Selling war? Go to West Point where they have to applaud

[Cyrano]

Whether any West Point cadet agrees or disagrees with Obama's position on Afghanistan, none of them can stand up and yell "bullshit."

The horrible truth is that some of these cadets may end up dying there. And if this insanity continues, some of their children might also end up there.

Afghanistan is perhaps one of the foremost "no win" places in the world. (So was Vietnam, for different reasons.)

I really don't need to listen to what Obama is going to tell us today. Whatever rationale he presents, we will, someday in the future, pull out of Afghanistan without having changed one damn thing.

Then again, the only change might be that the Democrats will no longer control congress, and may even lose the White House in 2012. But that's meaningless compared with those who will lose their lives for nothing but political reasons.

[Bluebear]

1. It's something that Bush would have pulled. I would have thought Obama not to be so cheap.

[roody]

3. +1

[Neecy]

5. Exactly.

It infuriated me when Bush used our troops as cheap props, and I don't like it when a Democratic president does it, either.

Do the address from the Oval Office. Have some dignity.

[rfranklin]

2. The Army likes it because it's a great career move...

Think about it...without war how can you prove that you are deserving of a leadership role?

[Why Syzygy]

4. We've been told

Afghanistan is "dangerous" as rationale. It's "dangerous" because we are there!
All 'hijackers' were from S.A. NOT Iraq. NOT Afghanistan.

A couple of things will have changed.
More drug addicts.
New gas pipeline.

I hope it is the graveyard of empires. There is no liberty in the face of empire.

[Echo In Light]

6. +1

[Bluebear]

9. You said it.

[berni_mccoy]

7. Wrong. Cadets do not need to cheer, though they will. Obama is going to West Point

because he knows at least some of these cadets will be likely serving under him in the war.

[Cyrano]

12. "... likely serving under him in the war."

And likely many of them won't survive.

Aside from conservative Dems, I don't know of anyone who voted for him to escalate Afghanistan and stay there until some indefinite future.

Obama is no fool. He knows that the British Empire got their asses kicked out of there. He knows the USSR finally said, "fuck this" and walked away. And he also knows that there's no way we're going to turn a country with a 10% literacy rate into ... what?

The local tribes of Afghanistan have been killing each other for centuries and will continue to do so. And there's nothing that we, or the rest of the world, can do to change it.

Obama's worst sin is knowing history, yet choosing to ignore it. Why? So the Republicans won't call him a wuss? None of them will ever vote for him anyway.

All he's doing right now is losing his Democratic base. And by losing it, he's screwing us all.

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. Many won't survive?

Are you fucking kidding me?

Talk about ignoring history. The odds are minimal that ANY of the cadets will die in Afghanistan. The casualty rates, even now at their highest since the beginning, are astonishingly low.

This doesn't come anywhere close to Vietnam or Korea or WW2, when you could have said 'many' accurately.

Get some perspective.

[SoCalDem]

8. Watch for tepid/polite applause

and then the comparisons of the "hootin & hollerin" from wne Bush spoke there.. There will be a comparison done, and then of course the usual dreck about how republicans are more "trusted:" when it comes to military stuff:puke:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. People are going to cheer where ever he goes.

The people at West Point will be the ones following orders. The location is appropriate.

[bahrbearian]

11. As long as he has plenty of Cheer Leaders, they will Cheer.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. People don't need cheerleaders.

Unlike the phony poutrage of the tea-baggers, the love and respect for Obama is genuine.

[Mari333]

14. yep, just like Bush.

put him in front of the vets for peace instead.

more propaganda. and bullshit.