Afghanistan. Get out and spend that $$ on healthcare and poverty issues!

Obama's only chance of victory in Afghanistan is to side with the Pashtuns and pull Pakistan apart.

Other than that....they will have a long slow roast ......the roast being us.

what a crock of sh*t. :grr:

show me a link where I can see where the Taliban attacked us. with facts.
we are in Afghanistan for one reason

money, a gas pipeline, and justification to keep a bloated defense budget and corporations happy

http://www.alternet.org/world/139983/pipeline-istan:_everything_you_need_to_know_about_oil,_gas,_russia,_china,_iran,_afghanistan_and_obama/

That goes back to the Reagan Bush years. They formed that alliance that later came back to bite us.

The collaboration you're talking about goes back to Carter, not Bush, and it was to oppose the Russians in Afghanistan.

But Al Qaida are not agents of anyone but themselves. The Taliban did not declare war on the US, bin Laden did.

where are you getting this? you're very outspoken on this subject. maybe it's about time to produce some links to back up your assertions.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

I guess that makes it easier to sleep at night, huh?

:banghead:

You got the right idea. :banghead:

You have a poster claiming Al Qaeda is a creature of Afghanistan and the Taliban and you're calling his critics revisionist idiots?

Keep butting your head against that wall...because reality hasn't penetrated yet.

want to bet your reelection on that, Mr. President?

to the military industrial complex. Look at the economic mess that mentality has placed our country in.

The army cannot fix Afghanistan.

;-)

Actually, it WAS fundamental when it started. It was a response to an attack whose planners were being protected by a state, making that state a legitimate target for response. As I said at the time, I only failed to support it because of the administration that would be carrying it out. This proved reasonable when the Bushistas did the half-assed job I expected, and pulled out the resources that might have 'won' it. Then they did a worse than half-assed job over the subsequent years, making the problem worse. Now, it may be that the U.S. does face a horrible threat; but it is likely that it is way too late to do anything effective about it in Afghanistan.

:banghead:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6798358.ece

Of course we're still going to spend more billions and more years fighting the enemies of Karzai government. Doing so is "fundamental."

How come DU GrovelBot has no gender? Shouldn't we have a ManBot and a WomanBot to choose from?

coughchokespewsputter

With attacks up, leaflets warn of suicide missions against polling stations on Thursday’s election. The number of registered voters is also up. Karzai is expected to win but barely.

Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The latest threats issued by the Taliban to disrupt next Thursday’s presidential election include “suicide attacks against polling stations” and cutting off “noses and ears of those who vote”, this according to leaflets left in the southern part of the country, but also to a lesser extent in Kabul. Equally attacks have been stepped up against the military but especially the civilian population.

“We are using new tactics targeting election centres,” Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said.


snip
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=16062&size=A

odd

Didn't they say they will not attack the voters or voting stations according to some source close to south asia?

Our strategy for Afghanistan is all wrong!

That's what we're paying for with blood and money.

The "war" was eight years ago and it was a failure, just like this occupation will be. Just like anything to do with Iraq was a failure.

Afghanistan is under a brutal occupation that is using fundamentalist criminals as its puppets.

harnessed when they were allowed to wiretap without any warrants?

the military only has a 7% chance of shutting down terrorism. Police action & detective work give a 40% to end the madness. Getting the opposition to stop shooting & become a political party also has a victory rate of around 40%. I got this last year from the Rand corp, they studied terrorism all over the globe & watched what works & what fails.

Keep in mind that a 7% chance gives you a 93% FAILURE rate, but the 40-43% gives you a 60%ish FAILURE rate. So which do you choose? What is the intelligent choice, stripped of all the hysteria/testeria by anyone?

Obama imitates Bush on Afghanistan war

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

President Barack Obama did his best imitation of former President George Bush Monday at the VFW national convention in Phoenix.

Obama sounded downright hawkish -- and, yes, presidential -- when he addressed the issue of terrorism in front of the veteran-laden crowd.

"We must never forget. This is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans. So this is not only a war worth fighting. This is fundamental to the defense of our people."

Dick Cheney could not have said it any better.

Obama is still trying to establish his reputation with veterans; Monday's speech helped do that. ...http://voices.kansascity.com/node/5483

wake me up when it's 2012 so I can once again waste a better part of a day engaged in the useless act of "voting," like the true sucker and fool that I am. This year, though, I will not squander one dime on any politician. They can all suck shit.

It's going to take a lot more to convince me that Afghanistan is anything more than the monkey king's dress-up play war morphed into yet another U.S. imperialist military miscalculation. It has little or nothing to do with "defense" of anything but corporate profits and Pentagon prerogatives.

:puke:

The unnamed war victims

Monday 17 August 2009

The Stop the War Coalition has marked a grave and ongoing tragedy at the Cenotaph. But a far greater tragedy will go almost unnoticed.

Two hundred and four British soldiers have now died in George Bush and Tony Blair's senseless invasion of Afghanistan, along with nearly 800 of their US counterparts.

No-one can honestly tell you what they died for. First the war was to catch Osama bin Laden, then it was to bring democracy to Afghanistan, now it's to stop terrorist attacks being plotted there. No doubt another empty excuse will be along soon.

Every death in the service of this pointless, stupid, apparently never-ending war is a tragedy - and that includes the people fighting it.

Some of those 204 victims may have joined up to escape desperate poverty, as so many US soldiers do. Some may have sincerely believed that they were doing humanitarian work or defending their country, or they may simply have trusted their government not to lead them wrong.

If so they were misguided. But being misguided is not a capital crime. And surely it's the people who told the lies that should pay, not the people who believed them?

These soldiers deserve to be mourned and they deserve to be remembered.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/comment/The-unnamed-war-victims

It sure sounds like it.

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." G.W. Bush

Sound familiar?

There is literally NO reason for this war. This is for a Democrat to dispel the belief that he's weak. This is more sucking up to the right. This is more posturing horse shit. There's a bit of an oil pipeline there, too, and a bit of primitive vengeance at work as well, even if it IS leveled at more or less the wrong people.

The very wording is nauseating.

Never voting for you again, Obama. You're a liar and a coward.

will be big, powerful, aggressive and most importantly, very expensive.

I can't wait.

That's good news.
GOBAMA!

:(

What a waste of money, and blood.

"fundamental to the defense of our people"

"we must never forget."

"This is not a war of choice."

"Those who attacked America on 9-11 are plotting to do so again."


What happened to CHANGE???

:shrug:

So maybe just 95% Bush-speak...


:shrug:

eom

Meddling in the Middle East caused all the problems IMO. Give peace a chance instead of occupation and warfare. Terror should be monitored by our intelligence, and not responded to with military occupation.