The Independent News Source
Twitter - Facebook - Email Alerts - RSS
Obama and the war in Afghanistan
by Maureen Fiedler on Nov. 16, 2009
Printer-friendly version
Send to friend
PDF version
Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF versionI’ve been watching President Obama’s actions in recent days, as they touch the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the military generally. Some have accused him of “dithering” over a decision about sending more troops to Afghanistan. And recent news reports make clear that he is getting conflicting advice from his national security team.
I am glad that he is taking his time. The image I see in Obama is that of a thoughtful, intelligent man weighing the options. He is also demanding an exit strategy, an “off ramp” for Afghanistan.
I also see someone willing to face the costs that will be incurred by his decision, whatever it is. He visited Dover Air Force Base in the middle of the night to meet the caskets of soldiers killed in Afghanistan. On Veteran’s Day, he took an unscheduled walk through Arlington Cemetery amid the tombstones of veterans of both Iraq and Afghanistan. He visited grieving military families in Ft. Hood, TX.
Not only that, Rachel Maddow reported that a book about the Vietnam War is required reading in Obama’s White House. It’s called Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam by Gordon Goldstein. Among other things, it compares the decision-making of JFK, who refused to send ground combat troops to Vietnam, and LBJ, who followed his generals, and did. We all know the tragic result.
Maybe, just maybe, the JFK option -- whatever it would look like today -- is at least being considered.
I doubt that President Obama is as strong a “peace president” as I would like… but then, my ideal probably couldn’t get elected. But I am pleased at the obviously thoughtful process he is conducting ...
As Obama dithers our troops
As Obama dithers our troops die.
Support the troops as needed or bring them home now. Anything else just leaves our troops in harms way.
Maureen Fieldler criticize
Maureen Fieldler criticize Obama---it will never happen. What if Bush were galavanting all over the world while soldiers were dying because he was taking his time to make a decision? Maureen woul not be so kind.
In the newspaper I read every
In the newspaper I read every day, El Diario, published in Ciudad Juarez, loudly declared the most violent city in the world, but which I personally find safer than any urban center I have walked in the USA, I read on Veteran's Day a typically well-researched article about the statistics of the homeless vet in the USA, above all the Vietnam vet.
It may be too late now to begin the JFK option, as the troops are on the ground, and tragically, horrifically, in the ground. Yet, we see the options carefully being weighed, and for this we are very grateful.
Today's Diario reminds us each soldier we send to the Afghan costs a million dollars a year. Do our folks who put cost above all else not know this?
President Obama reminds me of an expert, sober, careful, capable mechanic who has received from a very wealthy family a Lamborghini wrecked by Junior's swaggering recklessness, and told to fix it or lose his job. Well, the car is a wreck; the credit cards are over-extended, and the neighbors not pleased.
When we think of our troops overseas, and the costs, when we remember Fort Hood, let us recall why the former Nation of Islam Minister Malcolm X said nearly 46 years ago, to near universal condemnation: "Chickens come home to roost."
Bring the troops home.
Beat swords in to plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.
For the future of our nation, and our race, and our world, retool for peace.
Why must armaments remain our largest national export, when illness and hunger kill children world-wide? Hear Pope Benedict's recent words to the UN in Rome on world hunger, and work for peace, with justice for the poorest, not war.
frère charles du désert OSB OBLAT (Congrégation de Subiaco)
I believe that our President
I believe that our President Obama is doing his best to fix the long problems of war on Afghanistan. But we really don't know the real story behind because we are busy on our personal an emergency loans that we need for our own stuffs.Even the news are not merely reliable source. We still don't know what the future holds.We just have to be ready for what to come.
I believe that our President
I believe that our President Obama is doing his best to fix the long problems of war on Afghanistan. But we really don't know the real story behind because we are busy on our personal an emergency loans that we need for our own stuffs Even the news are not merely reliable source. We still don't know what the future holds.We just have to be ready for what to come.
Post new comment