Obama announces Afghanistan plan

myp · Dec 1, 2009

The much-awaited plan for Afghanistan was finally released today by the Obama administration. It looks like they will go ahead and send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and they have set a withdrawal plan that begins in 18 months and ends by 2017.

This decision comes with high political risk for Obama, especially considering many of his supporters had the belief he would implement a withdrawal plan much quicker and without another troop surge.

Personally, I would have liked to see an earlier withdrawal and I am not going to hold my breath on the withdrawal plan time line because just like previous administrations, this one continues to lie time and time again and who knows what they may decide 18 months from now.

Thoughts?

DodgeFB · Dec 2, 2009

myp said:
The much-awaited plan for Afghanistan was finally released today by the Obama administration. It looks like they will go ahead and send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and they have set a withdrawal plan that begins in 18 months and ends by 2017.

This decision comes with high political risk for Obama, especially considering many of his supporters had the belief he would implement a withdrawal plan much quicker and without another troop surge.

Personally, I would have liked to see an earlier withdrawal and I am not going to hold my breath on the withdrawal plan time line because just like previous administrations, this one continues to lie time and time again and who knows what they may decide 18 months from now.

Thoughts?

His ego will not let him go with the generals recommendations. He must in all things show he is smarter than anyone about everything.

Dirk · Dec 2, 2009

I remember that everyone was saying how anti-war Obama is. I basically laughed at them and explained that Obama did not have a plan for getting out of Iraq, or for getting out of Afghanistan. This isn't Obama's fault - he was quite clear about it. And why this whole "Democrats are pacifists" thing, anyway? Historically, the Republicans have been the ones who ran on an anti-war platform!

This shows that Obama is sticking to his middle-of-the-road strategy. He tries to appeal to both the left and the right. He didn't send the 40'000 troops requested, he didn't send the 70'000 extra troops military scientists say are needed to end the war. He didn't decide to pull out, as i and, i think it's now a majority, of the US would like.

deanhills · Dec 2, 2009

DodgeFB said:
His ego will not let him go with the generals recommendations. He must in all things show he is smarter than anyone about everything.

You've nailed it again Dodge. Exactly right and my take on it too. Tom Shales of the Washington Post asked:

Would you buy a used war from this man? Americans might be seeing their bright, young president in a dark, new light this morning after watching his televised speech Tuesday night centering on escalation of the war in Afghanistan.

He then went on to describe essentially what you said that Obama has an exaggerated opinion of the power of his speeches and then ended with:

Perhaps Dec. 1, 2009, will become known as the night the Obama honeymoon ended decisively -- largely because a great communicator placed too much faith in his own powers of persuasion and his celebrated mastery of a medium.

His article is worth reading:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/01/AR2009120104884.html?wprss=rss_print/style

peacepro · Dec 12, 2009

From the way Obama is acting we can clearly make out that he is not taking any decisions on his own. All of his decisions are dictated by others. He is trying to sail in two ships at the same time.

deanhills · Dec 22, 2009

peacepro said:
From the way Obama is acting we can clearly make out that he is not taking any decisions on his own. All of his decisions are dictated by others. He is trying to sail in two ships at the same time.

I agree with you. That is probably the reason for the delay in his decisions too, he weighs everyone's pros and cons and then checks with his marketing and re-election consultants.

Dirk · Dec 25, 2009

deanhills said:
I agree with you. That is probably the reason for the delay in his decisions too, he weighs everyone's pros and cons and then checks with his marketing and re-election consultants.

I have a suspicion we could do better without him. A system without presidents would likely be an improvement.

Get rid of the politicians one at a time, eh? Haha.

DodgeFB · Dec 26, 2009

Dirk said:
I have a suspicion we could do better without him. A system without presidents would likely be an improvement.

Get rid of the politicians one at a time, eh? Haha.

Now that's a point to ponder.

Obama announces Afghanistan plan

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