Obama Gets Afghanistan Advice From Mothers of Fallen Soldiers

[sabra]

Source: Bloomberg

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The commander-in-chief hugged a grieving mother, telling her to be proud of her fallen son, a Marine killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

Lisa Xiarhos also had a message for President Barack Obama: “Be strong and get the job done,” she recalls telling him. “Don’t back down. Send more troops. Support the ones that are there and do whatever you can.”

As Obama reviews U.S. strategy for the war in Afghanistan, meeting with generals, Cabinet secretaries and diplomats, he has received informal advice from those most touched by the eight- year conflict: the parents who sacrificed children, the spouses who lost their mates, and the soldiers who left behind limbs.

On Oct. 8, a group of wounded veterans came to the White House for a game of wheelchair basketball, laying their prosthetics against a fence before rolling onto the concrete court. The president marveled at their mechanical dexterity and then shot three-pointers with them. Twenty-five hours later, he was in the White House Situation Room with his war council to discuss a request for additional troops by General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adSj7NtaigGQ

[atreides1]

1. What a Great Message

“Be strong and get the job done,” she recalls telling him. “Don’t back down. Send more troops. Support the ones that are there and do whatever you can.”

Translation: Place others children on the sacrificial altar of the War Gods.

[Butch350]

2. "So the other would not have died in vain"!

[bertman]

3. A sheer emotional reaction from a mother hoping her child will not have died for a

huge mistake. This mirrors the reaction of thousands of mothers of the dead in the Vietnam War.

She cannot be blamed for wanting the cause to be just, but history and the evidence suggest otherwise.

Recommend.

[DesertDiamond]

5. bertman, thank you for calming me down. My nephew could be one of those sacrificed

so my immediate response was intense anger that she would volunteer the lives of other people's loved ones. But you are right, she wants to believe her son died for some great ideal. But in fact, if the deaths of soldiers like her her son can be an impetus to STOP the bloodshed, THEN he will not have died in vain.

[bertman]

11. You're welcome, DesertDiamond.

[madmax]

9. It's good to keep these things in perspective.

Thanks for posting.

[bertman]

12. You're welcome, madmax.

[timo]

4. more blood please

need more blood to quench the economy gods thirst

[leave iraq]

6. what a load of shit that image is

Obama fist pounding with MLK

oh thats rich

[dflprincess]

7. Is he also getting input from the families who have lost a loved on and now oppose the war

or, as with healthcare, is he only listening to those who will reenforce his opinion?

[Better Today]

8. LIke "mothers" as whole have a clue as to what should be done.

I would make an exception for any said mothers who have actually been non-clerical active duty servicewomen.

[FiveGoodMen]

10. "Be strong and get the job done"

What job?

How can we tell when it's done?

Shame on you, Lisa!