Here is an excerpt from April 5th’s “The Daily Beast:”
” Popular support for the Afghan War has sharply eroded in recent months, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll. Sixyt-nine percent of those surveyed now think that the U.S. should not be involved in the war in Afghanistan. That is a significant change from four months ago, when only 53 percent said that the U.S. should no longer be fighting in that country. The poll also found that perceptions of the war effort have changed dramatically. Sixyt-eight percent now feel the war is going “somewhat badly,” while only 42 percent of those surveyed felt that way back in November.”
In the March 26, 2012 “Time” this quote appears, from Richard Fontaine, former foreign policy adviser to Senator John McCain, who is now with the Center for a New American Security: “There’s a sense that things are out of control and that it is going to be difficult to find a successful endgame”
Well, gee whillikers, guys! Any Tom, Dick or Harry could have told you THAT with just Vietnam as our referent.
Newt Gingrich on the campaign trail in Davenport, IA.
Later, in the same article, entitled “No Easy WayOut: Obama Wrestles with a Withdrawal from Afghanistan” (Michael Crowley) the comment is made that a clear majority of Americans oppose the war (see the “Daily Beast” poll above) and that “the once resilient support of Republicans has begun to slip.” The article mentions the Newtster saying, “We are not going to fix Afghanistan. It is not possible.”
Did the Russians’ experience in trying to do exactly that not teach us anything?
On top of the sickening feeling that more American lives will be lost in a futile cause, the article gives Karl Rove’s argument, which is that Republicans must cast retreat as “emboldening America’s enemies.” Ha!
The only hopeful comments in the article are that Obama is considering withdrawing 10,000 more troops by year’s end and an additional 10,000 to 20,000 by mid 2013. To quote Representative Adam Smith, top Democrat on the Houes Armed Services Committee: “Momentum is gathering for the idea that we need to draw down sooner rather than later.”
Obama inherited the Afghanistan War and then escalated it by sending in 51,000 more troops. But Osama bin Laden is dead and too many of our brave American boys and girls are also dead or injured.
It is time. Stop the insanity. End the conflicts that “W” instigated and bring our boys (and girls) home.
Pamela
You are so right; it is time for us to get out of Afghanistan. In fact, I don’t think we should have gone there in the first place. I lived through the Viet Nam war. In fact, my husband, like many others, was drafted. My cousin died as a result of injuries suffered in Viet Nam. It was all for naught. My husband, then a political conservative, said he knew that we should not be in Viet Nam two weeks after he arrived. Why our country’s leaders cannot learn the lessons of the past is a mystery to me. How many more useless, costly wars is it going to take?