US Army sergeant held for civilian shootings in Afghanistan.

And who agreed?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/obama_sending_more_troops_to_afghanistan_4Zip6gld4A2W7Ziuod71YN

Given the current state of affairs in Afghanistan,it's fair to say that Obama's decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan in 2010 has been an abject failure.

It's telltale that the top 3 Generals who were proponents of the surge are now no longer involved with the operation. General McKiernan and General McCrystall were both relieved of their commands and General Petraeus moved to CIA.

 

The Pentagon sold the surge to Bush and then sold it to Obama. If the President had ignored them, the right would be howling that we'd cut and run. C'mon.

 

You c'mon. Bush was out of office a full year before Obama made the decision to send more troops. The right was not pushing for more troops.

 

Seriously?

www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_646768.html?source=rss&feed=7

 

McCain was on Meet the Press yesterday. He was bitching that Obama "wasn't showing leadership" by sending "only" 30,000 troops in the surge instead of 40,000.

 

Essentially what you are saying was that Obama needed to send more troops to avoid criticism from the right.
What kind of leadership is that?

 

Are you kidding me? There's not a problem anywhere in the world that the right doesn't think can be solved with troops, troops and more troops.

And stop questioning the president's decisions in the prosecution of war. As Dick Cheney told me repeatedly, it's treasonous.

 

No. That's not what I'm saying at all.

What I'm saying is that the president took the best advice of his generals and acted upon it.

A decision with which the American right agreed wholeheartedly at the time.

 

I'm part of the "American right" and I did not wholeheartedly agree. There were plenty of others
also.

Even Obama's VP spoke out against the surge.

 

Can we please stop citing political opposition by the other party as a reason fo doing, or not doing, something?

Do yo really think Obama cares what "the right" thinks about any of his positions? He's shown repeatedly that he doesn't.

I'd also like to think that President Obama doesn't decide troop deployment levels based on politics.

 

Republicans are warning President Barack Obama that he will risk losing GOP votes for any troop surge in Afghanistan if he requests fewer than the 40,000 additional troops sought by Gen. Stanley McChrystal.


thehill.com/homenews/administration/64025-gop-warns-obama-on-troop-surge

 

He took the advice of his generals. A Republican congress agreed with that advice.