Call the White House: we want a real end to the war
Last night, President Obama announced a plan for Afghanistan that will leave nearly 70,000 troops on the ground at the end of his first term. That’s still almost double the number of troops President Bush had in Afghanistan.
Call the White House now at 1-202-456-1111 and tell them you’re disappointed in President Obama’s plan and want to see the war end sooner. Here’s a sample message:
I am disappointed that President Obama’s plan leaves more troops in Afghanistan than the Bush administration had. I want a swift, responsible end to the war with a clear end date.
Then, click here to tell me how your call went.
While the press is portraying this plan as a large withdrawal from Afghanistan, the fact is that the administration is still investing billions of dollars and risking thousands of lives for a failed strategy. And we still don’t know when those 70,000 soldiers will come home to their families, because this plan keeps the longest war in American history going indefinitely. (Read my in-depth analysis about why the president’s plan isn’t strong enough here.)
We need to show President Obama that we’re not satisfied with half measures. Call the White House comment line now at 1-202-456-1111. Then let me know how it went.
I’m disappointed in President Obama right now, but frankly, I don’t think we’d even be talking about a withdrawal if it were not for the commitment of people like you. And that’s exactly why we can’t stop now.
Just a couple of years ago, Afghanistan was still seen as the “right” war. But thousands like you have added their voices to the demand for peace, and now we’re not debating whether to end the war, but when to end the war. But if we are ever to get a real answer to that question, and get a definite end date for bringing the troops home, we must keep the pressure on. Start now by calling the White House comment line and giving them an earful.
I respectfully continue to disagree with your position.
I do agree with the comments of Davis Rothkopf “And while “Goldilocks solutions” like a troop withdrawal that is not too high or too low tend to leave major segments of the population disgruntled, nothing does the kind of damage that lies and deception do. The wars that are now ending in the Middle East were started by lies and prolonged by misstatements. They are now being ended by a guy who was elected to bring them to conclusion.
Try as the president’s opponents in next year’s elections might to quibble with his tactics, they will find that this last point — in conjunction with the shifting priorities reflected in the other aspects of last night’s speech — may prove to be this president’s most formidable advantage.
Imagine: a president who actually does what he said he was going to do. It’s the kind of thing that makes withdrawals, like those announced Wednesday night, a sign of strength.”
Now if you want troops home bring them out of Japan. Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and a few other place and that will get you 100,000 + troops home.
I definitely agree with you that we should be pulling troops out of all those other places and closing down unnecessary bases abroad. However, it is also important to bring troops home when they are in harm’s way as they are in Afghanistan. As I noted above, US casualties are rising, and there’s no sign that is going to change. The presence isn’t helping Afghans either. Refugees International pointed out in a statement today that the counterinsurgency strategy is actually creating more instability for Afghans http://www.refugeesinternational.org/press-room/press-release/us-strategy-increasing-instability-and-displacement-afghanistan
We are not after some elusive “Goldilocks” withdrawal plan. As I linked to above, there are many alternative plans out there that involve drawing down a significantly larger number of troops.
Here is the link where I lay out our case against this plan in more detail: http://blog.peaceactionwest.org/2011/06/22/president-obamas-disappointing-war-plan/
Amen, PeaceAction West! And may I add, the administration’s political solutions don’t seem to include implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which mandates women’s equal involvement in conflict resolution. So much talk about the Taliban, but no substantive inclusion of women in peace making.