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Edited on Thu Oct-29-09 11:22 AM by TwilightGardener
without at least some of our personnel present--and remember, the UN now frowns upon drone warfare, so what could we do about any terrorists we identify thru intel if we don't have at least some boots and equipment on the ground to conduct raids? I don't think we need a massive occupation at this point. The prime moment for doing a massive buildup (and permanently hobbling the Taliban and rooting out AQ) has come and gone at least 6 or 7 years ago. The more troops we've put in recently, the more get killed, without significant gains. I don't believe in nation building, or promoting democracy-n-freedom, or even eliminating the Taliban. But that doesn't mean Obama can snap his fingers and order everyone out. You can call terrorism a crime all you want, but for all practical purposes, the only functional "police force" to fight that crime right now is military.
Our leaving has to be done in a smart way, that exposes the country to as little risk from an extremist power grab and destabilization as possible--and there IS a chance that terror camps could again spring up there, despite your assertions that that is all in the past, because the government there is weak and has yet to prove truly legitimate and capable of any sort of defense, services, functioning economy, etc. It's still very disparate and tribal--that's why AQ was able to be hosted in that country to begin with. Pakistan doesn't want AQ and its Taliban enablers--so where will they go when we're suddenly gone? Will the government and police forces be able to prevent terror groups from taking up shop again, or prevent the Taliban from overthrowing the "democratic" government and steering the country towards ever-nuttier extremism? Nothing there is black and white, nothing is simple, as much as the Troops-Out-NOW group insists it is. Even Code Pink is conflicted. National and global security concerns do not suddenly evaporate because we have a new President who, by virtue of being a Democrat, should automatically do what liberals want, and they don't go away simply because we're tired of thinking about it, tired of hearing about it, tired of worrying about it. You, Stinky, can declare the war's purpose now pointless and so totally 2004, but unless you are privy to some intel that our leaders don't have, that's still just your estimation and nothing more, no better than mine. The insulting assumptions and accusations made on DU toward those of us who don't view Afghanistan in such simple terms is becoming very tiresome.
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