Obey questions wisdom of sending more troops to Afghanistan, predicts scrutiny

[laststeamtrain]

Source: The Hill

Obey questions wisdom of sending more troops to Afghanistan, predicts scrutiny
By Jared Allen and Roxana Tiron - 10/08/09 02:47 PM ET

The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday questioned the wisdom of sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan and indicated that a White House funding request for a military boost would face a litany of scrutiny from top Democrats.

“The problem with increasing the number of troops is that we become the lightening rod, and our presence runs the risk of inciting more anti-American sentiment that can become a recruiting tool for the very forces we seek to curtail," Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), the chairman of the House spending panel, said in a statement. "As an appropriator I must ask, what will that policy cost and how will we pay for it?"

The issue of President Barack Obama’s renewed focus on the war in Afghanistan has been quietly simmering on the back burner as Congressional Democrats continue to wrestle with healthcare reform. But it’s now threatening to boil over, and Democrats already appear deeply divided on how to proceed if Obama decides to call for a significant number of additional troops, potentially as many as 40,000.

Just as House members were gathering for a Thursday afternoon bipartisan briefing on Afghanistan from Obama’s National Security Advisor James Jones, Obey, an Afghanistan skeptic, was dousing cold water on assertions from other top Democrats that Congress would approve whatever Obama requests. Already in May, Obey warned that he would seek to slow down funding for Afghanistan war unless Obama's new strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan achieved significant progress.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/62271-obey-questions-wisdom-of-sending-more-troops-to-afghanista

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Chief House Appropriator Urges Obama to Change Course on Afghanistan
By Spencer Ackerman 10/8/09 2:01 PM


It’s not quite a call to end the Afghanistan war, but Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the crucial House Appropriations Committee and a participant in Tuesday’s congressional meeting with President Obama, has emailed out a very long statement saying that waging a counterinsurgency in Afghanistan is likely to be “futile.” Even Sen. Carl Levin’s (D-Mich.) preferred option of accelerating the training of Afghan troops instead of boosting U.S. troop levels gets called dubious.

Obey’s entire statement is more a series of hard questions posed to the Obama administration about Afghanistan than a declarative statement of policy. But it’s clear that top House appropriator is weary of the war, and even weary of the fact that Congress and the media subject domestic policy — like health care reform, for instance — to vastly more budgetary scrutiny than they give to military campaigns.

“The Congressional Budget Office has had four committees twisting themselves into knots in order to fit healthcare reform into that limit,” Obey said in the statement. “CBO is earnestly measuring the cost of each competing healthcare plan. Shouldn’t it be asked to do the same thing with respect to Afghanistan?”

Obey’s full remarks: ... http://washingtonindependent.com/63041/chief-house-appropriator-urges-obama-to-change-course-on-afghanistan

[Autumn]

1. Obey is one smart man,

I hope they listen to him.

[HelenWheels]

2. Dave is great

I may not always agree with him but I do most of the time. Wisconsin is lucky to have him and I'm sure will have him two more years his opponent is a previous participant of MTV's Real World and I hear their are interesting clips of him that could show up during the campaigning.

[Demeter]

3. Please, Senator, Stop this Train Wreck!