Underresourced War News Today

Drawdown in afghanistan. were, of course, ramping up but then by next summer theres going to be a drawdown in afghanistan. i sensed yesterday in listening to the presidents whole speech that really not just making the argument about iraq but that he would make the same argument about afghanistan a year from now and that will set him up for 2012 to sort of say, look, i brought these two wars to a close. and i think thats going to be a centerpiece of his re-election campaign. >> and willie geist, ...

Send our troops in. its pakistan that is strategically important to us. 180 million people, 100 nuclear weapons. and in the end, what makes the president hesitate from winding down in afghanistan is the knowledge that would free the taliban and al qaeda up to focus on toppling the pakistani government. >> david, that is an endless war defined. as joe biden asked while they were debating this behind closed doors at the white house, if pakistan is the issue, and everybody knows pakistan is the iss...

Become a substitute for logic. were not fighting because we have a clear set of achievable goals. were at war, apparently, because were at war. president obama, in an interview with cbs taped last friday said, its important for our national security to finish the job in afghanistan. but as the wars deadliest month for u.s. troops came to an end, obama was far from definitive about just what this job might be. and john ridley, thats the problem with afghanistan. whenever you debate somebody on wh...

Going to be a month-long effort to sort of explain, and sort of prove tohe american people that it was promises made, promises kept, in terms of the last campaign. joe bidens going to give a big speech on this. look, the president promised to bring the troops out of iraq. theres going to be combat operations, at the end of this month, and all u.s. troops out of iraq by next year. and then the shift focused to afghanistan. theres no doubt about it, certainly what bob herbert is talking about and ...

In afghanistan, if youre in the white house, youve got to be a lot more concerned about your democratic base than anything else. got to be obviously more than a little bit nervous about that fact. so yesterday was some good news for the base. >> yeah. >> because the base has been saying you guys are just like bush and cheney on afghanistan. you tripled the number of troops there. but yesterday he could show he was different, hes drawing down, hes bringing the troops home. >> well, maybe. but thi...

>> live pictures at 6:20 in the morning. thats the izod center in east rutherford, new jersey. theyre lining up for "american idol" apparently. thats the home of great new jersey nets teams of the last 30 years. there you go, "american idol." lets take a look at the morning papers. "usa today," public support for president obamas afghanistan war policy has plummeted amid a rising u.s. death toll and the unauthorized release of classified military documents, that according to the new "usa today"/...

Stable negotiating partner in the pakistani government. senator carl levin actually wants to expand drone strikes in the north waziristan border. i dont know how thats going to go, because theres questions as to whether theyre producing more terrorists than theyre killing. one last point. senator lindsey graham said something i thought was very important yesterday, which is he thought it was going to be a quote, unholy alliance of anti-war forces that end up draining the money for this venture. ...

We executed the war poorly, it wasnt done right or wish wed done things differently. but im truly stunned. im truly stunned. >> those 62%, they asked the 62% stupidest people in america. >> 43%. >> oh, its only 63%. >> yeah its only 43% said it was a mistake to go. >> oh, hell, thats nothing. oh, yeah, i mean, 43%. i mean, 33% of people think barack obama was born on mars, and 33% of people thought george bush blew up the buildings on 9/11. >> but it seems like 9/11 is one of those things where ...

And since, this is what is so frustrating to me day in and day out, and to a lot of us, the failed logic of this war. suggesting that we are staying there in afghanistan because whats happening in pakistan. which means, we are essentially in a holding pattern. and while were in a holding pattern, just stay there so pakistani taliban members cant come in to afghanistan, american troops are dying every day. and it just makes absolutely no sense at all. i would think that any reasonable person to s...

Motivated by afghanistan, not iraq. i think theyre really motivated by the economy. id be curious to see if there was good poll numbers to show which issues they prioritize over others. im guessing that afghanistan is pretty low down on the list, well behind -- well behind immigration, and certainly well behind jobs and the economy. so the base is very skeptical as is the larger public about these wars. theres so much fatigue right now that i dont think its going to be a motivating issue when th...