The President's address

I was hoping to see this thread already started. What do you think about what the president said in his address on Tuesday? Personally, I believe that the move to focus on Al-Queda and the Taliban is well grounded, but the fact that we are still going to remain in Iraq for a long period of time when he promised to be out in June is crap. I realize that a president cannot keep all of his promises, but come on! Some of us have friends and family, and this hopeful promise was not fulfilled, and I believe it hurt us his administration immensely.

Obama or whichever of his cute buddies who decided this, is/are (a) ****ing idiot(s) for sending more soldiers there. At least it's better than what it would be if Palin was in charge.

well, it worries me that he likely isn't keeping his promise of the June exit date, but it's a mess he's inherited, and if he screws up Iraq without fixing afghanistan, it will just be another mess to clean up later.

Do we really want that on our conscious?

also: the draft-it would be political suicide to call a draft, and Obama need's to get elected again. Palin is actually serious about running on the republican ticket, which is a bit frightening considering the stupidity of her leaving her post in Alaska.

apparently the millitary isn't good at keeping messy wars on a time table.

=/

I think if this will wrap up the conflict in Afghanistan, then it's completely justified. Decreasing our efforts in Iraq while increasing them in Afghanistan seems like a good way to go. After all, Afghanistan is what started this all.

Any chance that the OP could post a youtbe link to this? Just so that posters, from other countries can participate?

Here's the West Point speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZLVqhsLgIw

Not sure where this "withdrawal from Iraq by June" talk is coming from. Combat troops are supposed to be completely withdrawn from Iraq by August 31st, 2010 and all troops are supposed to be withdrawn by the end of 2011.

As for Afghanistan, I'm very apprehensive about the troop increase, as I see multiple similarities to the Vietnam War. Perhaps my biggest fear is that Afghanistan will turn into a quagmire just as Vietnam did (and just as Afghanistan did for the Soviets) and, like Vietnam did with Johnson, undercut Obama's domestic agenda. That being said, however, I hope his new Afghanistan policy is a success.

The Iraqi troop surge actually helped didnt it? at least thats what I heard.

Originally Posted by Young Old Man

The Iraqi troop surge actually helped didnt it? at least thats what I heard.

It did. That's the model they're following in Afghanistan.

June is not an exit date. It's a date to start leaving, not when everyone will be gone. Obviously in a war an exit date has to be flexable as a war is not often predictable. The Americans should leave when Afganistan can take care of itself witohut falling into the hands of the taliban. One failed state could disrupt the entire region, and with two nuclear pwoers nearby that just can't happen. Hopefully the stratgey involves enpower local Mullahs and giving them more control instead of propping up a weak central government. By focuing on local matters they will win more Afgans.

Originally Posted by DrZaius1

It did. That's the model they're following in Afghanistan.

honestly, history doesn't offer me me any opinions of success for a surge in Afghanistan

I didn't mind the address, but felt it was the same old thing: "We will keep pressing forward for victory in these nations."

I think the people wanna hear WHY they're in Afghanistan/Iraq. What's the point? They need an objective to fall back on. He didn't seem to explain to me why I should give a crap about the Afghani/Iraqi people. Why we should continue trying to support these people.

Don't get me wrong, I like them, and want the best out of them, but the general public want more than half-hearted "We must protect the American way of life!" The public wants to know why they have to be there, and not just to protect the American way of life. We're safe. 100% safe. We want to know why we're still over there. Hell, if he just gave us examples of what the Taliban does to the Afghani people and provided solid evidence that these people are in trouble (pictures, interviews, etc. Really get down to just how bad these pplz are.) and we must help them, then I'd be behind him going "Yeah! Let's help these people!"

Otherwise, he's just repeating the same thing he's been saying since Jan. 20th when he first assumed the office.

Originally Posted by Tyras

honestly, history doesn't offer me me any opinions of success for a surge in Afghanistan

I'm aware of this.

Originally Posted by Link the Zora

I think the people wanna hear WHY they're in Afghanistan/Iraq. What's the point? They need an objective to fall back on. He didn't seem to explain to me why I should give a crap about the Afghani/Iraqi people. Why we should continue trying to support these people.

The point of being in Afghanistan is to eradicate the Al Qaeda leadership in the country.

Originally Posted by Link the Zora

We're safe. 100% safe. We want to know why we're still over there. Hell, if he just gave us examples of what the Taliban does to the Afghani people and provided solid evidence that these people are in trouble and we must help them, then I'd be behind him going "Yeah! Let's help these people!"

Otherwise, he's just repeating the same thing he's been saying since Jan. 20th when he first assumed the office.

He has think tanks and futurists which predict the worse possible outcomes of every war or withdrawal scenario and how that would play out both in the middle east and on the global political scale.

then they try to prevent that worst possible scenario from happening.

The public voted for bush twice (not including his father) and now we are stuck in the middle east and Obama has inherited the messes that the complacent american public were apparently ok with. It is not ethical for a global super power to prop up a democratic constitution and leave only to watch the house of cards collapse into chaos that is less stable than before we stripped away the entire power infra-structure.

same ****, different president.

If there is a draft, I'm moving to canada.

Originally Posted by Dark Wyrm

same ****, different president.

Only if you're referring to Lyndon Johnson as the original president, not George W. Bush.

If there is a draft, I'm moving to canada.

There's not going to be.

Wouldn't it make more sense to send 30,000 from Iraq to Afghanistan, rather than 30,000 from America?

Originally Posted by DrZaius1

Only if you're referring to Lyndon Johnson as the original president, not George W. Bush.

How so? He promised to get out by June, now we are commiting more troops, sounds like a Bush kinda move to me.

There's not going to be.

I know, but on the off chance. It would be a really good excuse to move to Canada.

Originally Posted by Dark Wyrm

How so? He promised to get out by June, now we are commiting more troops, sounds like a Bush kinda move to me.

Do you have any idea what you're talking about? Barack Obama never said anything about withdrawing from Afghanistan by June. The fact that he decided to increase troops in the region is only similar to George Bush's policy in that there was a troop surge in Iraq in 2007; otherwise, there are no similarities.

Actually he did. I was talking about his original campaign promise, not his new promise. I understand the difference here, and I apologize I did not make it clear earlier. He mentioned all the troops being home this past June, period. Then it became just the troops in Iraq, and eventually he just made it a matter that he would have to discuss with the people later.

The only thing that scares me about it is that I am afraid President Obama is just one more politician who is full of it. If this troop surge does not help the situation in Afghanistan, then what will happen then?

Originally Posted by Link the Zora

Don't get me wrong, I like them, and want the best out of them, but the general public want more than half-hearted "We must protect the American way of life!" The public wants to know why they have to be there, and not just to protect the American way of life. We're safe. 100% safe. We want to know why we're still over there.

We are safe because we are still over there. If we had not been there and just ignored the 9/11 attacks they would have continued to attack us.

I think the troop surge would probably help but it was really stupid of him to announce a withdrawl date. Now the taliban will just wait until we're leaving. Also how can he know what the situation will be a year and a half from now? Really it was not a smart move just like it wasn't smart to go public and announce the troop surge. In war you need the element of surprise and this art seems to be lost on our current president.