This afternoon while at work I checked my iPhone for the latest news….
Bingo!…..
It was announced that President Obama was in Afghanistan….
thenews.com.pk
It happened again!
President’s do these sort of things from time to time…..
Riding in chopped down motorcades in the dead of night out to Andrews Air Force Base….
Press poll members all the sudden told to garb your bags you’re going ‘somewhere’…and we’ll take your phone for now….Please….
This time it’s to Afghanistan for the President to sign the withdrawal deal worked out in Washington about a week ago…..
The President will be on the ground for only a few hours…..
He landed in Air Force One which IS an Air Force aircraft after all…..
(The Press from the picture’s I’ve seen flew at least part of the way in the belly of a C-17 …a la’ Hillary Clinton style…)
Then the President got in a hello and went the final miles to Kabul….
No doubt it was a Marine Helo……
Not an Army one….
The whole excersise was for the President to do what was NOT done in Iraq….
Get the deal the White House wanted….
(Karzai gets US advisors/trainers and YES…..MONEY)
In Iraq that didn’t work…
The Iraqi’s would give the US troops immunity for their actions…
So in the end the combat troops where sent home….
I have reason to believe that the US STILL has Special Operators in Iraq…..
But one would think their number is smaller than the White House and Pentagon wanted and EACH one of those operators has a diplomatic passport…..
Anyways….
The Democratic President that IS and HAS BEEN a war President gets to trump ANYTHING Mitt Romney could by being in the media as
Commander in Chief signing off a troop withdrawal deal SIX months before an Election…..
tv20detroit.com
Not bad ……
Nope…
Even with ALL the Republican hollering….
NOT BAD AT ALL….
The hours-long visit was directed almost entirely toward an American audience, unfolding during pre-prime time hours in the United States while most Afghans slept. It also served as a detente after some of the tensest months in U.S.-Afghan relations.
Since February, American service members have inadvertently burned Korans at a U.S. military base, Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales allegedly murdered 17 civilians in Kandahar, and at least 18 NATO troops have been slain by their Afghan counterparts. In addition to infuriating Afghans, the incidents have contributed to a rising war fatigue at home.
Opinion polls show that most Americans no longer believe the Afghan war is worth fighting. But the agreement and troop withdrawal schedule allows Obama to say during a difficult re-election race that he has ended the war in Iraq and is winding down the one in Afghanistan, a position even a majority of Republicans now favors.
“The Iraq War is over. The number of our troops in harm’s way has been cut in half, and more will be coming home soon,” Obama said. “We have a clear path to fulfill our mission in Afghanistan, while delivering justice to al-Qaeda.”
Note…..
The trip must NOT have been a secret in Afghanistan……The Picture above with Karzai shows a Afghan color guard…I hope they had NO bullets in their guns….
The Helo’s show in other pictures are the old CH-46′s which will be replaced by CH-22′s in the future….
Ok….After seeing a video I DO believe the President flew on ARMY ONE since we have him getting in a Chinook….Hot Damn!
I wonder what call sign Air Force One used crossing the Atlantic?
Air Force One made a night landing something the aircraft drivers hardly EVER do but they could probably do in their sleep….
The Republican’s HAD to sign on to the money part of the deal….Don’t let them bullshit us…..
It will cost the US taxpayer 2 to 5 Billion Dollars a year for the next decade at least….
Share on Facebook
from twitter….
associated Press….
BREAKING NEWS: Afghan official reports three explosions, shooting in the eastern part of the capital, hours after Obama left….
Karzai won’t be around more than a few months after the US withdraws
This is mere window dressing
The Taliban will move back in fairly rapidly
And the warlords will make a comeback
A low level Civil War will return ala
Before 9/11
Ah Jack the key thing you mention is WITHDRAW….
With the deal the President just signed there will US Troops in that country for at least a decade….
You got me on the screw up in Iraq…
Which as I mention has a vastly smaller Special Ops group then the WH and Pentagon wanted…
That WAS a screwup….
They made sure they got it right this time….
Karzi will be there for a while…
He just made sure…
I stand by my statement
Pure window dressing
Nothing to
“get right”
This little gambit gets Obama past the election
Reminiscent of the Vietnam peace accords
Provides a
“Decent interval” before this dope dealer hits the road
Ah jack….
They ALL do this stuff….
Bush did it….
Obama did it..
I’m sure if DSD was around he dig up other’s who did it….
My point is it’s take Obama 3 years to get it…
Now that he ‘has it’…
Amen!
Afghanistan was/is a waste of time and lives
We should have left in 2003
Nothing has been accomplished there
And your “faith” that a few hundred special forces can preserve Karzai in power is grossly mistaken
Obama probably doesn’t even believe that
The Afghan Army?
A joke
They will melt away as soon as the Americans leave and go back to support the warlord leading their tribe
Your mistake is viewing Afghanistan as a real country
It’s just a collection of tribes that will keep fighting each other as they have always done
We have/had no strategic interests there and the blood and treasure we have wasted there is tragic
Jack …..
Unlike Iraq I believe the number of military people running around in Afghanistan will be MUCH more than a few hundred…..
Yea I have said here that Afghanistan being what it is…..
Is a bit hopeless….
That being said …
The US GOVERNMENT looks as that country as important….
It does have some natural resources ….
But I doubt they will be a factor for a long time….
(Afghanistan has oil…I did piece on this a year to more ago…The Chiense are quietly in the country with the Dutch and the US )
You as wrong on this as you were on Iraq
On the contrary the government KNOWS this thing is over
That s the purpose of that little. Harare yesterday
Too bad you were taken in by it
There are NOT going to be thousands of troops left there
It’s OVER
We’ll have to wait till 2014 Jack….
and the iraq mess-up was wtf above my level….
The war is now not an issue in the upcoming election.
Which happens after we know who won the World Series.
Not to mention the real campaign.
Really?
I thought you Republicans were “concerned” about the government spending so much money
We are going to drop a hundred billion into that waste hole this year
Of course we both know the only time the Republicans are “concerned ” about spending is when it’s on poor or middle class people
But when we put the word
“Defense” to it
They pee all over themselves to approve it
Gotta stop them Taliban!
If Pakistan wants peace in Afghanistan, there might be some.
Otherwise we’ll go back to the civil war that raged before the Taliban took over. Rabbani and Massoud may be gone, although their constituencies aren’t, but Karzai, Hekmatyar and the Taliban are still around.
Take up our quarrel with the foe,
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch: Be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep,
Though poppies grow,
In Flanders Field.
The crazy thing is you ARE RIGHT about the war Manila
In the short term Obama gets little from this trip
In the long term he’s done good