Those who think Obama has made the right decision, please remind the rest of us

[BeHereNow]

Why we are in the ME waging war?

I really want to hear your rationale.

BHN

[xchrom]

1. we have to fight them there --

oh never mind.

[BeHereNow]

7. Yes, they will swim here- I forgot.

Never mind their lack of a naval or air force to get here.
They are tenacious and will SWIM to our borders to fight us.
Yeah, that must be the answer.
BHN

[jpak]

2. Afghanistan is in Southwest Asia - not the ME

please restate your question

:evilgrin:

[branders seine]

3. didn't you listen to the Prezdint's speechifying?

9-11.

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. Heh

:evilgrin:

[tridim]

4. Ask Bush.

[dana_b]

10. Obama is Bush??

OP was asking about Obama's decision.

[tridim]

13. He asked why we're in the ME.

That's a question for the Bush administration.

[Texasgal]

5. I'm honestly very confused

and could use some guidance on how to think about this.

On one hand I believe we need to protect ourselves as Americans, on the other hand I hate that women, children and innocent people are being killed.

It's all so very confusing to me.

I am just being honest here.

[BeHereNow]

9. Protect ourselves from WHAT? n/t

BHN

[Texasgal]

12. another 9/11??

Please be gentle here, I am asking for guidance not scorn...okay?

[BeHereNow]

24. I'm not scorning you- but think about it, our continued presence INCREASES the threat.

911 was spurred by egregious US/Military/Hegemonic
policies through out the world.
Those policies have escalated, not diminished over
the past ten years.
The predictable and logical outcome will be an INCREASE
in the possibility that retaliation will manifest in
more, not less terrorism.

BHN

[Texasgal]

32. Thank you

I appreciate your post... still confused though, what should we do about terrorism? Where do we go from here?

[BeHereNow]

33. What should we do about terrorism?

End our hegemonic quest for global power.
That wont happen though.

BHN

[Texasgal]

35. Should no one be blamed or pay

for 9/11.. ??

[BeHereNow]

36. Oh yes, there are plenty to be blamed, just not the ones you've been sold.

Start with Unocal and the CIA.

BHN

[Texasgal]

37. Okay. Thanks for your opinions.

I appreciate it.

[BeHereNow]

51. Here's a good research start from 2002 to read:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHI203A.html

PS: I admire the fact that you are willing to learn more.
Good for you. That is a rare quality on DU these days.

BHN:yourock: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[earth mom]

41. You might want to do some research and follow the money.

This is all about greed for oil with a little-actually a lot-of hatred of muslims thrown in to get the haters onboard.

IMO, 911 was MIHOP or LIHOP and once you research it, it's easy to connect the dots and see the what, where, why and how of this giant horrific mess.

And one more thing.

Stop being afraid of the boogeyman and buying into the fear! fear! fear! terror! terror! terror! Obama and the warmongers are selling.

It's propaganda pure and simple in order to get you to believe and support what they are doing.

As FDR said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"

[Jeanette in FL]

6. Really, I want to know too

What is the reason? Come on, we want to know.

[DJ13]

8. We wont be finished until we have brought

......state run universal health coverage to all the countries we invade.

[ipaint]

17. +1, in addition to ensuring 45,000 americans are killed yearly here.

3000 americans killed 8 years ago by the perpetually elusive bin laden and in that same time 360,000 americans are killed by insurance companies. Who is the terrorist?

[BeHereNow]

34. STOP making sense!

Critical thinking is NOT allowed in duh'murikkka.

BHN

[G_j]

14. because militarism is God

nt

[quiller4]

15. We were attacked by a terrorist group who finds safe haven in parts of

Afghanistan and Pakistan. We have the legal authority (authorizations by Congress and United Nations) and moral authority to retaliate with force against those that attacked us. That rationale hasn't changed with time. I am more hopeful of success of the current effort because it lays out a clearer mission and couples military force with a much stronger nonmilitary aid effort that is project directed.

[la la]

18. thank you, Quiller-

you said it well.

[Sukie]

20. I have seen many wonderful answers to this question, to include

yours, on DU, but the people who continue to ask it really don't care. It is becoming clearer to me that they are the mirror image of teabaggers. You can't reasonably have a discussion with people who have the everything or nothing mentality, regardless of what they label themselves.

[cbdo2007]

21. Bush actually could have had a much different legacy if he actually had

a good clear strategy in Afghanistan and had wiped out Al Queda there and hadn't bothered with Iraq. If that had happened we'd all be bitching about President Cheney right now.

Obama's address tonight and his plan is what we SHOULD have had in 2001-2003 when we first went into Afghanistan. Obama's going to be seen as the hero if this works out and will be a shoe in in 2012. It's almost no-lose for him with the Repubes touting the Iraq surge so much in the 2008 election.

[BeHereNow]

25. And why were we attacked in the first place?

That is the question I suspect very few have considered.
Escalation will increase more, not less terrorism.

BHN

[liquid diamond]

29. Oh, give peace a chance!

:sarcasm:

[LooseWilly]

39. There seems to be (near) universal agreement that al Qa'eda is no longer in Afghanistan.

The "legal authority" was for retaliation against al Qa'eda... not for an indefinite occupation of Afghanistan in order to prop up an alternate government to the Taliban, whether the propped up government is in any way legitimate or not. The only basis for "retaliation" against the Taliban and their regime was in so far as they harbored al Qa'eda... but from what I'm hearing from experts... they are no longer harboring al Qa'eda.

Hence, the "legal authority" is no longer valid/binding...

[cbdo2007]

47. Um....you should probably let Obama know this ASAP so that he can change that whole

"troop escalation" thing before he holds a big speech on it.....oh wait, what? the speech was tonight? Oh for f*cks sake! We're screwed!!

Seriously though, hopefully Obama's got some advisors browsing DU so that he can get ahold of the latest Al Qa'eda intelligence.

[LooseWilly]

50. Heh... nice condescension...

But I don't delude myself into thinking that Obama doesn't have advisors who've told him what I've written.

The question is, what other considerations override the information I've been hearing...

Thanks for addressing that nascent issue... ohh right, you didn't... you just turned to self-righteous condescension... somehow thinking that that's a viable substitute for actually addressing policy issues and offering your own analyses.

I'm convinced...

[tiny elvis]

49. legal authority, moral authority

'we have the legal authority'
'we' is easy to understand
authorized by congress-
maybe 'we' is vague after all
is congress part of 'we'?
like, we have legal authority because we legally authorized ourselves with authority?
and united nations, ok

i cannot find a definition of moral authority that can be followed with 'to do'
or 'to retaliate with force against'
but it sounds good

'more hopeful of success of the current effort' to retaliate with force?
'a clearer mission' of the rationale that has not changed?

twaddle and piffle
no real meaning

[gravity]

16. Because Afganistan was harboring terrorist who attacked us on US soil

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

31. the Taliban offered to turn Bin Laden over to a 3rd party country. Look it up.

[gravity]

42. Bin Laden isn't the only terrorist involved in 9/11

and I doubt bin Laden would just let himself be turned in.

The Taliban harbored the terrorist organization like Al-Qaeda which were responsible for the 9/11 attacks and continued to do so afterwards. A simple gesture, which you have no clue on its credibility, doesn't change that fact.

I am against the war in Iraq, but the one in Afghanistan had clear justifications and world support behind it.

[Therellas]

19. control over resources....

thats what i think it is.

[Texasgal]

22. what resources does Afganistan have?

[Therellas]

28. I just meant strategery in the middle east in general

[BeHereNow]

27. Pipelines, to be exact. Welcome to DU.

BHN

[Gregorian]

23. Obama is in a cage. He is trapped. Due to the circumstances I think he had little choice

If Obama were adding troops in order to fight endlessly, as the Bush adiministration wanted, then I would be opposed.

I think the only question we have is the number of troops.

Oh I don't know. Considering we have both houses, I just don't get it. I'm unhappy, yet I'm trusting that Obama is a good good man. I still trust that he is doing the only, or best, thing he can under the circumstances.

The other question I have is what would happen if he hadn't sent any troops. I mean politically. I just don't see why he sent them. But I do know he is trying to get out.

It's pretty screwed up.

[Odin2005]

26. Because Islamists nuts were using Afganistan as a training haven

Thus 9/11

[liquid diamond]

30. Not good enough.

"Bring'em home."
:sarcasm:

[spanone]

38. because bu$h*/cheney fucked us into it

[blues90]

40. we are not there to create democracy

we are there to kill and be killed and now the die is cast and we are done as a country , we can forget about health ins re-form and jobs.

It's over.

This entire speech was an abomination and a con. Obama talks of a nation who voted , they did not vote and he spoke of allies , who might that be?

This is a tribal nation with a border that Obama spoke of as if he were describing Texas and New Mexico . Far from reality .

I saw cadets faces drained of any description of hope.

Let watch for photo's of the pipeline and the blood flowing through it.

[earth mom]

43. The wars are all about Greed for Oil and Hatred for Muslims. 911 was MIHOP or LIHOP.

Those who are buying into the fear mongering and warmongering need to do some serious research and connect the dots.

[Capn Sunshine]

44. OK

It's like this. We would not be here were it not for the previous eight years of total suck. I cannot envision President Obama starting this shit up, but this shit is piled on our doorstep, and now we have to deal with it.

I'm assuming the best of course, because I like Obama, you know how long I worked for him, but the MIC is pretty formidable; almost as much as, no MORESO than the Heath Insurance Lobby. We need to de-escalate, which is what Obama is doing. Starting to leave. All's I know is, if there isn't something done to address the ridiculous expenditure on "defense" we are all just totally fucked.

In context, I really wanted Obama to ask for a tax increase to ACTUALLY PAY for this shit.out this, but we're getting out of

I'm not happy about this, but we're getting out of Iraq, and the plan is to get out of Afghanistan.

Oh, by the way, our presence there is not just about oil , it is EQUALLY ABOUT THE DRUG TRADE.
Don't forget that. A lot of folks hope you do.

[Capn Sunshine]

45. OK

It's like this. We would not be here were it not for the previous eight years of total suck. I cannot envision President Obama starting this shit up, but this shit is piled on our doorstep, and now we have to deal with it.

I'm assuming the best of course, because I like Obama, you know how long I worked for him, but the MIC is pretty formidable; almost as much as, no MORESO than the Heath Insurance Lobby. We need to de-escalate, which is what Obama is doing. Starting to leave. All's I know is, if there isn't something done to address the ridiculous expenditure on "defense" we are all just totally fucked.

In context, I really wanted Obama to ask for a tax increase to ACTUALLY PAY for this shit.out this, but we're getting out of

I'm not happy about this, but we're getting out of Iraq, and the plan is to get out of Afghanistan.

Oh, by the way, our presence there is not just about oil , it is EQUALLY ABOUT THE DRUG TRADE.
Don't forget that. A lot of folks hope you do.

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. I am not for it

but you want the real reasons?

SILK ROAD, with all that this means... not just oil... Central Asian Chess Game

Containment...

And yes a few nukes.

The last is potential so far.

But that is the cliffs notes of why we are there.

Any of these would take books...

[rucky]

48. Because Obama's not really in control?

that what it's starting to look like