Free Republic

President Barack Obama's July 2011 date to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan has given a morale boost to Taliban insurgents, who believe they can wait out NATO forces, the top U.S. Marine said on Tuesday. But General James Conway, who is retiring this fall as commandant of the Marine Corps, said he believed Marines would not be in a position to withdraw from the fight in southern Afghanistan for years. Conway's unusually blunt assessment is likely to fan criticism by opposition Republicans of Obama's war strategy as public opinion of the nine-year-old war sours further. "In some ways, we think...

Why doesn’t President Barack Obama just put us out of misery and run up the White flag in Afghanistan? Mr Obama might think it is jolly good politics to withdraw 33,ooo U.S. troops before next year’s presidential election but, whatever he says about the campaign moving in the right direction, there is little doubt he has dealt the mission’s prospects for success a mortal blow. Talk to any military commander on either side of the Atlantic – as I frequently do – and they will tell you that they need two full fighting seasons – this summer and next –...

Truly that’s no surprise, Obama is a failure all across the board. What Obama fails to realize, is that he needs to listen to the commanders on the ground. He cannot make a decision from Washington and expect it to go well over seas. Petraeus has experience, Obama doesn’t. The NY Times reported: The president is scheduled to speak about the Afghanistan war from the White House at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Mr. Obama’s decision is a victory for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has long argued for curtailing the American military engagement in Afghanistan. But it is...

Ok, now what? Do the libs think they will get their withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan now that Osama is shark bait? Mission accomplished right? How are the Cindy Sheehans of the world gonna react?

"President Barack Obama's decision to order a bigger and speedier reduction in troop numbers than advised by his top military commanders will increase American casualties during the pull-out, Pentagon planners fear." *** "On the ground, US commanders believe the announcement means it will now be necessary to abandon plans to take their fight against the Taliban to the violent eastern mountains bordering Pakistan where the Afghan war was born. They had wanted to try and repeat the successes since Mr Obama's "surge" was begun in 2009 during fierce fighting in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand."

President Obama’s plan for a hasty withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan risks squandering the hard-won gains made on the battlefield in southern Afghanistan over the last ten months. U.S. military commanders on the ground in Afghanistan had reportedly requested a slower pace of withdrawal to afford them the opportunity to consolidate recent gains against Taliban insurgents. President Obama has denied his military commanders flexibility to determine the pace and scope of withdrawal based on conditions on the ground, and instead appears to have based his decision largely around the U.S. domestic political calendar. The plans for rapidly withdrawing U.S....

We are starting this drawdown from a position of strength. Al Qaeda is under more pressure than at any time since 9/11. Together with the Pakistanis, we have taken out more than half of al Qaeda's leadership. And thanks to our intelligence professionals and Special Forces, we killed Osama bin Laden, the only leader that al Qaeda had ever known. - President Obama's speech on Afghanistan withdrawal Does anyone else really regard this drawdown as happening from a position of strength? I can't help but think America's enemies are paying attention, knowing full well that America was ever divided and...

Monday, December 11, 2006 Incoming House intelligence chief botches easy intel quiz WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, who incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped to head the Intelligence Committee when the Democrats take over in January, failed a quiz of basic questions about al Qaeda and Hezbollah, two of the key terrorist organizations the intelligence community has focused on since the September 11, 2001 attacks. When asked by CQ National Security Editor Jeff Stein whether al Qaeda is one or the other of the two major branches of Islam -- Sunni or Shiite -- Reyes answered...

Chirac may back down over job law backlash By Colin Randall, in Paris (Filed: 20/03/2006) President Jacques Chirac was under pressure from the threat of a general strike over France's new employment law. Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets The unrest could force his prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, to perform a humiliating climb-down. Mr de Villepin has tried to ride out the storm whipped up by the legislation and ignore the huge demonstrations and fierce rioting it has provoked. But speculation was growing last night that the president was pushing him towards major concessions to end...