Last night, November 4th, I spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives to mark the 2,950th day of the war in Afghanistan and formalized my call to draw this conflict to a conclusion. As a freshman member of Congress who served in the United States Navy for 24 years, it has been my honor to serve on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee, and because of my background and experience, I think it's my duty to speak out on this issue.
To date, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, the American taxpayer has spent or committed $300,000,000,000 to fund this war. That breaks down to:
• $101,694,915.25 per day for 2,950 days
• $986.84 per person since our population is roughly 304 million
• $3,947.36 for each American family of four
And the greatest cost of this war is of course the 912 American troops killed, and 4,198 wounded. This of course does not include the thousands of internal wounds that our troops must bear for the rest of their lives.
My fellow Americans, the time to bring this war to a conclusion is now and we must stand with a clear voice and demand it. The war in Afghanistan has lasted five times longer than World War I and twice as long as World War II. When 1/3 of Hamid Karzai's ballots were thrown out for voting fraud and Abdullah Abdullah declined the runoff election due to the rampant corruption in the system, the world saw what we already knew - it is simply impossible to impose a democracy on a nation that does not want it.
If terrorist threats to our Nation reemerge from Afghanistan, we will strike, but we are not an occupying force.
If you agree with me on this issue, I need your help to promote this diary and I ask that you forward this to your friends as well. Let's tell the Leadership of the House and the White House that enough is enough. Our military has done everything they've been asked and it is time to conclude this war.
Follow Rep. Eric J.J. Massa on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ericjjmassa81@y
Staying will be a long one, that will only drag US down even more.
It was a grave mistake to abandon Afghans to the Jihadist warlords in the 90s. This resulted in subjugation of Afghanistan and 9-11. It would be even more hazardous to abandon Afghans yet again to the same Jihadsits and fundamentalists.
Think about it.
United Nations mandated removal of Taliban and its ally-Al Qaeda as a measure of protection, not to build democracy. If democracy happens-- fine. If a strong leader emerges who is able to control the fundamentalist Jihadist--fine. '
But you're suggesting abandoning Afghan people YET AGAIN! to the tender mercies of religious fanatics who throw acid in girls' faces to deny them education.
This is an immoral stance.
American initially trained and armed the Jihadists, and Americans are responsible to remove them.
EXIT STRATEGY
Demoralize and marginalize Taliban. Build secular schools and infrastructure with petro-dollars from the oil rich Middle East. When it is done--- exit.
Voila!
Why spend billions of dollars on technological weapons and not use them. No more dead soldiers!
Bring 'em all home now.
The only reason we attacked the Taliban was because Bush said they would not tell where bin Laden was. Well, I believe that...not. My reason is that if Bush really wanted bin Laden, then he would not have ordered our troops to leave Tora Bora and let the "warlords", whom we were paying, capture him, which they did not.
Just my thoughts. We need to leave that area completely. Pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan and bring our kids home and take care of them like they should be taken care of.
Again, just my thoughts.
dragged into it also, and they are much more tenacious than US.
NYT - November 7, 2009 - Brown Says Britain Will Not Quit Afghanistan
LONDON — In unusually harsh terms reflecting international frustration with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday that the Kabul government would forfeit its right to support against the Taliban insurgency if it failed to root out corruption.
“I am not prepared to put the lives of British men and women in harm’s way for a government that does not stand up against corruption,” (said) Mr. Brown ...
Mr. Brown was speaking four days after five British soldiers were killed by an Afghan policeman they were supposed to be mentoring in an attack that shook many Britons’ support for the eight-year war. Several British news organizations Friday quoted opinion surveys as saying the number of people favoring the early withdrawal of their troops had increased sharply in recent days.
So far, 230 British soldiers have died since the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001, seven of them in the past seven days.
Mr. Brown reiterated that Britain could not afford to “walk away” from its role in the American-led NATO coalition. ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/world/europe/07britain.html
What you forget is that we have the bulls by the horns and the mistake of letting go should be more than obvious.
It is not only impossible, but it is - in every sense of the word - an act of terrorism in and of itself.
We are, what we claim we are fighting. Terrorists, killing many with our actions.
WWII lasted from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945, which is 2192 days if I did the arithmetic right. 2950 days is longer than 2192 days, but not twice as long. WWI lasted over four years, from July 1914 to November 1918. The current war in Afghanistan began after 9/11/2001 -- not over 20 years ago.
Economists have a saying, "sunk costs don't matter." The enormous amount already spent on this war will not be brought back by stopping now. Not one cent of it. On the other hand, that huge expenditure is also no reason to continue the war. It's a separate question whether or not it's worthwhile to continue the war with a new mission and a new strategy to accomplish it.