Guest #1 October 2, 2010 Quote from WAPO story on Obama war planning "The White House's Afghanistan Defeatism" Makes you wonder what a bunch of skull-fucks we have running our country. -------------------------------- You know, I believed this was true and just told myself that it was impossible. I even told myself that Obama might not believe in our military activities overseas, but that he saw some wisdom in them. And I was a fool. Here's Jackson Diehl, in the Washington Post: One of the most remarkable aspects of Bob Woodward's new book, "Obama's Wars," is its portrait of a White House that has all but resigned itself to failure in Afghanistan. As Woodward recounts it, by last spring -- just six months after President Obama announced the dispatch of 30,000 additional U.S. troops, along with a modified counterinsurgency strategy -- virtually every civilian official at the National Security Council and in the vice president's office had concluded that the plan was doomed. If that doesn't offend you, you're not paying attention. Forget my outrage as the father of a soldier whose life Obama was prepared to waste in support of a cause he and his team have no faith in - I'm outraged as a taxpayer, as a citizen, as someone who relies on my government to defend me and mine and to advance the causes of our nation. No wonder Obama is uncomfortable around military families. Not only does he think they were fools for enlisting but greater fools to march forward into hazard in the service of a plan he doesn't believe in. --------------------------------- Buffalo Bob Woodward aside (who thinks he's god's gift to journalism), this story pretty much sums it all up. What's the point? If the objective isn't to take the "holistic approach" as advocated by the military leadership wrt Afghanistan, and there is no goal and no reason to be there, why are we? I mean, why bother with an exit date or timetable? Fuck it - why not cut and run already, if that's what the administration really wants to do - I mean, what's stopping them? Am I missing something? So we leave Afghanistan in chaos - so what? Can it be any more fucked up than it was before Sept 2001? Once again, am I missing something? mh ."The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #2 October 3, 2010 Well, first off all I'd say read the actual book and not somebody else's possibly skewed view of it.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest #3 October 3, 2010 QuoteWell, first off all I'd say read the actual book and not somebody else's possibly skewed view of it. Paul, you are likely right, but given that it's Woodward, I don't think the writer of the piece was cherry-picking his argument (because he's writing for WAPO, which is hardly a bastion of right-wing jingoism). I don't have access to the book, but I'd like to know if the writer is accurate in his portrayal of Woodward's observations (because his words about Woodward tend to reinforce my own bias). It's times like this that being a critical thinker is a royal pain. I'm predisposed to dismiss Woodward (as I did in my mentioning of him in my initial post), but if it is a cherry-picked argument (I mean, it's just one paragraph. What does the rest of the book say?), then I'm just wasting copy space, as well as an assload of 1's and 0's. However, I don't have access to the book, so I can't form my own opinion, and merely use this forum to parrot what someone else says. You are right to point that out. I should have remarked on it myself. mh ."The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
