Tell President Obama to withdraw 30,000 troops THIS year.

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.barbaraboxer.com/petitions/afghanistan_withdrawal?utm_source=sp3979281&utm_medium=e&sc=sp3979281&refcode=sp3979281


Sign Senator Barbara Boxer's urgent petition to President Obama now: Call on him to withdraw 30,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year!

[tekisui]

1. knr. Too late though. The decision has long been made.

[democrat_patriot]

2. Only if it is prudent to do so. And none of us know.

It's easy to sit here and say 30,000, 40,000 whatever. But if it reverts the situation there to 2000/2001 - than the last 10 years is a waste of blood and treasure.

I trust Obama, I did not trust Bush. I believe he is making the right decisions.

[MadHound]

5. Except for this fact,

Whenever we withdraw, when the last American soldier is gone, whenever that is, Afghanistan is going to revert to the situation that was there in 2000/2001. Every institution, government or otherwise will be torn down when we leave for the sheer, simple reason that it will be seen as being corrupted by Americans, the invader, and needs to be purged. Thus, all those years that we are in Afghanistan will be a waste anyway, no matter when we leave

Thus, why not withdraw now? Save the lives of soldiers, and the innocents they will kill. Save the money that we're pouring down this rathole. Otherwise, all we're doing is throwing more good money after bad, which we simply can't afford to do.

[democrat_patriot]

6. What you say is not a fact. It's an opinion about the future.

And therefore cannot be validated until it happens.

Doesn't mean what you are saying won't come to pass, just that you can't say it's a fact.

[MadHound]

9. Look at your history

Look at what happens when we withdraw from places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos.

The odds that what I'm saying will indeed come to pass are so good that they're approaching 1. Military experts have noted this phenomenon, as have sociological experts.

Why don't you think that we should go with the expert opinion? Why do you want to continue digging in this tapped out hole we find ourselves in?

[democrat_patriot]

11. I don't. I want every troop home safe with their families.

I also trust the President to make the right decision based on his knowledge of the situation.

If he believes he can only bring home 1 soldier, than I will give him the benefit of the doubt. I believe he is a good man.

On the other hand, if W was making this decision or McCain I would not be trusting them. So maybe I am blinded by my bias.

If I stop trusting Obama's decisions, than I have lost hope. I will believe that nothing can change, no matter who we elect to lead us. And I'm not ready to go there just yet. It's too depressing.

[MadHound]

13. Was this war a justified war to begin with?

Should we have gone into Afghanistan in the first place?

No, we took what should have been a police action, capturing and/or killing OBL and Al Qaeda, and militarize it, turning it into a war, a war that has now spread beyond Afghanistan into Pakistan, and as Al Qaeda disperses across the world, into Yemen and elsewhere.

Continuing to follow this failed path of war is not going to make it a success. We should have the good common sense to realize that we fucked up under Bush, and make a complete withdraw under Obama. Instead, we're continuing to compound this problem, continuing to grind this war out for years.

All we're doing in continuing to turn more and more people against the US. We are creating future enemies every single day we're in Afghanistan. Our withdrawal should begin now, and be done within months, not years.

Otherwise all we're doing is continuing an ongoing mistake.

[blindpig]

14. This is not a religion forum...

but you sure make it sound like one.

Hope is a lie, a deferral of action. We don't need leaders beholden to the ruling class, we need leaders who are of the people and that is impossible within the constraints of conventional US politics.

[democrat_patriot]

19. Hope is religious? Thanks for clarifying for me.

I'm an atheist. I believe in hope.

I 'hope' we can get election reform. Praise Jesus.

[blindpig]

12. Prudent for who?

The past ten years have been a waste of blood and treasure.

Bring them all home, from every foreign posting, now.

Foreign military adventures and occupations serve no purposes except those of the ruling class.

[democrat_patriot]

18. Prudent for you.

Prudent for us.

[blindpig]

20. boogiemen....

I know who my enemies are, I am much more likely to be adversely affected by the machinations of the ruling class than anyone else on the planet.

[Le Taz Hot]

29. THIS

needs to be a separate post . . . or a sig. line. :hi:

[bullwinkle428]

3. Petition signed.

[Marrah_G]

4. Frankly he just doesn't give a shit what we think.

I signed it but I would be shocked if anything changes

[democrat_patriot]

8. My opinion: Obama believes he can only bring home 5,000.

You either trust his judgement based on the intelligence and data he has on his desk in the oval office.

Or you believe he 'doesn't care what we think'. He is President of the United States, not DU.

I want the troops to come home, I want the miltary budget cut. But I trust this man to do what he thinks is best based on data and information that nobody here has, which is his job.

[Marrah_G]

15. I guess I just don't

:shrug:

You are right on the money though. It really is about whether we believe or trust national level politicians or if we don't.

I used to. I no longer do.

[mod mom]

10. signed too, but 30,000 is not enough.

We need to bring them all home to their families. Let big oil provide their own protection for their oil lines.

[Marrah_G]

16. yup

My mother's cousin buried her 23 year old son last week. Marine, in Afghanistan, two weeks before he was due home. His mother and I are I guess 2nd cousins and she is emotionally destroyed.

My son is 18 and in the Air National Guard. Due to the nature of his job it's doubtful that he would be called up to deploy over seas unless it was for something quick like a state dept trip or something. His job is more geared to assisting here at home in crisis situations. I have to say, if he was doing anything else in the military as a mother I would be scared to death.

[mod mom]

22. So sorry to hear about your family's loss.

i hope your son remains state side. I can't even imagine the worries of military families. I protest to help bring their sons/daughters safely home.

[Marrah_G]

24. Thank you for protesting

I remember going to DC while my brother was in Iraq. People would ask why and I would always say "I support the troops by wanting them to come home safely from a land they should have never been sent to". I believe we need a volunteer military, but for defense, not offense.

I think my son will stay safe. They are giving him great skills, putting him through college and allowing him to serve his community. Basically he is like the national guard mobile geek squad. If there is a natural disaster or some other event, he goes out and sets up mobile voice and computer communications so that all the different state and fed and local agencies can communicate. Its a new type of unit and he basically did his first year of college in Technical school. The credits transferred right to his state college.

[mod mom]

27. My kids were little when we started going to antiwar protests before * invaded Iraq

and both were in DC in 2005 when my daughter was in 2nd grade & son in 4th. It is sad is now they are teenagers, we have a Democratic president & we still have to protest. Perpetual war so the fat cats can get fatter. :mad:

[Marrah_G]

28. 2005 and was the IVAW die in on the steps right?

My daughter and I were volunteers for that one with Answer. She was 15 or 16 at the time. The years go by so fast.

[JoePhilly]

25. yup ... he hates us.

:sarcasm:

[eleny]

7. Done

[Scuba]

17. How about all of them this week?

[bigwillq]

21. Done (nt)

[ladjf]

23. Withdraw all American troops immediately! nt

[amborin]

26. +1000

[oldlib]

30. I don't support the wars we are in.

As long as the troops are not in combat, they are probably safer offshore. If they are home based, we would lose a lot of them to DUI accidents. The Military heads support offshore because the troops can use live bullets in training.