Obama is about to get outflanked by the GOP on Afghanistan

[parocks]

I believe that Republicans are poised to cement their complete opposition to everything Obama and reap a huge political win by twisting their political principles to oppose further escalation of troops in Afghanistan. Unless, of course, Obama can be convinced not to send more troops.

Obama’s decision about whether to send more troops in Afghanistan is expected on December 1st, and he may well be going with an increase of around 30,000 towards a war we don’t have a way to win.

We’ve reached a crucial juncture. More troops to Afghanistan would be a disaster, both over there and politically over here. Can you sign the petition urging Obama to rethink Afghanistan strategy and not send more troops? For every signature we get, CREDO Mobile will generously donate $1 to the blog fellowship that supports Derrick Crowe and his anti-war work. (For a bit more about Derrick’s work, click here.)


http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/16004

[tangent4ronpaul]

I believe that Republicans are poised to cement their complete opposition to everything Obama and reap a huge political win by twisting their political principles to oppose further escalation of troops in Afghanistan. Unless, of course, Obama can be convinced not to send more troops.

Obama’s decision about whether to send more troops in Afghanistan is expected on December 1st, and he may well be going with an increase of around 30,000 towards a war we don’t have a way to win.

We’ve reached a crucial juncture. More troops to Afghanistan would be a disaster, both over there and politically over here. Can you sign the petition urging Obama to rethink Afghanistan strategy and not send more troops? For every signature we get, CREDO Mobile will generously donate $1 to the blog fellowship that supports Derrick Crowe and his anti-war work. (For a bit more about Derrick’s work, click here.)


http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/16004

Fuck that! - he's going to do it anyway and by signing I'm adding myself to a spam list. :( No opportunity to opt out of that BS. NO THANK YOU!

-t

[Austin]

Fuck that! - he's going to do it anyway and by signing I'm adding myself to a spam list. :( No opportunity to opt out of that BS. NO THANK YOU!

-t

mailinator.com

[jmdrake]

Who cares about the petition? This is a gold mine!

In the past few months, more and more influential, movement conservatives have come out against Obama’s policy or future plans for Afghanistan. They hail from all parts of the party – moderate and neoconservative – and from all walks of political life – pundits to elected officials. What they have in common is a skepticism to the idea that the Afghanistan war is worth more troops.

Here’s the rundown:

* Senator Chuck Hagel: "Iraq and Afghanistan Aren’t Ours to Win or Lose"
* Former Presidential candidate Fred Thompson: "The war in Afghanistan ‘has been lost.’"
* Former talking head Lou Dobbs: "Bring our troops home."
* Conservative columnist George Will in the Washington Post: "Time to get out of Afghanistan"
* Republican Congressman Tim Johnson: "Take immediate steps to begin a responsible withdrawal from Afghanistan."
* Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher: "We owe [the troops] our best judgment, not just an easy answer of sending more military people into a conflict."
* Republican Congressman Peter Hoekstra and John Shadegg: "If the Obama administration’s priority isn’t providing our troops with the tools to do the job and win, we shouldn’t be there."
* Conservative columnist Tony Blankley in Humane Events: "The president has three choices: 1) Cut and run, 2) cut and walk or 3) stay and fight with enough troops. Either No. 1 or No. 3 may be justifiable based on hardheaded thinking. No. 2 is an evasion of reality and sinfully would sacrifice American troops for no good purpose."
* Richard N. Haass, Council on Foreign Relations president under Bush Sr. and Jr.: "Defining success down on Afghanistan."
* Conservative columnist Andrew C. McCarthy in the National Review: "Our troops are not in Afghanistan for a social experiment."
* Malou Innocent and Christopher Preble at the CATO Institute: "U.S. Must Narrow Objectives in Afghanistan"


Ron Paul's biggest problem in the republican party is that he had to deal with 70% of Republicans who supported the war in Iraq. (Afghanistan wasn't even on the radar). This go round Ron can say "I told you so". Rand can use this too if he needs it.