What could the President say tomorrow to convince you...

[SHRED]

...that we need to spend the lives of our troops, countless tax dollars, and many more years in Afghanistan?


I can't think of one thing he could say,

:shrug:


---

[NYC Liberal]

1. I am hesitant to support any increase in troops

but I will wait until tomorrow when we hear facts from Obama himself about what he intends to do and how he intends to do it. We can finally put an end to the crap rumors and speculation that have been circulating for many weeks now. At least after tomorrow we can have a debate about something concrete and not something "someone who works for someone's brother who works at the White House" "leaked" to some reporter.

[niyad]

2. not a damned thing.

[Wwagsthedog]

3. Nothing at all

n/t

[MUAD_DIB]

4. Not that I want to see the USA in Afghanistan any longer, but

perhaps the Taliban could make a resurgence there if WE left: which could have an impact on nuclear-armed Pakistan's stability.

[still_one]

13. Who are we fighting again? We created the Taliban in the first place. That resurgence you speak of

is alive and well

I would like to remind you that Pakistan is NOT Afghanistan. Pakistan is where bin laden and AQ are.

[MUAD_DIB]

41. Regardless of those points, if the US were to simply walk away then what?

We should have finished the job there first.


Iraq was just a BS sideshow.

[eleny]

5. There's nothing he can say

Now I'll say goodnight and give you a K&R. Thanks for the good question.

[FrenchieCat]

6. I have an open mind, and am clearly empathetic to the current situation

not only as I wished it was, but how it is.

If I hear of attainable sensical goals,
which includes a clear exit strategy
than that's preferable for me to the 8 years of status quo
we've so far endured with this particular war.

I don't want to be like a Republican that just says NO to this President,
considering that he didn't start this war,
and he doesn't appear to be someone who wants to pass it on to
the next elected Prez.

In essence, I'm glad he's dealing with something
head on, that has been avoided for far too long.
Guess doing the hard shit doesn't always win you friends.
He'll have to live with it, I suppose.....
as long as it ends this war, that's a good thing.

[Lost-in-FL]

7. "Lifting Don't ask, don't tell", "War Tax" and "Implementing a Draft"

would put a smile on my face but WILL NOT convince me. Afghanistan will be a waste of lives.

[Golden Raisin]

33. Make that tragic loss of lives.

[zulchzulu]

8. I'm looking for a very defined exit strategy and a strict withdrawal timeline

Obama inherited this mess. I'm convinced he doesn't want an Occupation that is a boondoggle quagmire suffocating his Presidency.

I'm hoping a very defined exit strategy and a strict withdrawal timeline will be mentioned strongly and that the plans are done by 2011.

[still_one]

15. He won't give you a time table, he can't. AQ and bin laden are in Pakistan, so the original

objective is gone.

If he wants to eradicate the taliban, he better talk to karzai who wants to work with the taliban

He may not want a quagmire, but that is exactly what we will get

[still_one]

9. I'll tell you what he is going to say. He is going to say we have to finish the job that was

started. He will tell you that they will not let no bid contracts take over as they did with Iraq. He will also tell you that he will work with Congress who will have full authority over funding this war. He will tell you that our soldiers will train the Afghan Army to take over so we will have a definitive time table, though he won't commit to ANY time table.

What he will neglect to tell you is that the original reason why we invaded Afghanistan no longer exists

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. He really can't say anything new about this, there isn't anything new to say.

It's the same war that has been going on for 100 years with well intentioned invaders. But, he'll be very eloquent in the delivery anyway.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

11. If...and this is a BIG "if"...

...our original intent was to go after the architects of 9/11, we pissed that ALL away when we invaded Iraq.

But that wouldn't have satisfied Bush's "let's kill the Axis of Evil before they kill us" criteria.

Other than pissing money down a hole in the Afhgan desert and increasing the body count of our Military (as well as Afghan citizens), I don;t know of any other reason to be there.

I've always felt one of the major reasons we elected President Obama was to get us out of two wars we didn;t belong in in the first place.

We KNEW how to get bin Laden.

We didn;t need to spend this much money and spill this much blood.

[ShortnFiery]

12. No matter how eloquent the narrative, nothing he says will justify sending more of our youth

over to that Hell Hole to Kill and Die for the MIC and geopolitical advantages.

Let the Native Peoples of that AREA settle their own CIVIL WAR.

[tblue]

14. "Rumors of my increasing troop levels are dead wrong."

[still_one]

16. Are you President Obama? /nt

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. I could go for that!

However unlikely it is.

[Skittles]

18. it's never what he says, it's how he says it

and he does give good speeches :(

[Sebastian Doyle]

19. I was unconvinced in October 2001

I'm even more so now.

The man who launched his political career by saying "I'm against DUMB wars" needs to live up to it and end this DUMB ass war.

[Clio the Leo]

20. lol, well then I'm glad he turned down my suggestion.....

..... of hiring you for his speech team last winter.

[BigBearJohn]

21. "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

[whatchamacallit]

22. NOTHING. These wars are based on lies. Continuing them legitimizes war crimes. n/t

[newtothegame]

23. "Look at how I made history last November; wasn't that amazing???" n/t

[Patchuli]

24. I will listen

but there is no reason to keep this going that I can see or will be easily convinced of.

[Patchuli]

51. I didn't get to listen because I couldn't get away

from work in time. But I am NOT happy.

[quakerboy]

25. There is nothing that will make prolonging this good

Setting a crystal clear solid plan and timeline for getting out would be a very heartening thing, though.

[optimator]

26. Af/Pak peasants are going to invade the USA

If he provides hard factual evidence that they are planning to overthrow the USA, then I might change my mind.

[Divine Discontent]

29. that's the logical answer. I prefer to say alien invaders are going to crawl out of the mountains,

& he has video proof that they're gonna take over the USA to eat our brains... but yeah, if Af/Pak military has plans to overthrow us imminently - then sure - I'll support a furthering of a ground invasion.

[AngryOldDem]

44. I almost said that downthread but feared it would sound too isolationist.

But you're right...the only thing that would make me perhaps reconsider my opposition is if our shores are directly and unequivocally at physical risk.

We will never defeat Al Queda or the Taliban through conventional military means.

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.

[Divine Discontent]

28. that alien invaders are coming out of Afghanistan to eat our brains, and then he shows video proof

then I'd support his actions.

[boppers]

30. That he will train 30,000 community organizers (who happen to wear uniforms).

Rather than "merely being soldiers", they will fan throughout the country and help Afghanis rebuild their country, one block, one village, at a time.

Oh, and that they'll be *required* to have Dari, and Pashtun, speakers for every group of eight soldiers/organizers, and they will know that their mission is not to kill, or invade, or dominate, or otherwise piss folks off, but to help rebuild, restore, and recreate Afghanistan to its former glories.

[SHRED]

35. and we can afford this while our mainland degrades?

[liquid diamond]

31. At least you are honest.

Lines have been drawn. Tomorrow we go to war with each other.

[emilyg]

32. Nothing.

[Life Long Dem]

34. What does he need to say?

Serve in Afghanistan to protect us here. His job is to serve and protect.

[polichick]

36. Absolutely nothing. nt

[WinkyDink]

37. ZEEE-RO, that's what. Learned NOTHING from the Russians.

[bluethruandthru]

38. Nothing... And I don't want to hear why we can't afford to reform health care.

We always have billions to spend killing people...but nothing to spend to take care of them.

[tekisui]

39. Not a thing.

[freddie mertz]

40. I can't either. I am deeply skeptical.

I want to support this president, but principle takes precedence over personality.

[GeorgeGist]

42. I'm sure he'll give it the old ...

cowardly try. And that will suffice; until next time.

[AngryOldDem]

43. There's nothing he can say.

All he's got is the same, tired bullshit Bush fed us. Nobody's believing it anymore.

[treestar]

45. Well since you can't think of anything, there obviously must be nothing

[Sparkly]

46. A few things...

1. That it's absolutely necessary for saving millions of lives ultimately.
2. That there's a clear mission with a clear outcome expected.
3. That there's a definite end point and exit strategy.
4. That he isn't trying to use military might to solve the problem, but as part of an effort that includes diplomacy for a political solution.
5. That he's brought NATO and key allies on board in significant numbers, because they agree with him.
6. That there are reasons to believe we can build an Afghan army, and without further damage to our own.
7. That the mission will help stabilize Pakistan and engage their help.
8. That 34,000 troops are the maximum number and he's expecting fewer will be needed.
9. That there will be new personnel both in the Pentagon and on the ground in the region.
10. That it will somehow be paid for, or at least that it's worth paying for in the long run.

[CBR]

47. I just want to hear what he says before I make any judgments.

My initial reaction is "what a mistake" but I am open to hearing the exit strategy, the goals of the mission etc...

Just today I have read we are out in three years vs. 2017 so I want to be sure what we are talking about here.

[TheKentuckian]

48. I'll settle for a workable plan that is a real solution for a coherent

problem with observable benchmarks for success that will reasonably cost less than the worst case scenario of just bailing out.

Sounds like an amoral soulless roll over and die wish list but so far I haven't heard anything approaching even this super minimal criteria.

[LooseWilly]

49. "Scientists have conclusively proven that Afghanistan is composed of 'Magic Terrorist Dirt'... thus,

we obviously can't leave Afghanistan, and take the chance of al Qa'eda building training camps on this Magic Terrorist Dirt... because US Law Enforcement strategies obviously can't cope with Magic Terrorists."

"I'm afraid we're going to have to stay forever... but on the plus side, not only did I just save a bundle by being able to cancel my car insurance... but I'm going to urge Congress to levy a special "Pipelineistan Tax" on the oil industry, so that the profits made on the pipelines we'll be building through Magic-Terrorist-Dirt-istan will pay for the eternal troop presence."

"Relax, assholes... I got this."



--> Somehow I doubt that's what we're gonna hear though.

[OneBlueSky]

50. absolutely nothing . . . n/t