Gates: "Exit Afghanistan in 2011? Just Kidding, Chumps!"

[MannyGoldstein]

Perhaps only a “handful” of American troops will be leaving Afghanistan in July 2011, the date President Obama has set to begin a gradual withdrawal, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

“We will have 100,000 forces, troops there,” Mr. Gates said on ABC’s “This Week,” “and they are not leaving in July of 2011. Some, handful, or some small number, or whatever the conditions permit, will begin to withdraw at that time.”

“I don’t consider this an exit strategy,” he continued, “This is a transition.” He said it would begin in less-contested parts of Afghanistan before expanding to the most obdurate Taliban strongholds, largely in the south and east.

The White House used appearances on the Sunday talk programs to convey that the deadline would mark the start, not the end, of troop withdrawal. “2011 is not a cliff, it’s a ramp,” Gen. James L. Jones, the national security adviser, said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/world/asia/07policy.html?ref=global-home">Gates Calls July 2011 the Beginning, Not End, of Afghan Withdrawal

How many times does Lucy need to yank the football before Charlie Brown learns? This all has become more predictable than a Republican voting "nay".

[lamp_shade]

1. Keywords: BEGIN WITHDRAWAL (in 2011)

[eleny]

5. Key phrase: "Some, handful, or some small number, or whatever the conditions permit, ...

...will begin to withdraw at that time." - Secy Defense Gates on Meet the Press, today.

That kind of talk would drive Jesus to a barstool.

[Bjorn Against]

6. In other words those key words are empty words

Obama put those into his speech in the hopes that people would think they actually meant something meaningful, but they don't mean anything. There is no exit strategy, and removing a small handful of troops will not bring an end to this unjust war.

[kenny blankenship]

9. Keywords: Project Your Belief Onto Me

[jwirr]

2. Didn't President Obama say "start the pullout in 2011"?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Yup. Right before the election. But, of course, that didn't have anything to do with the date.

:sarcasm:

[jwirr]

7. Or with total pullout.

[Bjorn Against]

8. Or with anything for that matter...

They were just empty words to make people believe the end to this war is in sight and keep them from getting out in the streets and protesting this decision. The fact is however that there is no exit strategy and there is no end to this war in sight, that is why people need to take to the streets and resist this unjust occupation of Afghanistan.

[Bjorn Against]

3. Yet they will keep lying to us about the "exit strategy" for another 18 months

Then when we reach July of 2011 and see that there is no end in sight to the war they will tell us to just be a little more patient. At that point I will have been protesting this war for nearly a decade, and I will not patiently watch as more people get killed in this unjust war no matter how much the defenders of this massacre want me to shut up.

[Individualist]

10. K&R

[Enrique]

11. I never thought he meant they'd be all out by that date

I never thought anything close to that, and I didn't hear anyone talking about it as if it meant that.

I thought he meant what Gates just said, that they'd begin withdrawing on that date, and it seemed everyone else saw it that way too.

[Bjorn Against]

12. There were many people on this site calling it an "exit strategy"

The people who thought this was an exit strategy were clearly wrong, there is no exit strategy.

[MannyGoldstein]

13. So Why Even Mention The Date?

I think we both know that date will be as useful as Obama's promise of a public option for health insurance.

[placton]

14. Change We can Believe in

Obama was referring to his promises it seems.

[bvar22]

15. Smooth Talk.

Chump Change.


The "Chicago" Razzel Dazzel

Give 'em the old razzle dazzle
Razzle Dazzle 'em
Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it
And the reaction will be passionate
Give 'em the old hocus pocus
Bead and feather 'em
How can they see with sequins in their eyes?
What if your hinges all are rusting?
What if, in fact, you're just disgusting?
Razzle dazzle 'em
And they;ll never catch wise!


Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle
Razzle dazzle 'em
Give 'em a show that's so splendiferous
Row after row will crow vociferous
Give 'em the old flim flam flummox
Fool and fracture 'em
How can they hear the truth above the roar?
Throw 'em a fake and a finagle
They'll never know you're just a bagel,
Razzle dazzle 'em
And they'll beg you for more!


Give 'em the old double whammy
Daze and dizzy 'em
Back since the days of old Methuselah
Everyone loves the big bambooz-a-ler
Give 'em the old three ring circus
Stun and stagger 'em
When you're in trouble, go into your dance
Though you are stiffer than a girder
They'll let you get away with murder
Razzle dazzle 'em
And you've got a romance


Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle
Razzle dazzle 'em
Show 'em the first rate sorceror you are
Long as you keep 'em way off balance
How can they spot you've got no talent
Razzle Dazzle 'em
And they'll make you a star!

---Soundtrack from “Chicago”

[rug]

16. "Some, handful, or some small number" are already leaving each month.

[MannyGoldstein]

17. Such A Sad Thought - But So True

Entire thing looks to be a FUBAR.

[chill_wind]

18. All the talking points

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/06/us.afghanistan/index.html

-- Top aides to President Obama on Sunday signaled that some U.S. troops could start coming home from Afghanistan as soon as July 2011, but most would likely remain there for several years.

In appearances on all the major talk shows, Cabinet officials and military advisers clarified the president's position after he walked a political tightrope by announcing he will send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and that some will start coming home in 19 months.

National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones told CNN's "State of the Union" that the July 2011 start of withdrawal was "not a cliff, it's a ramp" for beginning to turn over security responsibility to Afghan forces.

Noting the U.S. strategic interests in the region, including nuclear power Pakistan next door, Jones said: "We're going to be in the region for a long time."

Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, said on "FOX News Sunday" that Obama's strategy "doesn't trigger a rush to the exits," while Defense Secretary Robert Gates told CBS' "Face the Nation" that "there isn't a deadline."