The Reality Check

Obama put a timetable on Afghanistan tonight. He said he's adding 30,000 more troops and withdrawing them by July 2011. So, all the Taliban have to do is hold them off until July 2011 and they get to take over. I don't remember the last time a war went on schedule. I guess Obama figures he's different than every leader in world history. Putting a timetable is not going to help anyone except the Democrats in the next election. It will hurt everyone else, including our troops and the people of Afghanistan. To be certain that we'll succeed by July 2011 is ridiculous. We've been there how long? And President Obama thinks this plan will be the end all? I guess he has an out. If they aren't able to pull out like he hopes, he'll be just use an out. I don't know if President Obama would have the gall to pull out before we succeed, to waste both American and Afghanistan lives that have been lost to just give Afghanistan back to the Taliban where it first began. We'd be leaving them off worse than we came and I don't know if that's morally reprehensible. No, it wasn't Obama that decided to send our troops in. But the United States doesn't represent Obama. Obama represents the United States, and it was the United States, not George W. Bush, that decided to go into Afghanistan. This is a democracy. It's a government by the people for the people. And in the end, it was the people the sent our troops to Afghanistan and it's on us, the people, if we pull out before we see success.