Anyone else disappointed in the withdrawal Pres Obama is expected to announce?

[mod mom]

HERE IS WHAT WE ARE BEING TOLD ABOUT PRESIDENT OBAMA'S ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY:

Obama is expected to announce a plan to drawdown 33,000 troops by the end of 2012 with at least 5,000 to exit by the close of this year, according to administration officials and media reports.

-snip

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/obamas-afghan-plan-with-will-be-first-2012-foreign-policy-test.php?ref=fpb

BUT HERE ARE NUMBERS I FOUND ON HIS SURGE IN 09:

Even before completing a review of the war, he ordered the military to send 21,000 more troops there, bringing the force to 68,000.
-snip


Mr. Obama presented a revised version of Option 2A, this one titled “Max Leverage,” pushing 30,000 troops into Afghanistan by mid-2010 and beginning to pull them out by July 2011

-snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/world/asia/06reconstruct.html?pagewanted=2&%2360&%2362&%2359&%2359;!--Undefined%20dynamic%20function%20data_sanitationlib::sanitize_string:1%20called--&%2359;

WE CAUGHT OBL, THE AFGHAN GOVERNMENT IS TOTALLY CORRUPT, THIS WAR IS BANKRUPTING THIS COUNTRY, AND HE IS ANNOUNCING 5000 TROOPS (IE HUMAN LIVE SOLDIERS) WITHDRAWAL BY THE END OF THE YEAR?

:mad:

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Yes, just signed Barbara Boxer's petition to get 30,000 out this year.

[mod mom]

4. but according to the NYT article I quoted above, 30,000 is below the number

that were there before Obamas surge in 09. We are throwing lives & money that we need here into a corrupt system w no hope of ridding the area of the Taliban. So why are we there (besides protecting oil interests, of course)?

[Marrah_G]

2. not surprised

[eleny]

3. Yes. I'd like more troops withdrawn and the military budget reduced

[midnight]

5. I'm not sure what to think.... If we are escalating activities in Libya...

[G_j]

6. in a nutshell:

We will always be at war with Eurasia

[4lbs]

7. Depends on what type of troops they are.

If the 33,000 are all combat troops, then I am in no way disappointed.

There are currently about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan. However, not all of them are combat troops.

What is a combat troop? A military person that is actively assigned to go out and fight insurgents and/or the Taliban.

A doctor or nurse in a hospital in Afghanistan counts as a 'troop', but you wouldn't think of calling them a combat troop would you? They aren't going out into the fields every day armed with M16s and shooting at insurgents are they?

A person driving a supply truck is not designated as a combat troop. They are in supply and logistics. Oh sure, they'll fire their rifles if their convoy is attacked, but they aren't going out and actively seeking someone to shoot at are they? Their primary role is to get supplies from point A to point B as quickly as possible.

Approximately half of the troops in Afghanistan are combat troops. That means about 34,000. If President Obama withdraws 33,000 combat troops, then that means he'll have withdrawn 97% of the combat troops.

That doesn't merit derision unless you are a Teabagger.