Just a reminder... 78 soldiers die in Afghanistan so far this year.

[cwcwmack]

For what?

The perpetrators of 9-11 are dead. The chief planner is in custody, most mid level operatives are dead or in custody, the "inspiration" is in a cave or dead.

Thousands of "bad guys" have assumed room temperature. At this point you're just creating new enemies.

Kinda like playing a video game, you smoke the bad guys and they "spawn" again and come running at you...



Declare the whole thing "won"... leave 2500 support staff there to train, give financial and military aid and give tactical support via the air.

Enough already. If this keeps up... on the 10th anniversary of 9-11 there will STILL be US casualties there. There's no end game, no "out".




I'm no dove... I support kicking the living shit out of anyone who attacks the US. Which is exactly why I'm for leaving Afghanistan. We need a force available to respond if we ever ARE attacked by someone like a North Korea.

[cwcwmack]

1. if the number 78 isn't significant...

that's one and a half football fields of dead bodies lined up head to toe.

that's 156 parents who lost a kid.

that's like an Airbus A320 going down.

that's like 2 whole MLB baseball teams

that's like one and one half Greyhound buses.

or 3 entire 4th grade classes.




get it?

[ShortnFiery]

3. Not to mention the wives. husbands, sweethearts, brothers, sisters and friends of the fallen.

We know know of at least a dozen Marine Corps or Army friends and acquaintances who have been wounded or have died as a result of our two ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

[ShortnFiery]

2. There's no easy answer but since we have "a professional military" it's hard to get The American

People to CARE about all the killing and dying.

I met a woman yesterday whose son was injured by an IED in The Battle of Fallujah. Although he was almost fully recovered, it required FIVE operations on his left arm. But yes, soon he'll be heading now to Afghanistan. The worry in her face was heart breaking. However, I fear only the threat of BANKRUPTING this Nation will get us to haul our butts out of two occupations.

That's the pain for those of us who were born "Military Dependents" and remain so throughout our lives save for short stints on active duty for ourselves. We FEEL their pain and wish that more people would pay attention. :(

[Hippo_Tron]

4. It isn't about Bin Laden or 9/11, it's about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal

That is likely Obama's real motivation. Not saying that we are right or wrong to be there because of that. But I think the reason he is sending in more troops is to prevent the Taliban from taking control of Pakistan and thus taking control of their nuclear arsenal. He is very worried about the repercussions of that happening on his watch.

If you read Obama's Afghanistan/Pakistan plan, it has much more to do with Pakistan than Afghanistan. The only reason the troops are being sent to Afghanistan is because we can't violate Pakistan's sovereignty any more than we already are. Therefore we're going to fight the Taliban from the Afghanistan side.

And just a side note, North Korea doesn't have even close to the capability to attack the United States. The only reason we wind up in pseudo brinksmanship scenarios with them is because they can attack Japan or South Korea.

[cwcwmack]

5. remember...

the US has 35,000 soldiers in South Korea... if NK rolled South, it'd be a mess. We'd have to support HEAVILY from the AIR from carrier groups and Japan.

[Hippo_Tron]

8. North Korea doesn't have any incentive to roll south

Yes it would be a mess but it would result in the end of Kim Jong Il's regime. He's not suicidal.

[avaistheone1]

6. Too bad they can't work their eyelashes out of there -

or that someone won't work theirs to get them out.

Afghanistan is a hell hole. Good luck. Unfortunately, we are going to lose. Al Quada is in 80 to l00 countries so this mission is a wild goose chase which will yield nothing but more death, hate and misery, not to mention billions and billions of dollars down a rathole we can't afford. We have no exit strategy. We will go down just like the Soviets did.

[cwcwmack]

7. I have to agree...

We should fight it from 40,000 feet... and with covert ops. But get the ground pounders out of there...