Democrats discuss cut and run again
Yesterday, I wrote that Admiral Mullen’s statement athat the public support for the war in Afghanistan slipping was actually the White House putting out feelers for a chance to abandon Afghanistan to the Taliban. Last night, Greyhawk sent along a link to the latest proof that Democrats are walking back from the war;
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-WI, called on President Obama to announce a timetable for withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. “This is a strategy that is not likely to succeed,” Sen. Feingold said about the troop buildup in Afghanistan.
“After eight years, I am not convinced that pouring more and more troops into Afghanistan is a well thought out policy,” said Feingold. The liberal Democrat said he has expressed his reservations with President Obama, Admiral Mullen, and others inside the administration and he says he has “never been convinced they have a good answer.”
“I think it is time we start discussing a flexible timetable so that people around the world can see when we are going to bring our troops out,” said Feingold. “Showing the people there and here that we have a sense about when it is time to leave is one of the best things we can do,” he added.
Yeah, a flexible timeline for withdrawal from Iraq has worked so well, hasn’t it? I guess they can just dust off their old Iraq timeline speeches and change the place names.
It’s all because they’re losing their base on their domestic agenda and the Democrats want to appease the intellectually vacant MoveOn crowd – with lives. al Qaeda lost Iraq in a humiliating defeat, and I guess the Obama Administration wants to give them a morale raising victory in Afghanistan. All so we can have socialized healthcare. Sweet.
Category: Antiwar crowd, Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Foreign Policy, Terror War
Feingold is smarmy and a wuss. He’s saying the same things that were said about the surge in Iraq. Don’t these idiots ever get tired of being wrong?
After holding the military’s pay hostage while it was tied to an Iraq withdraw bill a year or two ago, I’m pretty reluctant to ever trust a Dem in the House or Senate on national security issues. Why can’t they just stick with ruining the economy?
Um, wasn’t MoveOn founded to get us away from Clinton’s BJ story? Why won’t they MoveOn and quit attacking republicans and other loyal Americans?
We’ve declared victory and are pulling out of Iraq, even while the Iraqi government is holding talks about us staying. We’ll flood the media with stories that the people are tired of war in Afghanistan and then announce withdrawls. Two hard fought campaigns that were slowly turning our way are being pissed away by political hacks.
Why wouldn’t the democrats bring up “Cut and Run” again? It’s what they do. It’s ingrained in them from the time they realize there might be something in the world, other than their neighborhood.
Doesn’t it always work, when you publish a schedule for everyone to read, outlining when and how you’ll cut and run? Sure worked for the Vietnamese. The North Vietnamese, that is.
I think this all beckons the question, “How pitiful is our current overall policy when our two options are cut and run or stay the course?”
I mean whatever happened to actually winning?
Fred, if you actually “win”, you’ll upset someone’s sensitivities. Mustn’t do that, then Commander Zero would have to go out and apologize for us again.
Yeah you are probably right UpNorth. Of course, if we don’t intend to actually win, then what is the point of staying in either Iraq or Afghanistan? I don’t apologize for us going into either one, except I do think we went North into Iraq when we probably should have gone South Nor do I regret my service in Iraq. But at the same end, continuing to stay in either place given our current circumstances sounds a bit too much like more of the Globocop biz to me.
Of course given the Democrats/Progressives’ recent history of policing the world and involving us in conflicts that have absolutely nothing to do with our national security(Kosovo, Bosnia, Somalia in 1993, Haiti) and I can’t help but notice the utter hypocrisy of their recent statements.
Fred, your last paragraph just nails them. Aren’t we still in Kosovo? And Bosnia? So, what great national interest is served? Last I looked, it was jihadis who flew the planes into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa. Sorry, progressives, I don’t buy the 9-11 Truther theories.
McCain discusses cut and run:
Fred – The Heritage Foundation seems to disagree with you about Somalia.
http://www.heritage.org/research/homelandsecurity/bg1526.cfm
If John McCain (I posted that above, but forgot to add my name) didn’t lead the “Cut and Run” Republicans of the early 90s, then perhaps we could have stayed and “finished the job.” Then, Somalia wouldn’t be a safe haven for terrorism.
Tell me guys, Why is this war worth continuing then?
From (AP) – 4 hours ago:
[Story:] Mullen doesn’t shy away from poll about Afghan war in remarks to The American Legion
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The nation’s top military officer says he welcomes debate about the war in Afghanistan on the heels of a recent poll showing diminishing support for the conflict.
Speaking Tuesday to the American Legion’s national convention in Louisville, Adm. Mike Mullen said Americans should “take a good, hard look at this fight we’re in, what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.”
Mullen says he’d rather see the country argue about the war than ignore it. The admiral also says rebuilding Afghanistan is just as important as military might.
Mullen’s comments come amid signs of diminishing support among war-weary Americans. Just more than 50 percent of respondents to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll said the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Jesse; You’re correct that Somalia is related to the wars we’re fighting today. However, the reason John McCain and the Republicans urged Clinton to withdraw US forces from Somalia was because the Clinton Administration wasn’t willing to give US forces the tools they needed to fight there. Remember in Blackhawk Down, the Rangers were extracted by Pakistani armor? That’s because the US armor designated for Somalia was sitting on the pad at Fort Benning. Clinton decided that deploying armor vehicles to Somalia would make us appear too aggressive.
Jeff: Mullen sounds like Castro.
Including Somalia in that list gave me pause. After all AQ and the gang are in Somalia right now and I have seen evidence indicating that they were there back in 1993 as well. But at the same end, I am not convinced that the mission we were involved with in Somalia would have done much of anything about AQ’s presence then or prevented them from being there now. I mean come on here. When has a UN peacekeeping operation ever accomplished any lasting?
Of course we could also discuss what the Clinton Administration didn’t do.
We didn’t get any farther away from Saudi Arabia.
We didn’t do anything about Afghanistan.
And I simply don’t see where anything was done to build better relations with Russia under Clinton’s watch.(I could be wrong on that one.)
That’s harsh, Jonn.
AP: “Mullen says he’d rather see the country argue about the war than ignore it.”
I know you’d prefer the country just support the war and the warriors and be done with it, but is your next preference ignorance?, because that’s pretty much where the American public at large seems to be right now, vacillating between that and support of the troops. But maybe I give our public too little credit. Maybe we have the cohonies to see by the right and go the distance, and to bear the cost, partly compensated by the VA down the line, of course, as inadequate as that may be.
What Clinton DID do was to sell the former Long Beach Navy Base to the China Ocean Shipping Co.
http://www.conservativeusa.org/longbch.htm
So now the PLAN has a facility whereby they could bring in all sorts of nefarious items in their containers and we’d ne nary the wiser for it. Nothing like selling your potential enemy a beach head, complete with port facilities.
You really do have to wonder what the quid pro quo was.
Sorry, that was what Clinton DID attempt to do… I should have proof read before posting.
My bad.
Tim: We all know what the quid pro quo was. Campaign dollars. The base wasn’t the only thing he sold, don’t forget the nuke technology.
Speaking of nuke technology, rumor has it that we are aiding the Saudis and the UAE in acquiring Nuclear power. I’m not thrilled with the Iranian mullahs having nuclear power, but I just don’t see where it makes any sense to turn around and give nuke power to people that are even worse than the Iranian mullahs.