The Awesome Obama Thread II

No, it did. The Taliban, which was the ruling government of Afghanistan, gave aid and harbor to bin Laden and the al-Qaeda soldiers who attacked us. That's a matter of historical fact.We were attacked by Afghanistan via al-Qaeda proxies. It was, likely, not illegal since Saddam had violated the terms of the cease-fire. But it was certainly against American interests to have done so. Saddam was contained; there was no reason to invade.

Then I am still misunderstanding.(The Oni joke was funny, thanks)

I'm saying that the way it was ended was worse than continuing it.

16 out of the 19 9/11 highjackers were . . . Saudi Arabian. Al-Queda was based in . . . . . Saudi Arabia. If the terrorists were the REAL reason for attacking Afghanistan, why don't you include Saudi Arabia in your faulty equation.

I used to have daydreams about Obama being sworn in then immediately turning to Bush and Cheney and saying "Arrest those men."However, impeachment was never a real possibility. I smiled every time it was introduced (a couple times I believe) but never expected it to pass. There just weren't enough votes, and in that case, voting for it would have been a waste of time. It would have been political hara-kiri. PRESIDENT Obama inheritied the wars. They were ongoing when he was sworn in. SENATOR Obama was operating under different rules. I'm totally against the Iraq War. I'm a bit more agnostic on the merits of the Afghanistan War. Had I been in office, I would have voted against the AUMF. Once it passed, however, I probably would have ended up voting for funding. Why? Because defunding it with American servicemen and women in harm's way would have been a disaster. When a car is out of control, slamming on the brakes is often the worst thing you can do, you need to apply slow pressure and try to steer your trajectory back under control.Often in the real world, your ideals come into conflict, both with each other and with the situation as it is. Sticking to your ideals may seem praiseworthy, but if it results in a worse outcome, then your ideals mean nothing. It takes an intelligent and strong person to be able to navigate that sort of mine field, especially on the scale of a war, and they are bound to make mistakes. Exactly. This is the position PRESIDENT Obama found himself in. You are now criticizing his actions since being elected. I'm just curious as to how you would have gone about it, had you been placed in his position in January of 2009.

And? So what? The 9/11 attacks were planned in Afghanistan, ordered from Afghanistan, by bin Laden who was supported by the Taliban in Afghanistan.You really think there was no connection between Afghanistan and 9/11? That we just invaded a country at random?

During the VN war, THREE MILLION VIETNAMESE DIED. You think it was better to continue that bloodletting?This is a huge different topic. Please, if you need to, take ONE last reply and start a different thread if you feel like it.

If you think that I believe america chose Afghanistan randomly to invade, then you haven't been paying attention to any of my posts.

I think that an orderly withdrawal would have been better than the hasty, clumsy withdrawal prompted by Congress' defunding of the war. Who said anything about continuing the "bloodletting"? No, it's just another example of how you don't know what you're talking about.

Is my type appearing blue on a blue background and it can't be read? To re-re-reiterate . . .Obama had desperately tried to EXTEND the Iraq war occupation. I correctly predicted it when I argued Kerusa years ago on this forum. If precedence continues, Obama will try, somehow, to extend the Afghanistan occupation (unless Obama has invaded Iran in the near future, then . . . ?). I've read rumors Obama is trying to lock in 10 year military base agreements, so don't be surprised.Everyone have a good weekend, heard the weather in the NE is gonna be real good.

Apparently mine is as well. I'm asking for your plan, not merely pointing to the things Obama did that you disagree with. Tell me what you would have done with both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars from January 2009. This is SOP. We still have bases in Germany. We still have bases in Italy. We still have bases in South Korea.I would hope any bases built would be approved by the Afghani government. It would then give us a base of operations to continue trying to round up Al Qaeda cells in the area. It would also help us to continue helping the Afghani police and military secure their own country, should they ask for help.

Good little sheep, good. Don't foget to tell him it was all planned out from a cave, too. One guy, a mastermind if you will. An evil mastermind from a wacky religion who hates freedom planned and orchestrated the entire event, from a cave, in Afghanistan."Go back to bed, America, your government is in control."- Oni

"Desperately"?

Hi, Rahvin.I'll get to a reply later when I have a few moments.Right now the thread is moving at more-heat-than-light speed, and I don't like to move that way anymore. Back soon.

What's to elaborate? It should have been obvious all along, that we cannot solve the problems of Afghanistan. Only the Afghan people can do that.