If Bush people had been in charge when Pearl Harbor was attacked, we probably would have attacked Korea.

Obama puts his entire domestic agenda at risk by pursuing this chimera in Afghanistan. He denounced the killing of civilians in Afghanistan during the campaign, but he is going to continue military action which can only kill more civilians.

He needs to spend more time considering Lyndon Johnson, the Great Society, and Vietnam. He is headed in the same direction, benchmarks and sobering reasoning on how, rather than whether, to continue this war are not going to help.

If Bush people had been in charge when Pearl Harbor was attacked, we probably would have attacked Hawaii.

Of course it's his war. He's the President, and he's said he would have invaded Afghanistan had he been President at the time. And he's adopted a strategy that he thinks will bring success in Afghanistan. I don't see why the NYT should not be depicting him as taking responsibility for the problem.

Gregg voted to turn growing surpluses into growing deficits and contributed to running up the national debt year after year. Obama, on the other hand, is turning the ship around and seeking to reduce size of the deficits that they're responsible for.

Gregg and his Republican friends have no credibility on this issue. This was totally predictable. We knew that they were going to run up the debt and then claim that we couldn't afford investments in energy, health care and the rest because we had too much debt (that they created). They're snake oil salesmen and anybody who falls for their nonsense is a sucker.

Oops...wrong thread. Sorry.

Lyndon Baines Obama.

Democrats = Bourbons. Forgotten nothing, learned nothing.

As a veteran of a misbegotten war in southeast Asia, I originally took a neutral position about the U.S. role in Afganistan. As a veteran of a misbegotten war in southeast Asia, I screamed and hollered and cursed and yelled before the U.S. invaded Iraq.

What I have wanted from Obama:
For Iraq - get us the hell out of there
For Afganistan - define objectives and a path to get us the hell out of there and then follow that path

While I do not see a clear path towards exit from Afganistan, I will continue to give Obama the benefit of doubt. At least for a number of months longer. After that, I keep open my options of joining antiwar protests of Afganistan as I did antiwar protests of Iraq.

Peace be with all my brothers and sisters who have to endure the hells of war.

Rick, if we had attacked Korea, following Pearl Harbor, we would have fought Japanese forces. Japan annexed Korea in 1910. The majority of anti-Japan Korean forces were fighting in China and other regions.

However, pay offs give a completely new meaning to "aid". Just air drop those pallets of green backs. When, will the next story of a Captain or such be up on courts-martial charges, such as the one at Ft Lewis for placing over 700 grand in his personal bank accounts back in the states from some of those type of pallets? Public Affairs Officer can be a very rewarding position.

If Obama pulls off a successful Wheat-for-Poppy replacement program, we would have at least won one battle in the war on global hunger, if nothing else.

I think Bush left this war to Obama back in 2003, we just didn't know who the next president would be at that time.

It is interesting to witness how happy the republicans are to pass the buck to Obama. At least he isn't afraid to accept it.

To them this is not our war, it isn't a war fought by our military, supported by our tax dollars, it is Obama's war. How f***ing patriotic is that?

For those commentators who seem to wait nothing less than the complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan I have just one thing to say to you, you're scum.

The Taliban and al Qaeda are comprised of men who throw acid in the faces of young girls who just want to learn to read.

And you just want us to turn our backs on them?

Disgusting.

Here's the main challenge of Afghanistan: it has, over the past ~150 years, defeated attempts by two empires- the Brits + Russia/USSR- to tame it. Basically, Afghanistan is composed of a number of groups who really don't like each other, but who like outsiders even less.

The long-term strategy in Afghanistan has to be explicitly *non*-military. The military may be part of the beginning of the plan, but if more combat troops are the end result, Afghanistan will be to Obama what Vietnam was to LBJ.

-Z

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Morpheus. You obviously feel no remorse at all for all the civilians WE have killed and maimed in our quixotic quest to control a country that no outsiders have EVER succeeded in controlling.

Hubristic imperialists like you are sick motherfuckers, and your sham humanitarianism only makes you that much more nauseating.

Dr Morpheus, I think you're right. Extreme religuous fanatics really suck, so Taliban shouldn't exist, but are we really going to go after them, or just blow up the same little kids already burnt by Taliban's acid??

How long will it take, 10 more years? 20 more years of dropping bombs on caves and mountains?
With all our technology, why is it that we can't get the job done?

Wow, and we all get front seat tickets to the show!! And a change in tactics, man! Groovy! Chilin! Invigorating!
To win the war in Afghanistan Obama will have to use some weapons of mass distraction (on us, that is) because Bush's weapons of mass distortion didn't quite do it.

Next keys to fighting AQ are identifying them separately from all others around and pushing or luring them onto difficult terrain where we can destroy them with safety for our troops.

Whether these steps can be done should be benchmarks. Of course, soldiers would say there are probably many smaller steps along the way to achieving these goals.

Benchmarks??? Benchmarks!!! Now where have I heard that before?

It's the Afghan health care substitute plan. Isn't the rest of the world sending in their troops also?

The war profiteers are jumping for joy...Irag, Gaza, and now Afghan-Pakistan. Might as well ask all the innocents to move out now.

Also...why aren't the Taliban terrorists bankrupt?

"...I think Bush left this war to Obama back in 2003, we just didn't know who the next president would be at that time.

It is interesting to witness how happy the republicans are to pass the buck to Obama. At least he isn't afraid to accept it.

To them this is not our war, it isn't a war fought by our military, supported by our tax dollars, it is Obama's war. How f***ing patriotic is that?.."-tomj

Remember Bush's claim that he would make sure he would make it impossible for the next president to leave the ME?

"...For those commentators who seem to wait nothing less than the complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan I have just one thing to say to you, you're scum...
The Taliban and al Qaeda are comprised of men who throw acid in the faces of young girls who just want to learn to read.
And you just want us to turn our backs on them?.."-Dr.Morpheus

Make sure it's worth letting your son die to stop it. These are criminals not countries or nations. We are not turning our backs on the crimes, just refusing to let our children be the police. If you aren't over there yourself then you are what you are accusing others of being.

We didn't like cannibalism in Africa either...get the point. There are horrors and horrible people all over the earth and we don't turn our backs on any of it...better know when and how to pick your fights or you'll end up getting your own family killed. It's like trying to stop the Inquisition...only certain approaches worked. This isn't the crusades either and we certainly don't need a General Custard type battle plan where we get sucked in by a few to be ambushed by many financially and otherwise.

Remember, the terrorist don't brag "Look what we did to them"...they say, "look at what we made them do to themselves." Bush and friends could never get that.

The real dilema is choosing between horrors.

The greatest tragedy in Afghanistan was not our invasion, but rather our failure to follow through afterwards by assisting the Afghans in rebuilding, both economically and politically, their country. It seems to me that, based on what I have read and seen concerning the President's recently publicized policies/plans for Afghanistan, that those failures are finally to be addressed, however late it may be.
I sincerely hope that, after so many lives and so much treasure, we haven't delayed too long in doing what we should have immediately after the ouster of the Taleban.