Maxine Waters on Bill Maher: "We don't want to substitute Afghanistan for Iraq,"

[biopowertoday]

Good for her and the Progressive Caucus.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christina-bellantoni/antiwar-rep-waters-to-pre_b_168773.html



It's not very often news breaks on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, but the season premiere Friday night did just that.

Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who co-founded the Out of Iraq Caucus, told Maher she is concerned about President Obama's announcement he is sending 17,000 more troops and support to Afghanistan.

She was a Hillary Clinton backer during the primary fight, but said lots of complimentary things about Obama on Maher's show until she started talking about Afghanistan.

Waters said the members of Congress' Progressive Caucus plan to tell Obama about their fears.

"We don't want to substitute Afghanistan for Iraq," she said........

[jefferson_dem]

1. Maxine does her job well...

Nonetheless, I can't side with her on this one since Barack campaigned on the platform of increasing troop levels in Afghanistan and...it seems to be the smart strategic move for now.

[avaistheone1]

2. Let a woman with both brains and balls lead the way.

Right on Maxine Waters!:kick:

I have noted how Obama would sandwich Afghanistan into his campaign speeches when he had the crowds
roaring. But once Afghanistan was mentioned the crowds went numb and silent. There was no support from Obams's supporters for Obama's desire to surge Afghanistan throughout his campaign despite Obama's attempts to slide this into his platform.

Obama has campaigned on alot of things and changed his mind. I think he had best change his mind about escalating our presence in Afghanistan or surely this will be Obama's dirty war. It will be Obama's Vietnam. This is something our country can not afford emotionally or financially. I hope Obama will soon find his way from the delusions the Pentagon brass have been feeding him.

[jefferson_dem]

3. Well, I attended and viewed my share of Obama rallies and he has always...

made scaling down the Iraq boondoggle and escalating troops in Afghanistan the lynchpin of his national security policy. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/opinion/14obama.html?_r=1&ref=politics Cool with me.

I know the chimpy has made us all drop-dead cynical about efforts by POTUS to serve as commander-in-chief but let's not lurch toward the "Department of Peace" just yet...

[biopowertoday]

6. Many folks from both sides are asking what our objective is? will

we be involved in nation building again? (such as). What is our exit strategy. I think those are fair questions.

[Exilednight]

4. I think you read too much into the mood of the crowd............

a war, no matter how wrong or right, is not something to cheer over. When a President speaks of war, it should be a somber moment, No one should cheer, but just because you don't cheer doesn't mean you do or do not support his judgment.

Afghanistan is the war we should have been fighting all along. It's the just war, but under Bush was it was waged in a way that no military commander with integrity could support.

Under Obama, Afghanistan could be turned around with a peaceful outcome. Unlike Bush, Obama understands that not all wars are determined by who fired the most bullets and piled up the most bodies.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

11. What does Maxine Waters' gender have to do with anything here?

Afghanistan was never a dirty war, or did the last 7 years under Bush have you forget whom actually attacked the United States?

And furthermore, we are not Republicans - we do not cheer for war. If there was silence, it was because we do not delight in the shedding of blood, even if it is the right thing to do.

[jenmito]

5. We could NEVER substitute Afghanistan for Iraq. Iraq was an invasion based on a lie which

had nothing to do with 9/11. Afghanistan was the home base of those who attacked us on 9/11. And Maxine Waters (and ALL of us) should've been well aware that Obama ALWAYS called Iraq the "wrong war" and Afghanistan the "right war." He ran on not only refocusing on Afghanistan, but striking at high-value targets in Pakistan if their govt. wouldn't cooperate. There's no comparison between the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

[Clio the Leo]

7. Yep, we had fair warning.

I was abundantly clear on what he was going to do .... I dont know why this is coming as a surprise to folks.

From the DNC speech, 8/28/08 .....

You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq. You don't protect Israel and deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington. You can't truly stand up for Georgia when you've strained our oldest alliances. If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice - but it is not the change we need.

We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans - have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.

As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.

I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

What did Maxine have to say about it then?

[jenmito]

8. Thanks for the example...

and I don't remember her saying ANYTHING back then. What gets ME are the people accusing Obama's supporters of being "worshippers" and "fans" when it's the very same people who write posts about their great disappointment in the "Bush-like policy" of Obama increasing troop numbers in Afghanistan. Who are the foolish ones? :shrug:

[avaistheone1]

9. The foolish ones are those who think anything positive will come out of our

military intervention in Afghanistan. Sssesh...we are killing innocent people to save innocent people. Sounds like the old Bush talk to me.

Obama would be smart to get us the hell out of both Afghanistan and Iraq as quickly as possible.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

13. Unlike Iraq, the people we are going after are not located in an urban setting.

While there are always some innocent casualties, there are not likely to be very many people that have nothing to do with Al Qaeda just kind of hanging around in the mostly uninhabitable mountainous regions of Afghanistan.

Iraq and Afghanistan are not very much alike.

[jenmito]

14. "Sounds like the old Bush talk to me."

Do you really think that going after those who attacked us is the same as invading a country which was no threat to us based on lies? If so, you sound like one of the foolish ones.

[mmonk]

12. But we must never forget Afghanistan was about geopolitics

during the days of the Soviet Union and subsequent policy was about control of it for a pipeline. It was no accident Karzai (formerly of Unocal, intended recipient of the pipeline) is now head of the central government in Kabul. Without adding in those facts, one cannot look at Afghanistan wholly.

[jenmito]

15. Yes, it WAS about that...

but Obama ran on putting our eye back on those who attacked us on 9/11. For people to be SHOCKED by that or surprised by that weren't listening.

[LWolf]

10. Good for her.

Does Obama care what the Progressive Caucus has to tell him?

We'll see.