Soaps.com - MESSAGE BOARDS

http://rethinkafghanistan.com/videos.php

Are we allowed to bump threads? I'm not sure...

i just watched the short versions, we have been in afghanistan for about 8 yrs, why weren't conservatives up in arms because of the cost of this war and the war in iraq? i never heard one word of protest, so we have our troops dying, we are spending a bizillion bucks and no one is complaining,
then when obama wants to get universal health care passed, the conservatives are up in arms about the cost, protesters are showing up at tea bag meetings armed, shouting like complete manics, people are saying they want their country back, back from what? i think we need to get the he!! out of both those countries, JMO

The only thinking that needs to be done is to listen to the PROFESSIONALS!! That means the Military proffesionals if they say send more troops then By golly send them!!NOW!!!!! WHat would have happened to George Washington if he'd had to wait on that Fateful night? We might still be a Brittish colony!! I mean really and we wonder why even our kids don't seem to get the saying "Finish what you start" !!

So Bush was a sucky president too! Want a $$? ITA!! But imo if all the Milatary are saying we should send more troops why would you listen to people with no military experience and take their advice? over those who are trained(and more than qualified)?? I just don't get it!

Here's what we know so far:

-McChrystal wants to send in 40,000 more troops to bolster security, especially in northern and western Afghanistan.

-VP Biden/others want to keep the current number 45,000 to shift the focus to missile strikes and special forces operations in neighboring Pakistan, where many key al-Qaida figures have sought sanctuary.

-Al Qaeda's role in Afghanistan has dwindled with fewer than 100 core fighters, according to the Obama administration, likely operating small-scale bomb-making and tactics classes conducted by trainers who travel to and from Pakistan.

-Pres Obama wants discussions to be honest and the debate should not be based on false choices between doubling down or leaving the war-weary country.

IMO--I agree with VP Biden about shifting the focus to Pakistan--this is of course, where we should have focused our energies back in 2001, not Iraq. That would inevitably mean more troops will be ordered towards Pakistan, which would make McChyrstal satisfied. The troops we already have in Afghanistan would be refreshed out and/or repositioned to fight against the Al Qaida cells in Pakistan. Undoubtedly, with more troop presence in Pakistan, we will see more enemy fire and NATO casualties.

We should not shoot off at the hip from the words of any military official without soberly looking at the big picture...not the "right now, go get 'em." Al Qaeda is not like the WWII foes (Germany, Japan, etc)--you can tell who they are by their uniforms, plane insignia, etc...I think many Americans need to understand and ACCEPT that Al Qaeda is a worldwide network of terrorists, who are not concentrated in one place...who may be White, Latino, Black, Asian, who may be in this country, who are not wearing Middle Eastern clothing, ETC, ETC.

It's a win-win...McChrystal gets his troop increase, but the focus is on destroying the enemy's nucleus, which means a deeper push into enemy territory. If the nucleus is weakened and/or destroyed, that knocks the stool out from under the international cells in places like South America, Europe, Africa, and yes...the good ole USA.

Now...I'm not trying to be pro-war here. But, I support thoughtful and wise leadership on getting the best strategy in place rather than just allowing any General or whoever say, "let's get more guys to kill 'em."

Usually it's the hot headed and stubborn that get shot first...

**shudder, just had a Bush/Cheney era flashback**

Hmmmm....after seeing this clip, I'm rethinking my position on this issue:

Alliances unclear in Afghanistan/Pakistan


Oct. 6: Msnbc's Rachel Maddow points to recent examples of the U.S. suffering betrayal at the hands of the very people the U.S. military effort is meant to be helping.


www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/33201718#33201718

?) why would you trust msnbc for your news? Are you serious? This is all we need to know about this topic: the people who know what they are talikng about(military professionals with years(decades) of experience say send more troops the people who have never served 1 minute want to sit on their hands and look stumped? Why is the choice so hard! Common sense says you go with the Epperience in the field your dealing with! And send more troops!

so the taliban and the other ediots like them can have even more training ground to come after us? Thats great! We made a decision to start this now we need to man up and finish what we started and do axatly as our millitary say to preceede! If we had listened to them from begining to end (and sent more troops the first time they asked) we might have actully been out of there by now! imo Alot of innocents over there have risked their lives to help us over there how can we just leave them? They will be slaughtered! The Taliban and others like them have already shown they have no heart or soul!They are spineless shells as far as Im concerned! when they send innocents out to slaughter other! In the name of their supposed God!!

I wonder if Russia feels like they didn't "man up" enough when they spent December 27th, 1979 – February 15th, 1989...nine years, fighting against the mujahideen (who had the support of the U.S.)..at some point, the Russians threw up their hands and went home...

It's ironic that now the U.S. has been in Afghanistan for nine years exactly, and though much has been accomplished, much ground in destroying Al Qaeda has yet to be covered.

So...what to do? Right now, sending more troops to fight Al Qaeda cells in Pakistan, rather than increasing the numbers in Afghanistan is looking up...though I wonder what the White House intelligence has that we don't know about...yet.