George Will Debates NeoCons Over Afghanistan War

Conservative commentator George Will appeared on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos Sunday Morning and took on NeoConservatives over the country's military strategy in Afghanistan.

Referencing a letter from Marine Commandant General Charles Krulak, Will cited military support for his position. Will said Sunday, "we are going to have a debate and there will be plenty of brass on my side."

From Krulak's letter (PDF):

"I am in total agreement with your assessment. Instead of a surge of 21,000 troops, [we] would need a surge of hundreds of thousands. Not only would our nation not support such a surge, but, most distressing, the military could not support such a surge."

Last week, Will made the case for getting U.S. forces out of Afghanistan. Will has also called for a withdrawl of troops from Iraq.

Comments

[alfrede]

01:48 PM on 09/08/2009

Hi,

This reader hopes that Congress (House and Senate) hold public hearings at which the Administration will lay out our objective(s) in Afganistan, how much it will cost in lives and money, how long they estimate it will take, and, what our exit strategy is.

Then, Congress can have a recorded vote on it.

What do U think??

[Okieborn]

12:12 PM on 09/08/2009

George it seems you have finally hit the right target !!!!

[jsgaetano]

11:19 AM on 09/08/2009

Anyone over eight years old who wears a bow tie can't be taken seriously.

[cobraxus]

11:11 AM on 09/08/2009

by debating the neocons George Will is trying to imply he isn't one.

[jsgaetano]

11:20 AM on 09/08/2009

Yeah, it's truly funny to see the NeoCon lapdog of years past suddenly think he has any credibility.

[Nova16]

09:07 AM on 09/08/2009

George Will has become a man of "action" instead of just words, however cheerleading the original mission that got us into the messes in Iraq and Afghanistan is still a blemish on his knowledge of the Middle East. As a student of foreign policy and the Middle East since the first crusade, it would appear that a pseudo intellectual like Mr. Will would have gleaned the necessary elements of the nature of the sectarian, fundamentalism of the region and would have deplored any planned invasion of the area under the false pretenses that prevailed and manipulated by the Bush/Cheney administration. Other failures prior to ours to control events in the region provide the necessary facts to preclude involvement. However, in the current instance he is correct to support abandonment of the biggest mistake in our foreign policy history killing hundreds of thousands and squandering what is estimated to be trillions of dollars when the debacle is over, if ever.

[factotem]

07:52 AM on 09/08/2009

I love that the old garde of the GOP are now belatedly horr.ified by the Necons.
Moral degen.eracy sure felt good to them before it was discredited though.

[DUSAA-1775]

06:54 AM on 09/08/2009

I do not get the headline......I have yet to see B wills debate any NeoCons.

[cathyvv]

10:44 PM on 09/07/2009

Sure wish he'd spoken up before we went into Iraq and Afghanistan...

Oh, yeah. He did. He thought it was a good idea while Bush/Cheney were in charge. Now that Obama, a Democrat, is president, he thinks we should just withdraw. It's as easy as that, huh?

George Wills is a featherweight who blows whichever way the political wind blows.

[foxycontin]

08:36 PM on 09/07/2009

That cute kid from the 80s Hersey's syrup commercials & A Chistmas Story grew up to be this a**hole, George Will? http://www.imdb.com/media/rm481331712/tt0085334

[iMissMollyIvins]

05:17 PM on 09/07/2009

Move over Christopher Buckley, George Will is soon to be joining you in Republican Exile.

[Ergon]

08:44 AM on 09/07/2009

Since this is becoming such a clueless presidency, I pray for a strong independent third party movement to begin now. And Greens, Nader, and Ron Paul, get your act together.

[GayGrandpa]

11:50 AM on 09/07/2009

You better hope someone better....someone who could win like David Letterman or maybe Mike Bloomberg.

[foxycontin]

08:30 PM on 09/07/2009

...or...*gag*... Sarah Palin.

[takeyourballandgohome]

08:19 AM on 09/07/2009

Forget this dinosaur...bowtie and all! Who cares....why keep his pension going...he's such a stuffed shirt! Send him off to Yale, he can teach other "out to lunch" prodigies.

[JXJASON]

05:51 AM on 09/07/2009

MoveOn.org , Just Foreign Policy. org . Rethink Afghanistan , Congressman Dennis Kucinich and 57% of us Americans want us out of Afghanistan!!!

TELL CONGRESS AND PRESIDENT OBAMA.

As a nation of fools we are going to suffer. Some financial experts are referring to THE NEW NORMAL.

The New Normal means A LOWER STANDARD OF LIVING FOR US. CITIZENS.

Bombs do not put food on your table, build you a house or give your kids an education.

I agree with George Will, Senator Finegold and Congressman Kucinich. BRING OUR TROOPS HOME FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.

If President Obama does not wake up and start evacuating our troops and other Americans from Iraq and Afghanistan, I will support an independent party in the next election.

As we move forward to the 2010 elections, you all should realize that a lower standard of living is a reality for a lot of Americans.

[Cleanerman]

05:50 PM on 09/06/2009

On this topic, I am with George Will.

[freemind1234]

05:15 PM on 09/06/2009

We should slowly but surely get out of Afghanistan.

Also must stop supporting Israel by giving millitary equipment and aid. Stop meddling on the middle east.