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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

U.S. and President Obama must get out of Vietghanistan

Posted on Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 10:07 AM
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Irish American navy officer Justin McNeeley, 30, of Wheatridge, Colo., was one of the most recent victims of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He and Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, took a wrong run into Taliban territory and their bodies were discovered this week.

Two more fruitless death in a war that is resembling Vietnam more every day.

The comparisons are chilling:

U.S. troops are fighting in a country that has long defeated invaders (Vietnam, Afghanistan)

A corrupt regime, (South Vietnam, Karzai's government), is endeavoring to hang onto power while a powerful insurgency is taking over much of the country (Taliban, Viet Cong).

The United States is deeply involved in seeking to bolster up the corrupt government despite the loss of thousands of soldiers lives (Vietnam, Afghanistan)

Ranged against them are the secret armies of other governments, (China,Russian Pakistan), which are all deeply involved in ensuring that the U.S. gets a very bloody nose and is ultimately forced to leave.

The U.S is desperately trying to train up the local soldiers but they are hopelessly corrupt and shoddy (South Vietnam army, Karzai's men)

Meanwhile the debate back home has taken a quick turn for the worst with revelations that the U.S. are disguising civilian casualties and using deception about the war. (Pentagon Papers, Wikileaks)

An embattled Democratic president has a very tough choice to make --escalate or get out. (Lyndon Johnson, Barack Obama)

Here is where the comparison ends. Obama can save countless American soldier's lives and leave soon.

Johnson took the wrong option and it destroyed his presidency and deeply damaged his country.

It was interesting to watch Joe Biden on the 'Today Show' on Thursday defending the policy in Afghanistan.

Biden was the one who argued originally for far fewer troops and keeping the Taliban operations covered by drone attacks and special forces incursions.

He's looking more right than ever now, but is now forced to defend a new policy that looks, alas, far too much like the old policy.

Who would be in Obama's shoes? Gradually the reality will dawn that he has only one option.

Better to take it now than waste any more American lives.



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35 comments

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Monsoonman | Aug 02, 2010, 09:28 AM EDT
Yawn! George Bush, Dick Cheney, George Bush Dick Cheney...warmongers, the root of all evil. Don't you remember we were attacked and killed on 911? There was a unanimous congressional and senate vote to OK the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq...So git yer facks straight. This revisionist history is so ridiculous, i guess you think if you repeat it early and often enough you can change historical events.

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LiamDavid | Aug 02, 2010, 04:09 AM EDT
America is fighting against the governments of Russia, China, Syria, Iran, Pakistan, through a veil of the burka! Those are some very heavy opponents to be sure! As it has been stated here in a number of different ways, America finds itself mired in a conflict that there is no realistic way to win, and that it had no intentions of being in, in the first place! A cagy enemy like the Taliban, who receive all of the latest weapons and ammunition from the governments listed above, (in a screwy twist of history, since the Afghans received sidewinder rocket launchers from America, in order to defeat the Russians years ago!). Today, the Obama administration is saddled with a very unfortunate and painful task that of which is to disengage the American forces from Afghanistan within the next two years. Wherein, his dissenters will wallow in their murky delight of seeing their hated enemy taking a tremendous hit in popularity, so much so that most of them will have forgotten their bitching about his “birth certificate”. Vietnam was a horrible mistake for America, just as the two wars that George Bush and Dick Chaney instigated. America can not afford to be the policeman for the world, for many reasons, but foremost on the list of whys, is that America is faced with far more insidious enemies right within its own borders. You can’t feed, or educate, or house other peoples, when you have Americans with these needs, far too many of them. You can’t promote human rights for other peoples, when in doing so; you impede the rights of your citizens. There is much for America to do, especially for itself! Slan

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LiamDavid | Aug 01, 2010, 08:45 PM EDT
MSM, this story is spent, lad, and you failed miserably in rational, reasonable debate. It's down to you and me and you are not good company to be in.

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Monsoonman | Aug 01, 2010, 03:08 PM EDT
LOL Mr. swineford, that all you got? Can't battle me with the facks so you call me names...Doesn't speak well of your stand...go run along and play well with the other children...LOL!!!!!

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Monsoonman | Aug 01, 2010, 02:31 PM EDT
Monsoonman, you are one sick dude. There is no reasoning with you. You're beyond that, doing your revolutions around Pluto. What a horrible place it must be to live inside your head. I wouldn't even stop by for a cup of joe. Have a nice day.

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Monsoonman | Aug 01, 2010, 12:26 PM EDT
"We need to disengage so that we can focus on saving our own country." So mr. swineford, does that mean we should secure our borders? Does that mean we should preserve our own language and culture? Or just let the religion of "peace" slowly transform our inner cities and the prison systems into mini caliphates ruled by sharia law, the dictates of the reverend Louis Farakhan and the fruit of islam? Aid and comfort them, give them political power to transform our society? We have "honor killings" here. Chicago and detroit are ground zero and our present occupant of the whitehouse is spawned from chicago....and yes the ACLU is working at a feverish pace to erase Christianity from our society, although the catholic churches scandals are helping mightily.

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Monsoonman | Aug 01, 2010, 08:41 AM EDT
A fair point RobbCobb and one that I am deeply conflicted over. What is happening to Afghan women and girls under Taliban control is barbaric, evil and cruel but it happening in large swaths of the Muslim world where females are, despite arguments to the contrary, considered the property of males. Yet, in the harsh reality of our own national security needs and limited resources, the well being of Muslim women cannot drive our foreign policy. Human rights are also brutally repressed in China, Burma, North Korea, several African countries and even still, next door in Cuba. Our out-of-control domestic spending requirements coupled with our foreign expenditures are driving us to the very brink of financial calamity. The bitter truth today is that we cannot afford it, nor can we afford the unending sacrifice of our young men and women. We need to disengage so that we can focus on saving our own country.

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RobbCobb | Aug 01, 2010, 02:05 AM EDT
There's no doubt that it's certainly a quagmire, and although the war effort should have been focused on taking down the terrorist that perpetrated the 9/11 attacks, instead of going after a despotic leader in an oil rich country - the troops in Afghanistan are now fighting for a different cause as well - check out the TIME magazine issue on the women of Afghanistan. These women and children need the intervention of the rest of the civilized world. If you need a reason for us to be there, I can't think of a much better one.

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Monsoonman | Jul 31, 2010, 08:59 PM EDT
tsk tsk mr. Swineford...Talk to the hand.

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bosslady2898 | Jul 31, 2010, 03:31 PM EDT
It couldn't have anything to do with the huge lithium deposit they "found" over there could it? Kind of like the uranium deposits in Vietnam...I'm just wondering....oh what;s wrong with me...of course not..that would be wrong...

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bosslady2898 | Jul 31, 2010, 03:22 PM EDT
Monsoonman, your paranoid, pathetic, over-the-top drivel is beyond stupid - and you must be called out for writing such trash. The mosque you refer to is not at Ground Zero but several blocks away and has very broad support in the community. Christmas themes are not being sued out of existence and Obama is not a Muslim. You rely on lies and Bulls..t to defend an absurd proposition - that Muslims are taking over America. If you truly believe this you are sick. Perhaps you've been out too much in the rain monsoon man and are suffering from 'water on the brain.'

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irishwxman | Jul 31, 2010, 02:24 PM EDT
Why Niall? So the Taliban can come back in and undo all of the hard work that has been done? All of the troops would have died for nothing if we get out now. Obama need to undo his outrageous rules of engagement that have clearly handcuffed our guys. his liberal tree hugging anti war philosophy is killing us. We need a new president. That is what we need to do.

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Monsoonman | Jul 31, 2010, 11:08 AM EDT
The muslims are already winning the war on the US homeland. Our borders are porous, anyone can enter through the southern side, a ground zero mosque is planned on being built. Taxpayer funded footwashes are provided in detroit and other big cities, chritsmas themes are being sued out of existence, and we have a muslim in the whitehouse....I see the homefront battle for borders, language and culture being lost on every front.

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Monsoonman | Jul 31, 2010, 09:49 AM EDT
I am a combat veteran of Vietnam. We were told ad nauseam back then that if we didn't stop the commies in Southeast Asia we'd be fighting them on the beaches of California. This is the old canard, as false now as it was then. It took me more than 25 years to accept the terrible truth - that more than 58,000 young Americans (our first teenage war) were sacrificed for nothing. We started out with a justified and noble purpose in Afghanistan but botched it in the worst way by taking our eye off the ball and invading Iraq - where Saddam was already safely confined in his box. Too late we returned to the real threat but with an amended and expanded mission, the success of which is in grave doubt. Niall O'Dowd's article may not have been spot on but he did raise the frightening parallels between Afghanistan and Vietnam. This war can only end as Vietnam did - with a phoney peace and a phoney victory. But let's not be stupid, radical Muslims will never, ever take over the United States. Idiot statements like that may appeal to the dullard but not to rational, reasonably intelligent people.

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TaranOconner | Jul 31, 2010, 02:35 AM EDT
Mike7571, I hope your comment "why not pull out and run now?" was meant as sarcasm?!

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