Obama: 33,000 Troops Home by Next Summer.

I hate war, but I worry this may not be the right time for this move. I hope I'm wrong. At any rate it's happy news for thousands of families who have members serving, and that's something to smile about. Let's pray/hope/wish for this to be truly over and for a true peace.

In a nationally televised speech outlining a shift in U.S. policy, Obama said that after the initial reduction, more troops will be pulled out of Afghanistan at a steady pace as Afghans take over their own security by 2014.

Obama said that 10,000 troops will be transferred out of Afghanistan by the end of this year and the full 33,000 deployed as part of the "surge" ordered in 2009 will come home no later than September 2012.

MSNBC

that's just the surge he's removing...so it will be back to pre-surge numbers...it's what he said he'd do when he campaigned and he's doing it now? talk about timing...isn't there an election coming up soon?

Didn't he make the same promise at the time he was elected?
More stall tactics.
Hollow statements I just cant believe a word that guy says anymore

Just in time for the election........how typical of a politician. The whole thing is a joke and we'll definitely not just be there for support. I wonder how many other things he'll do around election time?

Originally posted by here4awhile
talk about timing...isn't there an election coming up soon?

thats exactly what i was thinking.
just a coincidence?
I think not

I'll believe that when me S*@# turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet...

Thats all I could think of while reading this...

Originally posted by adifferentbreed
Just in time for the election........how typical of a politician. The whole thing is a joke and we'll definitely not just be there for support. I wonder how many other things he'll do around election time?

And/or ...

Maybe obama thinks he might need the troops back here in the U.S. ...

I believe he also said that sometime next May, there will be a joint security conference about what to do in Afghanistan to.

Purely a political move. Once... scratch that, if he is re-elected I wouldn't be surprised
if he reinstated all those troops, if not back to Afghanistan, to another country we are
at war with.

Originally posted by here4awhile
that's just the surge he's removing...so it will be back to pre-surge numbers...it's what he said he'd do when he campaigned and he's doing it now? talk about timing...isn't there an election coming up soon?

You're right gonna edit now.

What will the USA do with 100,000 troopers when they all come home ?

Serious question.

reply to post by Kali74


Liberals undoubtedly will call this a erm .. victory against the wars .. a .. erm .. start .. to ending the wars ....

Removing 30k troops from Afghanistan in a YEAR .. a freaking year .. will bring troop levels back down to 2008/9 levels ....

In other words: Nothing changed except the "additional" troops that were requested 2 years ago will be removed and the operation will be back to "normal" strength.

Anti-war my ass.

EDIT to add: It's just like the gimmick "I pulled troops out of Iraq" BS .. There are still 44k troops in Iraq, troops are still being rotated there .. the only difference is the sudden unexplainable media blackout regarding Iraq since Obama took office.

Disgusting.

Anybody else notice:Not a single American Flag was displayed during the speech.

I have never seen a POTUS speak in the WH without flags in the background.


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4201cab81087.jpg[/atsimg]

For as much as I would like all the troops home NOW, I know that you can't just have them completely vacate at once. However, leaving troops there for eternity I would never agree with...and that's what will happen long after Obama is out of office.

Is this the right move? I'm not privy to military information nor is most. I can't imagine ever makign this decision on my own.

He's getting more heat about Afghanistan because Bin Laden is dead...that happened not that long ago remember? Now that he's gone, he's bringing some troops home as support for the Afghan war has dropped considerably.

If 9/11 didn't happen, if it would of been prevented, as it easily could have been, we wouldn't be talking about this right now. If we hadn't gone into Iraq we could have stayed focused on Bin Laden and been out of there long ago. A mess is a mess...he inherited it. Now Libya is a whole different topic.....

I want the troops home. We've lost enough soldiers and enough innocent blood has been spilled.

reply to post by Niall197

What will the USA do with 100,000 troopers when they all come home ?

McDonalds is hiring.

reply to post by David9176


Um why not? Usually when a war ends we leave. Yeah? This is the longest war we've ever fought, longer than WWI and WWII combined. Usually we leave, and keep one base in the region (we have one already ... in Kuwait) We need to leave, we kicked their ass now go home.

Of course I knew that election would pop up as the reason most of you think this is happening. I disagree. We have had major victories over Al-Qaeda this year, and I think the reason we did not sooner is because we didn't have that in addition to advisors saying it wasn't a good idea to withdraw troops. Petreus in fact is in total disagreement with President Obama and says the withdrawal of troops shouldn't begin until 2013.

This could be disastrous for Obama, not to mention our troops that are staying if this turns out to be the wrong move.

maybe he's bringing them back in sept 2012, because on the 21st december of that year, they will be needed by fema to implement martial law..

blah 33,000 troops vs the troops in 130 different countries.

and yep just in time for the election season.

obama took one look at the polls and jumped right on tv.

had enough of the commander in shill.

reply to post by Niall197

What will the USA do with 100,000 troopers when they all come home ?

Serious question.

They should give them a month's leave all expenses paid RnR at the site of their choice, for starters.