I will always make no bones about it that Obama is my favorite President now and most likely ever! I support him, I'll enthusiastically vote for him in 2012, I hope that someday he'll visit Utah so I can have a chance of a quick handshake and if I'm lucky maybe a photo and an autograph!
I also make no bones that my biggest disagreement with Obama is his foreign policy. Picture this, in the last 21/2 years our presence in Afghanistan has tripled, our strikes using unmanned drones have doubled in Pakistan(that has caused so many problems it truly is scary if you stop and think about it) and we're now in a conflict in Libya that Obama has not gotten any sort of war power resolution of any kind. Even Bush had a vote of support from congress before he invaded Iraq!
Had Bush been president during the last two years and done the things Obama has done there would be riots on the streets. The anti-war movement would make the Tea party rallies look like a stroll down Mr. Rogers neighborhood. In a strange way this shows how beloved our president really is. The economy sucks, unemployment is high, our national debt is about to default, we're in these wars that cost so much time and resources let alone lives, and yet his approval rating hovers around 50 percent. If it were any other president they would be at around 20 percent or lower!
But my point of this post was to express my view points on his announcement for troop withdraws. A pro and con list if you will. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion, some will find it hawkish, others will find it wishy washy....
- Pro, he very plainly stated that we need not send troops abroad from now on to resolve conflict. I whole heartily agree with that!
- con, no specifics about what happens to the remaining 66 thousand troops after 2012.
- pro, A quicker draw down than the military wanted, and what the media in general expected. At least troop tours will go down from 12 months to 9 months.
- con, he pretty much promised 31/2 more years of a war that has already been waged the past 10!
- pro, stressed that we can no longer go it alone, that we must have international support like we did with Libya.
- con, I got the sense that his heart wasn't in this speech. That's extremely rare.I always watch major Obama speeches and I could just tell that he wasn't feelin it so to speak. It makes me wonder what we don't know.
Pakistan is quickly becoming our greatest threat. They are nuclear armed, their military overwhelmingly despises us, they clearly support terrorist organizations, it's just scary if you think about it. I have a feeling that we aren't even in Afghanistan to defeat Al-Quida any more. I have a feeling we're their to keep an eye on Pakistan as long as we possibly can.
The reason I think we need to get out and now is because we're just delaying the inevitable. The second we leave Afghanistan will be screwed! If you don't think that you're crazy! The only reason Afghanistan is semi, semi stable right now is because of our presence there. This isn't Iraq, we're not leaving behind a stable culture with a stable government. The Afghani Government is corrupt and inept at best!
Obama inherited a horrific situation! I truly believe that he's doing the best he can and I'm sure there is alot that we don't know. I just think we should just pull the plug already. Tear off Afghanistan like a band aid and hope that we can protect our borders better than we could on the morning of Sept. 11 2001! The only thing I view that's worse now from then is Pakistan is unbelievably pissed at us. They have nuclear weapons, power, international clout, and money. Everything Al-Quida wished they had back then.
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