WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats are leading the criticism of President Barack Obama’s troop withdrawal plan from Afghanistan, arguing that his timeline for bringing 33,000 U.S. troops home by next summer isn’t fast enough.
An initial drawdown of 10,000 troops is expected to take place in two phases, with 5,000 troops coming home this summer and 5,000 more by the end of the year. An additional 20,000-plus are to follow by September 2012.
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So what.
15 months to bring a third of our troops home? That's nothing and can easily be "surged" back when some ass-kissing flag officer decides we're "losing" again. The only thing I'll be satisfied with at this point is if the President comes on the TV and gives a firm date for all of our troops to come home. Fuck Karzai and fuck the Afghans. It's almost 10 years; if the Afghans wanted to "build a nation", they'd have done it by now or at least been well on their way. Another 5 years ain't gonna make a damn bit of difference one way or the other.
4 comments:
Fix, in this case I somewhat disagree with you. As you have noted on more occasions than I want to link to, professionals talk logistics. Bringing the troops home can be done in a relative hurry. Bringing all their gear, guns, vehicles, comms, administrative, etc etc, will be a humoungous PITA and will take some time. Then there is the issue of doing something to secure the safety of those natives who have helped our forces in some unfortunately public way.
I'm not saying the timeline is right or good but I will say that scheduling the pullout with those considerations in mind is a job that I sure as fuck don't want. Aint nobody going to be happy.
There were certainly no surprises in his speech. Coulda been two words: "Same-o, same-o".
CAFKIA - I just want a date when they're coming home, with their equipment. If he says it'll take 3 years to get them all home, then fine, but what we have now is more open-ended than not. The time for "target dates" and a whole buncha maybes is over.
Based on what experience would lead one to believe we give a damn about those who "helped us?"
It is my humble opinion that Afghanistan had a nation that suited them just fine and they will return to that state of being, as they always have. We can stay and piss away lives and money or we can load up our crap and leave overnight and the end result will be the same. Again, just my opinion.
Jay in N.C.
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