Obama sees war’s results up close (Oct. 30)
Live Performance: “The General” by Dispatch
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
Perhaps President Obama will learn something from his visit early Thursday to Dover Air Force Base to see what the Associated Press described as “the flag-draped caskets of 18 Americans killed in action this week.” The question is, what lesson will he take away from seeing the effects of war up close, including meetings with the families of the dead?
Right now, in Afghanistan, population 33 million, we have about 68,000 troops. You could fit them into a pro football stadium. With only that many people, it will be impossible to prevent new casualties. Maintaining the status quo will be a death sentence for many young Americans.
Even doubling the number probably wouldn’t be enough.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the Afghan theater commander, says he wants at least 40,000 more pairs of boots on the ground. Perhaps that is because he wants to accomplish the mission there, which is to round up and kill al Qaeda fighters, including Osama bin Laden. And let’s not forget their pals, the Taliban.
By the way, all these terrorists get the vast majority of their money from the sale of opium grown in Afghanistan and donations from the oil-rich Muslim states.
We are not there to build a nation.
Both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden seem disinclined to grant McChrystal’s request. If they maintain their stance, then they should pull the troops out instead of asking the men to die for a mission the Obama administration is not willing to fund or otherwise commit itself to winning. The war should have some goal other than getting Americans killed.
During the campaign, Obama pledged to win the Afghan war and bring bin Laden back to the U.S. in chains. Was he just hoping he could do that? Didn’t anybody tell him what an effort like that would require?
