Obama: We must reverse Taliban's momentum

Obama: We must reverse Taliban's momentum

www.cnn.com

West Point, New York (CNN) -- President Obama said Tuesday that although the Afghanistan war is not lost, "it has moved backwards" for several years.

Obama is outlining his strategy for the war in Afghanistan to an audience at the U.S. Military Academy, one that he says will bring the war "to a successful conclusion."

"There is no imminent threat of the government being overthrown, but the Taliban has gained momentum," Obama said. "Al Qaeda has not re-emerged in Afghanistan in the same numbers as before 9/11, but they retain their safe-havens along the border.

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I think this is going to be one of his greaterst challenges yet. He has to balance between increasing violence in Aghanistan, propose health care for everyone and pay for it all to boot. I think it is going to be a huge waste of time and money, since the taliban and the other troublemakers (warlords) will lye low untiul the UN pulls out and then they will return. This is going to be the 21st century Vietnam.............

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Iraq-Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan

Pipelines, heroin, war profiteering. How sedated are those who condemned Bush 5 years ago and now want to stay the course?

[edit on 1-12-2009 by Moonsouljah]

Absolutely Correct souljah....There has been no real change from this administration to the one before it. It seems like they don't really care either. Chris matthews was just ripping into Obama on tv. Even his own supporters are against him now on this

I hear the best way to reverse the Taliban's momentum is by introducing a temporary unit surge and then withdrawing completely from the area that they occupy.

It worked in Vietnam, right?

This is not a good idea. Afghanistan is a history lesson in what not to do. The Persians, Turks, British, and Soviets have all previously made serious attempts to conquer Afghanistan, and all have failed. Hell, its a black hole of money, troops, and resources. I was hoping that Obama was smart enough to realize that Afghanistan is a lost cause, shame on me!

[edit on 1-12-2009 by Nathwa]

I really feel bad for the service personnel who are being sent off to that god forsaken place to fight for a cause nobody believes in any longer. This guy kept talking about hope and change and he sticks it once again to the youth of this country by doing the same thing the previous White House puppet did. And once they return, they'll end up being treated like crap like all other veterans.

How this guy can stand there and tell those people with a straight face lie after lie is beyond me. Who's he kidding? Democracy and values are not spread by using intimidation tactics and a gun. You'd think that someone his age who is from a younger generation would find a better way to move forward. Instead, he is acting like just another baby boomer who does not have a clue.

[edit on 1-12-2009 by SphinxMontreal]

Obama: We must reverse Taliban's momentum

Easy... Get rid of all of the ROE. ROE is tying the troops hands and feet and taped mouth while being chained to a huge ball.

ROE ( Rules of engagement) are causing the USA to fail.

Get rid'o them.

If he knows that the war has moved backwards for several years, then why did it take him so long to come to a decision on what to do?

reply to post by wiredamerican


Wars are now fought with Lawyers.....not soldiers...They are just "Colateral Damage"

I'm afraid Obama lost me tonight.
I watched in horror as he surrounded himself with the Goldman Sachs gang of thieves and bailed out the "too big to fail" banks. I was hoping he was just giving them enough rope to hang themselves but now it looks as if they used it to tie him up and put a metaphorical gun to his head.
Escalating Afghanistan is the last straw.

I've lost all hope for any kind of real change. Except for the fact that he can speak complete sentences, he might as well be GW Bush.

reply to post by ARNOMANNN


Of course we need to reverse the Taliban's momentum. We stood by while they blew up their own ancient 100 foot tall statues because they were "heathen" relics. I mean who wants to be involved in stopping that? But the day after they asked for evidence that Osama Bin Ladin was involved in 9/11 that was the last straw. Their country must be decimated to punish them so well for daring to ask for evidence Osama Bin Ladin was involved in 9/11. Of course they must be crushed like twigs. And again, they can terrorize their whole country and that is fine, but never will we allow them to question those in power... for that they must be crushed.

[edit on 1-12-2009 by truthquest]

Well just like Bush, Obama is just doing what he is told. TPTB had their Storm Troopers all dec'ed out in the audience, and Obama was just re-iterating the speech he was told to say to rally the troops and make it look good for the masses... Obama puts up a good front, I'm sure he is heart broken inside?

reply to post by ARNOMANNN


the hell with this crap. Get out. Bring the boys and girls home.

Just pay for oil. Okay? Let econmics do its stuff.\

If anyone thinks this is about oil, then, maybe you are right, but, meanwhile, before all this crap I fought a war for and all the others that have fought a war for, the oil was just way cheaper before all this #.

I guarantee you, when me and my brothers and sisters returned from the

Desert Storm crap, if gasoline cost more than when we first went to that godforsaken craphole of a world to kill people, and we came back and the price was higher, we would have revolted. Somebody would have killed GHWB outright. We knew it was BS then, so why don't people know it's BS now?

All, ya'll folks in middle east and middle southern asia, stop this crap. You got the power. This American wannabe empire is weak.

All that is needed is Venuzelea and Cuba to start some crap. I mean, really, start some crap, with Russian support.

It'll be a free for all.

Do I want to see American service members die? Hell, no. Do I want to see American people die? Hell, no. I just want to see American, the U.S.A. folks get along with others, and move this world further along the path of light and kindness, and justice.

I am a patriot of this world. I hope you are, too. I want to see the U.S.A. remain strong enough and moral enough to help make things right. Not try to make might is right.

I am tired of seeing innocent people die. Gather the criminals together and put the in jail.

I'm tired of killing. Aren't you?

My grandkids know only that the U.S. fights wars. WTF My daddy didn't get forced into a war so that he could watch his son and grandkids fight the same crap.

I want what my dad did, to watch his kids and grandkids to live without this war crap. It hasn't happened yet has it?

If I could stand in front of a gun or any other sort of weapon, and die, so that my children would never have to do that, I would, and gladly.

Obama kept his promise. He stated several times he would expand the war in Afghanistan all the while shouting change. If you remember correctly, both candidates in 2008 were FOR expanding the war in Afghanistan. Where was Americas "choice" in that regard? Because of this I took no part in the 2008 election.

Fact of the matter is the left/right is an illusion of "choice" essential to keep the American public under the impression we live in a democracy. As long as we keep fighting each other, we can never make REAL change in office.

I don't know if Obama realizes this or not, but history will remember him as the man who won the Nobel Peace Prize, then sent 30,000 soldiers with guns to a foreign country to kill.

I will finish this with a thought I had browsing through the news today.

It is FACT that there is ZERO evidence to link Osama Bin Laden to 9/11. This has been stated by the FBI. This then begs the question, what evidence do we have that Al-Qaeda pulled off the 9/11 attacks? I thought Osama was the leader of Al-Qaeda? We don't consider that "evidence of involvment?"

Good move by Obama . He promised before election he will send troops to train Afghan forces and he has yet again kept his promise.

I stand by his decsion because it is now US/UK "obligation to restore" Afghanistan to a level before Bush invaded it. USA ruined the country with it's "Shock n' Awe" and now someone has to "repair it". Make it sustainable enough for people to "live". USA CANNOT leave it like it is now, because it's USA's fault it let this happen in first place. USA is RESPONSIBLE to bring it back. USA is paying the price now for what it did to Afghanistan and Iraq under Bush regime and you simply cannot escape it.

Obama knows if he leaves Afghanistan like it is now then there will be no more USA. It will be "ex-USSR" allover again. Obama is trying to rebuild whatever he can in Afghanistan so in the end US can atleast stand with it's head up in the World and in history.

Obama is trying to build the country back so that many soldiers and civilians who have died, their deaths do not go in vain. This is not a Circus where you can enter whenever you wish and leave at your own will. This is "real world".

Welcome to the "real world".

Originally posted by December_Rain

I stand by his decsion because it is now US/UK "obligation to restore" Afghanistan to a level before Bush invaded it. USA ruined the country with it's "Shock n' Awe" and now someone has to "repair it".

I fail to see how sending more troops will "repair" a war torn country. You are making an argument is that the bombs that Obama drops are somehow "better" than the ones Bush dropped.

If we wanted to restore this country, we should build houses, not drop bombs. We should send doctors food and medicines rather than guns and troops.

I think it is important for every american to put themselves in those in Iraq and Afghanistan's shoes. If a foreign entity came to your country, bombed your house, killed your family, evicted you from your home shot and killed your fellow Americans I hardly believe you would view more military being deployed as "help".

Lets remember that these are HUMAN BEINGS. The only difference between you and them is the simple fact that someone has labeled them "terrorists". In fact, in the hypothetical situation I spoke of in the above paragraph, if you took up arms against the occupying force in your country, (and yes, you would) you would be labeled a terrorist as well. You would then more than likely be killed and/or tortured.

Yes you are right, this is a good idea.

Sorry, but I don't think the United States Government gives a rat's ass in what condition they leave Afghanistan. They have proven time and time again by unjustly invading other countries, raping them of their natural resources and leaving the people and the country to rot once they have no use for the place any longer.

Hell, the Government doesn't give a flying fudge about their own American citizens, they're going to care about some cave dwelling Muslims half a world away? These people in the Government are some of the most racist pigs you will ever meet.

This Government is nothing but one big scam after another. Nothing will change unless people stand up and stop feeding this out of control morally corrupt beast, which has given itself the power to run roughshod over everyone's human rights. This has nothing to do with democracy and everything to do with pipeline and poppy. That's what this is, The Pipeline & Poppy War.

And if you believe this terrorism and bringing democracy to the Afghan people horse dung, you are nothing more than a willing accomplice to these professional scam artists.

reply to post by BillyumH


No by providing them security cover while their infrastructure is being rebuild which got destroyed by the fire works of Shock and Awe which was live telecommuted among the huge cheering crowds seeing building beings blown up, remember? Someone has to rebuild it brick by brick and guess who that someone is, it's USA. You didn't thought someone else would come and rebuild it, did you for a second? It was afterall a good show of "Shock n Awe" and the country (who "enjoyed the show sitting in it's bedroom seeing the live telecast of modern weaponry in use and fireworks") responsible is the one who will have to do it. No matter who is the President, it's a country who blowed apart another country and that country has to rebuild it.

American troops can train Afghan troops/cops for which these 30k troops are being sent there. So that the rest of 68k troops can work towards segregating and isolating the "hardcore extremist" from the moderate Taliban (who are forced to fight, who are fighting because simply they do not have jobs, no economy...wanna know why? Because someone blowed away the building where they used to work, someone took away their livelihood which they had). So the Afghanis don't have to fear every time they take a step outside outside their door it will be their last time, some "hardcore extremist or foreign fighter" who came in hordes after the invasion will murder them.

And don't tell me you are implying to leave the NATO and ally troops there all alone, are you? These are the same allies USA rallied behind itself to launch an attack. These allies and NATO troops doing the same thing. USA has obligation to these allies also who lost their soldiers, the obligation to do what the country USA said, to make Afghanistan "habitable".

Should have thought about all this before supporting the Bush & Blair regime before "invasion", it's too late now and there simply is no way out of it. After "8 years of destroying a country you will have to spend sometime to repair it". As I said earlier it is not a circus show where you can enter and exit on whim.

They clearly have to hold territory and not play whack a mole like John McCain said about Iraq. By giving security to local communities and training the Afghan security forces we can leave a somewhat stable government. They need to turn warlords into politicians or local officials with real responsibilities. No more paying off people. Either the warlords take up their new roles or loose power.