Comments on: Gen. Powell to President Obama on Af-Pak Strategy: “Take Your Time”

By: george

george — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:24:17 +0000

Obama is in over his head like most liberals they are great with talk but when its time to make the hard calls they fold like a deck of cards. He is the worst leader this nation has ever had, it looks like the nation’s wanting to show political correctness by electing a black man has been a tragic and dangerous mistake for us all and the world.

By: Neel

Neel — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:35:25 +0000

It is unlikely that President Obama will get the right advice from people that have a long history of close association with the Pakistani Army.
Colin Powel is certainly one such person, the other being Stephen P Cohen, who always gave the wrong advise to the US Congress, of keeping India into the equation, and was successfull in keeping America’s Pakistan policy on the wrong track for a long time.
Obama needs to listen more to the fresh unbiased minds like C Christine Fair, Lisa Curtis and Teresita Schaffer.

By: pres

pres — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:19:11 +0000

Last summer, Wesley Clark the former top NATO commander said about Afghanistan, “It’s theoretically possible to achieve success. The question is how you define it.” If that statement isn’t a roadmap for what Obama should do then thi President is the wrong man in the big chair.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:10:00 +0000

At one time I had a great deal of respect for General Powell, and would have voted for him to be President. Of late, I am seeing another side. President Obama should have given his hand picked General in Afghanistan the 40,000 when requested. Those troops were needed to protect the Americans serving there, and they may have helped ensure a better election. Instead, the second election was dropped and Afghanistan has the leader who President Obama believes to not to be the best. Supporting nations (except ZGreat Britain) are having second thoughts about standing beside us in this effort, because he appears to not know what he is doing. After sending the troops, the President could have taken all the time he needed to revise a strategy. As it is, the President may be putting the currently deployed troops in increasing danger. I would rather err on the side of sending too many, rather then too little troops to get the job done. To the troops serving, to the American people, and to leaders in the world – President looks like a man of indecision. He appears weak, and that is never a good thing. Its appears he is not prepared to make the hard calls. There is more to leading this nation than being consumed with a health care agenda.

By: Common Sense

Common Sense — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:09:26 +0000

Some people say that Obama campaigned FOR the Afghanistan war and he should stick to that. Don’t they understand that war strategies changed based on the circumstances and the information known at the time? Maybe they missed the Afghanistan election? Maybe they don’t realize Obama had limited military intelligence information while he was campaigning? Maybe they forgot that Obama also campaigned on making *informed decisions and *careful deliberations.
Powell is right. Obama should take all the time he needs to make the right decision. If Bin Laden and Al Queda have moved since 2008, find out his new location and go after them where they are. Only a fool would argue that Obama should send more troops to where Bin Laden and Al Queda are NOT located just because they were there over a year ago.

By: Cooday

Cooday — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:10:08 +0000

I’m glad Gen. Powell advised President Obama to “Take Your Time” on this decision. More Troops mean more Wounded and Deaths next year. Oct 2009 was a preview of this. Are the Majority of Americans ready for this?
We already know how the Republicans who support the Bush/Neo Conservatives approach feel as they beat the drums of war again and calling for more troops.
Somewhere there is a solution and an exit with the help of our Allies and the Experts who spent their lives studying this part of the world.
Until a solution is found our Troops and allies need better protect against the deadly IEDS happening now.
The hardest part of this is dealing with the Bush and Neo Conservative War legacy left to us now. The Republicans want to pass the buck and mess they created to the Democrats so the Republicans can have clean slate to run in the 2010 and 2012 elections. The Republicans should be held accountable until our troops are safely home from both wars.

By: Brock

Brock — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:02:03 +0000

Barack Obama is being very careful in deciding what the strategy should be in Afganistan.
Which brings to mind the following question – what in Hades has our strategy been the past eight years? Send the good units and equipment to Iraq and allow our undermanned outfits to survive in the bush against the Taliban? Run out the clock?
Thank god that Obama is doing some thinking. The last president – the “C” student – obviously wasn’t.

By: dixie

dixie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:07:08 +0000

Typical, blame Bush syndrome. I did not agree with Bush on the wars. But this is the war that Obama CAMPAIGNED on. He said we are in the wrong war and we have to beat Afganistan and Al Qaida. So, once again, because we have men there, either do what you said you were going to do or PULL OUT!
BTW, we can’t afford a trillion dollars for a war OR GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTHCARE! In case you haven’t noticed, Senate and Congress pass NOTHING without adding billions in waste for their own agendas.
******
Yes I am blaming Bush! Both of these wars were useless and unncessary and if he and his adminstration would have strategized about it, and he would have taken some good advice from Bush Senior, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Yes, Obama campaigned on Afganistan, but that was two years ago during the primaries and one year ago since he was elected. Circumstances on the ground there have changed, and therefore a new strategy is required. He is not blind, deaf and dumb like Bush and does whatever his advisors tell him to do. He is taking everything into consideration and not acting blindly! I think you would appreciate that, instead of being so insistent that he send more troops there now without having a good strategy in place! In my opinion he should pull out. We’ve beaten Al Qaida, our mission was not to fight a war and defeat the Taliban. Now Al Qaida is in Pakistan and other regions, so we need to concentrate on thwarting missions being planned there, not wasting our time chasing towel heads in Afganistan.
You are already paying 100 billion a year in healthcare for all the people that don’t have healthcare and use the emergency room. I’m paying for it, and you are paying for it.

By: wheresmymoney

wheresmymoney — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:47:12 +0000

Its the Bush administration’s fault Afganistan spiraled down to the point where it is now.
Posted by dixie
******
Typical, blame Bush syndrome. I did not agree with Bush on the wars. But this is the war that Obama CAMPAIGNED on. He said we are in the wrong war and we have to beat Afganistan and Al Qaida. So, once again, because we have men there, either do what you said you were going to do or PULL OUT!
BTW, we can’t afford a trillion dollars for a war OR GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTHCARE! In case you haven’t noticed, Senate and Congress pass NOTHING without adding billions in waste for their own agendas.

By: tierra

tierra — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:42:22 +0000

Karl W. Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador in Kabul is expressing deep concerns about sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
Eikenberry is not only ambasador to Afghanistan, but also a retired three-star general who in 2006-2007 commanded U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
He’s just a three-star general who commanded troops in Afghanistan and is now ambassador – but if a bunch of right wing amateurs on this blog say ‘hurry, hurry – rush in now’ I guess we should listen to them and not give the matter due consideration.