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Obama's 'Finish the Job' Talk Sets Stage for Afghan Troop Surge
President Obama plans to formally announce on December 1 his decision with regard to the request from some of his more ambitious generals for a massive troop surge in Afghanistan.
US Marines fire mortar rounds from their forward operating base in Mian Poshteh in Helmand Province. President Barack Obama, vowing to "finish the job" in Afghanistan, promised he would soon announce his decision on sending tens of thousands more US troops to battle Al-Qaeda and the Taliban (AFP/Manpreet Romana) But indications are that the president who was elected to set a new
course for the nation when it comes to foreign policy will instead
"stay the course" set by his quagmire-prone predecessor.
Obama announced Tuesday that he plans to "finish the job" in Afghanistan, and there is a growing consensus that he will agree to dispatch roughly 34,000 U.S. troops to the country.
The president says he plans to use his December 1 "finish-the-job" speech to signal "resolve to the allies while not signaling open-ended commitment to the American people."
Translation: There will be talk of an exit strategy -- with reassuring references to "benchmarks" and "off-ramps" -- but no exit strategy.
Obama indicated on Tuesday that he plans to expend a good deal of political capital to promote what is effectively becoming his war. "I feel very confident that when the American people hear a clear rationale for what we're doing there and how we intend to achieve our goals, that they will be supportive," he said.
But there is likely to be significant resistance to what many Americans -- some of whom serve in Congress -- see as a plan to steer the country deeper into a quagmire.
As Obama's intentions began to clarify Tuesday, anti-war activists stepped up their activism on behalf of congressional measures that would limit the scope of the war and begin a process of bringing the troops home.
In particular, they focused on a bill introduced by California Congresswoman Barbara Lee, HR 3699, which would prohibit the use of taxpayer funds for more combat troops to Afghanistan, and another introduced by Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern, HR 2404, which calls for the development of a clear exit strategy.
Tom Hayden, the former California legislator and anti-Vietnam War activist who has positioned himself as prime mover in the movement to prevent an escalation of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, says the Lee and McGovern bills "provide space for the peace movement to organize in local communities across the country during the next six months."
That's right.
Lee's amendment has 23 cosponsors, McGovern's has 100 --including several Republicans.
And there are rumblings from top Democrats in Congress.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, described Afghan President Hamid Karzai as an "unworthy partner" for the U.S., in a statement that indicated deep discomfort with an expansion of the U.S. commitment toprop up Karzai's regime.
Perhaps even more significantly, Congressman David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, bluntly declared that: "On the merits, I think it is a mistake to deepen our involvement."
Obey and Senator Carl Levin, D-Michigan, are proposing a war surtax on the wealthy to pay for additional troops. "If we have to pay for the health care bill, we should pay for the war as well," says the man who will have a significant say with regarding any move by Obama to expand the occupation. "The problem in this country with this issue is that the only people who have to sacrifice are military families and they've had to go to the well again and again and again and again, and everybody else is blithely unaffected by the war."
Obey is offering what could well be the most effective congressional challenge to Obama's plan. The appropriations committee chair argues that the expanded mission is simply unaffordable.
Surging more troops into Afghanistan will "wipe out every initiative we have to rebuild our own economy," says Obey, who explains that if Obama goes for an expanded war: "There ain't going to be no money for nothing if we pour it all into Afghanistan. If they ask for an increased troop commitment in Afghanistan, I am going to ask them to pay for it."
The Obama administration won't be happy with Obey.
But Obey knows the numbers when it comes to budgeting.
And his warning is stark and necessary one.
- Posted in
108 Comments so far
Show AllThe Audacity of WAR.
Obama believes there will be significant support for his and the military's insane and illegal war. Well, he's probably right because a very great many people, perhaps the majority, have been infected by the psychic virus spread through the mass media and have become themselves psychotic and vcitims of the psychological operations perpetrated on them by their own government!!
Prediction: Now that all the democratic leaders in Congress have given themselves rhetorical cover, they will one by one close ranks with the president and follow him into the mire.
word.
Agree. This won't be the first time that the Democrats have waived their hands that they are against the war (Iraq or Afghanistan). They may propose some legislation that is against the war just to cater to a political constituency but they know it is doomed to defeat. They may make some anti-war speeches (just as they've done for the last 5 years) to make an appearance as anti-war; however, they have and will continue to vote for the funding of the wars. The Democratic leadership tolerates this because as long as a majority of Democrats and Republicans both support the never-ending wars, having a handful of Democrats "demonstrating progressiveness" serves to try to preserve the appearance that there is a difference between the two parties.
Progressive 101
Intelligently and persuasively well said.
JUST ALL A BIG FARCE--NOTHING WILL CHANGE--UNLESS.....
You fill it in and keep dreaming on--this is a fucking calamity---Who's at the helm? And where are they taking us? AND ONCE AGAIN--WHAT THE FUCK FOR?--IS IT LEGAL?--IS IT MORAL?
HOW COME WHEN BUSH DID IT, THESE SAME QUESTIONS COULD NOT BE ANSWERED--you all said it was wrong--you spoke up--where are you now--are you dumb enough that they will be able to deceive you?
It must be half past Tet by now.
"Do you know where your children are?"
Remember the public service announcement of the same era?
I remember my neighbor lady running out of the kitchen crying after this one night because her one draftee son was still in 'Nam after his twin had been killed there.
President Banka Obombya is following the script set down by his employers. What better way to stop all social programs than directing money to financial bailouts of Wall Street and for war and the military. Obombya can wring his hands and say there is just no money for any social programs. No health care, no schools, no jobs (unless you join the military) no money to keep your state from going bankrupt but lots of money for private military contractors like Blackwater. And why not? Nobody is going to stop this. The public is to busy chanting yes we can, yes we can, change we can believe in, yes we can, not the Bush, not the Bush. It's going to take state workers and teachers lossing their jobs and pensions. It's going to take unemployment hitting 50% (which in reality will be 100% because unemployment figures are half what they really are). It will take grocery store shelves being empty and gas pumps being dry. Then and only then the electorate will take action and do something stellularly stupid. They will elect the likes of Sara Moose Turd Palin.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
"Finish the job in Afghanistan."
Obama is rapidly becoming as big a fascist load as Rush Limbaugh.
Here's the prescription:
All of Amurka's ruling elite and their corporate media arm should be air-dropped into that part of Uganda that just had a breakout of a new strain of Ebola virus. They should all be thumped as hard as possible on their topknots by a graduate of the Citadel using his/her class ring. They should each be branded with the numbers "666." Greg Kimmel should then be assigned the task of clanging every one of their heads between two very large Avedis Zildjian brass cymbals--immediately followed by him doing the same thing to himself and getting at the back of the line. Then each should be dressed as a brownie scout in a little brown mini-skirt and stripped of all electronic communications devices, brain chips, ass hats & tracking devices and given a bug-out kit no larger than a 12 year old's school backpack.
This kit should contain: 7 band-aids, a 3 oz. container of witchhazel, a fishing hook, a knife with a 1-inch blade, 1 match for cooking 1 fish or making smoke signals, one copy of the latest TV guide for use as toilet paper or fire tender, one pair of wooden Dutch shoes roughly hewn with splinters, one 3 oz. container of Texas Pete hot sauce, one tablet of vitamin C. They should be told that they must carve their own canoes to survive and escape the remote disease-infested region into which they will be dropped. Their progress should be videoed, and any among them who induce others to work for them with promises of immediate sexual rewards or future material rewards should be, if they survive, compelled to repeat the air drop under the exact same circumstances. At all times while they are in Uganda, they are to be followed at a 290 meter distance by an LRAD sound cannon playing the "song" Apes-ma by Captain Beefheart at 121 decibels aimed directly at them on a repeating loop.
The Lyrics to Apes-ma:
Apes-Ma, Apes-Ma
Remember when you were young Apes-Ma?
And you used to break out of your cage?
Well you know that you're not
Strong enough to do that anymore now
And Apes-Ma... The little girl that
Named you years ago died now
And you're older Apes-Ma
Remember when she named you
And it was in the paper Apes-Ma?
Apes-Ma, Apes-Ma
You're eating too much
And going to the bathroom too much Apes-Ma
And Apes-Ma, your cage isn't getting any bigger Apes-Ma
Killer! Oh - That's good! Go burn down a house!
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
Thanks for all the compliments folks. I'd love to see this air drop as the beginning of a movie about how a sentient race of super advanced alien monotremes similar to duck-billed platypusses takes over the world and re-educates our ruling elites this way.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
Correction: It's Jimmy Kimmel, not Greg Kimmel as I renamed him. He's such an untalented non-entity that I get him confused with former late night talk show host Greg Kinnear. Kimmel is a bleary-eyed, bloated, pasty-faced pischer who spitefully derides people receiving unemployment benefits during the ongoing economic downturn. He should thank God he ever got to bed Sarah Silverman (who is also not talented but a physical hottie), leave his truly awful show in shame and call it a day. He's got to be related to someone at ABC to have lasted this long. I've known grocery store stockers with more personality.
My mother has a simpler plan: "March them out and shoot them at sunrise!"
I'd rather watch the original idea on TV.
"witchhazel"? "Texas Pete"?
My god that's beautiful.
brilliant, but first remove the labels from the witch hazel and the Texas Pete. Your "adventurers" might confuse the two bottles...
I share your anger.
Obama should put an end to this nightmare immediately. Not only is the war "unwinnable" and immoral, it is being financed with money we don't have and it is doubtful if it will be repaid. The real issue is the lack of a military draft and equitable sacrifice among the American population. For-pay, volunteer armies allow the political and corporate interests to send young men and women off to war with little or no responsibility or compassion. If their own sons and daughters were on the firing line maybe they would act more responsibly and humanely? At least conscription would put students back in the streets again. If our National Security is really at stake as the powerful suggest, why are they not interested in bringing the full repertoire of American skills available to the fight?
revive the draft for foreign wars?
and why not slavery for homeland chores?
VDB
That first sentence would be highly acceptable if this motto from a button would be implemented in the United States:
"Draft the Rich-It's Their War"
Want peace? Undo the suburbs.
http://frepubtra.blogspot.com
Shortly after Obama was sworn in (Chief Justice Roberts insulted us all and the Constitution too by "forgetting" the oath but later swore Obama in privately at the White House) the Organization of American States met.
President Chavez of Venezuela took Obama aside at the end of the conference and gave him a copy of "Blood in the Veins of Latin America," and, at the same time, asked him, "Are you a captive? We have much experience here in Latin America with captive Presidents. What can we do to help you break free?"
He is a captive, there is little doubt about that when you compare his campaign promises to what he has presided over so far. So far we have same old same old no one can believe in instead of Change We Can Believe In.
The question is: How willing is Obama in all of this? Is he a captive or a collaborator?
And if he is captive, what can we do as the American people to get behind him to set him free?
But if he is just another lying, hypocritical collaborator with organized crime we need another party and different leaders. Violent revolution may have become inevitable because the current situation is becoming increasingly intolerable. 45,000 Americans are dying annually, one every seven minutes because of lack of access to health care. If you are involved in an automobile accident and do not have insurance you are twice as likely to die as someone with insurance. And who is to say if you have insurance or not if you are unconscious? Many people simply either cannot get or cannot afford insurance. They just can't get any. So the system is condemning them to death. This has to stop, and not in 2019 or whenever the Senate is bluffing about now.
Fighting to control a corner of desert in the most godforsaken place on the planet isn't just wrong, criminal and immoral. It's insane, and we have to stop it. If Obama calls for more troops it should trigger wild in the streets like the 1970 invasion of Cambodia did. There are plenty of unoccupied buildings that could be burned down as a way of sending a message to Wall Street and the bankers that we are not going to take it anymore. Those TARP funds could have paid off nearly every primary home mortgage in America, instead the money was just handed over to the richest people in the country and the bill was sent to the same taxpayers who are losing their homes. The fact that the corporate media NEVER mentions this shows that they should be considered only as a disingenuous propaganda machine that exists only to brainwash the people and parrot the corporate Wall Street lies.
The vast sums which are being spent to keep those in power in power should be spent to build a solar powered, mass transit based, industrial economy of the future. But the pig bankers own the carbon based fuel supply system and they are aghast at the idea of a country run with solar power. In the bankers' view nothing could be worse than an economy run on the free, non-polluting inexhaustible fuel of the Sun.
Obama talked about a sustainable future in the campaign. He seemed to understand the ideas behind it.
Is he a captive?
"And if he is captive, what can we do as the American people to get behind him to set him free?"
If I read one more line like this I'll scream.
We set this do-nothing ultimate slackard "free" last November. Remember?
This man can command the eyes and ears of the world--at will. He has the ultimate bully pulpit. If you honestly think (and some here at CD will) that its "just more complicated than that", then we'll get exactly what we get: nothing.
If he's afraid for his life, then he's the ultimate American coward. And that's just what he is. Hell, at this point we're all afraid for our lives. So what? What is there left to lose?
"A warrior-hunter knows that his death is waiting, and the very act he is performing now may well be his last battle on earth. He calls it a battle because it is a struggle. Most people move from act to act without any struggle or thought. A warrior-hunter, on the contrary, assesses every act; and since he has intimate knowledge of his death, he proceeds judiciously, as if every act were his last battle. Only a fool would fail to notice advantage a warrior-hunter has over his fellow men. A warrior-hunter gives his last battle its due respect. It's only natural that his last act on earth should be the best of himself. It's pleasurable that way. It dulls the edge of his fright. –Carlos Castaneda)
Quit being such a candy-ass, a wuss, a chicken-shit. Man-up, Barack, or be prepared to be "pushed"...out the door in 2012--by a woman named Sarah. (If that doesn't motivate you, nothing will.)
word
You make it sound as if he has the power. He doesn't. The power brokers are way behind the scenes. Obama is just a bit player, however willing or not he is.
Barack isn't going to man-up. Even if we wanted to, there's not much he could ultimately do before the real Power either eviscerated him or made sure he was a one-termer (ala Carter).
How about you and I and all the other belly-achin' "consumers" man-up ourselves and do something about it?
Let the belly-achin' continue.
You're right that the replacement chimp is basically a puppet, controlled by the over-lapping zionist, militarist, imperialist, and capitalist factions of the elite establishment. But the people can easily seize control of the puppet when they want to, and their demands will be "officiated" by the official pen-strokes.
There are certain demands that serve all of us, so some people can start publicly demanding them, and others can join in, because everyone knows that the more people demanding the same thing, the more likely they will get it, and they will get anything they want if something like ten million march on Washing-town. Remember the elites' greatest fear is their fear of the rabble. When are the urbans and the rurals going to form a united front against elite class war aggression?
By comparison with his predecessor, Obama persuaded some of us that he might produce the character required to set standards of stewardship and the charisma to lead a majority of the public in supporting their own best interests.
Sorry, no Messiah here.
Questions:
Is he a bad guy who sold out or is the Presidency simply a fancy seat for an impotent figurehead?
Are government and the public psyche so thoroughly controlled by RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) that they are beyond the influence of better minds and spirits?
Is the state of the Union best understood in the disease model wherein the pathogens won't expire until either the host is consumed or a raging fever flares up to burn out the corruption?
*****
Ah, well, even in the depths of Soviet fascism, the Russian peasant could take solace in circumspection: "Life is difficult - but fortunately, short." (And we're cooking up a health care program to ensure it.)
i'm hoping for the fire in a revolutionary way. i hope this is your reference.
it doesn't seem like anything short of the revolutionary ways of the 60's is
going to change anything in america! we have to exert mass demonstration
in every major city to make them understand we will not tolerate the
fascist dictatorship that has taken control here for not a moment longer!
all this from a crew who with a few exceptions has never seen a war up
close! who have total disregard for us the citizens who pay their checks
who fund their wars! its time folks to teach those who is the boss!
Read the Declaration of Independence again. The policies and direction of the Amurkan empire of 2009 are starting to resemble the "usurpations" of King George III in the 1770s. And, we now have "taxation without representation" once again. Progressives and righties agree on that one. Once the masses on the left and the right start seeing that both are getting shafted equally by the fascist Empire... well, your vision may come true, Truth.
skeptimist, your question about the "state of the Union being analogous to a disease model wherein the pathogens won't expire until the host is consumed" is dead on target.
And I think we all know the disease that you are thinking of, which grows abnormally until the host is dead.
Yes, skeptimist, the metastasizing tumor is unfortunately a very large and hidden tumor of cancer in our body-politic. And that cancer is EMPIRE.
Our country is now being consumed by a global ruling-elite corporate/financial Empire that hides behind the facade of its two-party 'Vichy' sham of democracy.
And, oh, Obama is not a doctor.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Up until now I've been supportive of Obama. But if he leads us into an Afghan quagmire at the expense of undermining essential domestic legislation my enthusiasm will dissolve. Congress should not fund escalation.
"But if he leads us into an Afghan quagmire at the expense of undermining essential domestic legislation my enthusiasm will dissolve."
This has already happened. The quagmire already exists. Are you asleep or something?
Actually it's the audacity of illegal attack/invasion and occupation--apparently for products and Geo-positioning for Israel--if you have your enemy surrounded on all sides that's really the best in the art of containment of Iran until the attack--who's going to stop them YOU?
GET SERIOUS, THINK, NO, SCHEME FOR REAL CHANGE.
Wouldn't it be necessary for the two sides to be more equal, maybe each have an army, navy, air force etc. to be able to call it a war--see in this country war is OK but what's really being done here is a crime with many facets: first of all we have use of office while committing a crime, murder for profit, theft of the American peoples blood,wealth, and honor as well as the same of the innocent Iraqis and Afghans. How many screamed out before these debacles occurred and they at the time fell on deft ears. Moreover, as the anti-war sentiment grew and in the last two elections were heard loud and clear--yet here we go fucking again--UN-FUCKING--UNBELIEVABLE.
I believe that for this thanksgiving we should carve up this turkey of a farce government which was sold to us by a snake-oil salesman named OBAMA--It is the exact same plastic one that was employed by W when he made his first visit to the occupied lands--NOTHING HAS CHANGED FOR THE GOOD--BUT SOOOOOO MUCH HAS BEEN CHANGED FOR THE WORST AND THIS WAS THE WORST--BUT I HAVE A FEELING THAT IT AIN'T done yet and that I may never see it done in my life time--but even this shall eventually pass away--MAY YOU HAVE THE PEACE TO BE THANKFUL FOR IN THIS HOLIDAY SEASON.
Nancy Pelosi > I'M SORRY BUT THAT TURKEY'S DEFINITELY NOT ON THE TABLE this year or ever.
Obomba: " finish the job in Afghanistan". Please explain Mr. President, to the American people when you go on nationwide T.V. next Tuesday exactly what you mean by " finish the job". At least tell the truth for once! We are there to support one of the most corrupt regimes in the world that have sold out to us so eventually we can control the resources in Afghanistan namely: oil pipelines and heroin traffic. Then and only then, will the job be finished.
Will Obama's desire to "finish the job", which seems eerily similar to Nixon's supposed secret plan to end the Vietnam War when he ran for election in 1968, finally provide the impetus for the moribund antiwar movement to gather round the White House and to tell this [alleged] antiwar president:
"One, two, three, four,
We don't need your rotten war"
I am no fan of Nixon, but he did decide to cut our losses in Vietnam and get out. Obama should do the same in Iraq and Afghanistan. If he wants to declare "Peace with Honor" fine. Just get the hell out.
KeLeMi
I think that it should be pointed out that Nixon decided to finally "cut our losses" only after the antiwar movement initiated massive antiwar marches around the country due to the fact that Nixon had ordered tons of bombs that were dropped on North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Unfortunately the problem in this country today is that the vast majority of Americans simply do not give a damn that 500 lb. American bombs are slaughtering innocent Afghan children and grandmothers. Apparently the American public has to be moved first by the sight of soldiers returning to this country in body bags before giving any thought at all to those who have become victims of American militarism.
I think that it should be pointed out that Nixon decided to finally "cut our losses" only after the antiwar movement initiated massive antiwar marches around the country....
----------
The difference is that today the media will not cover those marches.
And we all know that if something does not appear on t.v. it ceases to exist.
In one paragraph, the ugly truth about Obama:
"Obama’s escalation of the war in Afghanistan will inevitably result in deeper cuts to social services and education in the US. And while Obama claims that there is no money for a jobs program that would put millions to work on desperately needed infrastructure and housing projects, he finds unlimited funds to cover the bad debts of the banking industry and to carry on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."
more at http://wsws.org/articles/2009/nov2009/afgh-n25.shtml
uncle charlie, yes, the WSWS (and Tom Eley) always pin the tail on the right arse.
Of course militarist Empire 'abroad' is going to require economic oppression and police-state tyranny 'at home'.
Hell, Hannah Arendt, from her experience with the Nazi EMNPIRE and the Soviet EMPIRE, presciently warned of this decades ago, when she said:
"Empire abroad (always) entails tyranny at home."
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Finish the job? Vote this lying, conniving, deceitful, treacherous yuppie SOB out of office in 2012 and replace him with a peace candidate! That's the only way the "job" in Afghanistan will ever end!
Obey's war surtax is not only on the wealthy--it is on everyone, with higher percentages on the wealthy. We should oppose this "share the sacrifice" crap. Many of us saw through this ruse of Afghanistan from the beginning. It was never the "right war." Let the warmongers pay for their war--including every member of Congress who voted for it. Sacrifice is for suckers.
On the other hand, a surtax on everyone could do what the draft did in Vietnam, turn everyone against the war.
The job was a fool's errand to begin with. To wit: to declare total war on a country that ,at worst, housed Osama Bin Laden, much in the way this country housed Tim McVeigh or Britain housed the ShoeBomber. The Bush/Cheney team used the sledgehammer instead of the scalpel to deal with the problem. 8 years later we still soldier on.
Our latest scheme: buy an army of Afghan tribesmen to oppose the Taliban. Sounds like another hare-brained US Military strategy that we keep on trying in our so-called counter-insurgency plans. Pit one tribe against the other-- Taliban vs. Soviets, Sunnis vs. Shia, Pashtun vs. Tajiks, Ho Chi Minh's Buddhists vs. CIA's Roman Catholics. All of these half-baked plans, sooner or later, come back to haunt us.
Sending in the 40,000 troops that General McChrystal wants, and train more Afghanistan troops and establish a brigade to fight the Taliban is another dead-end. The Afghanis think we’re infidels and occupiers and, as a result, don’t trust us. And isn’t it equally clear that as a result of the Ft. Hood massacre, American troops simply don’t trust the Afghanis? How are we then going to partner with them and train more troops?
The Taliban are the government we overthrew. Basically they represent the largest tribal group in Afghanistan , the Pashtuns at 42% of the population. Fighting these folks will take a long, long time, plus, according to many experts, they are interested in Afghanistan, not in blowing up buildings in the US. Moreover, Al Qaeda, at less than 100 members, are a spent force.
Then there’s the cost issue. Rule of thumb--each thousand troops sent abroad costs $1 billion. So, 40,000 troops , 40 billion per year. Add this to the troops and contractors already in Afghanistan. Comes to over 100 billion a year. This money is to be paid by adding additional debt to our huge deficit, then having the Treasury department print the money and then having the Chinese loan us the money.
Our taxes do pay for the annual $1 trillion military budget (army, navy, air force, coast guard , 1000 overseas military bases, CIA black box operations, Veterans Affairs hospitals, etc.) It all adds up.
And what we get for all our investment in Afghanistan is a lot of deaths, heartaches and corrupt puppet rulers. Pulling out would be a big plus for us--we might lose our influence over the gas and oil pipelines in the region--but we'd be a richer nation for it.
This is a war for future control of oil. Obama will finish the jobs program and encourage enlistment.
"The problem in this country with this issue is that the only people who have to sacrifice are military families...
---------
Wrong.
I've had to sacrifice virtually every constitutional protection.
Has Mr. Obey read the Patriot Act? Military Commissions Act? The new FISA laws?
Free speech cage anyone?
The constitution is gone. Dust.
We've all had to sacrifice EVERYTHING, including at least three generations of wealth stolen from the treasury and handed over to the Pentagon.
And if the whole world is a battlefield then we're all in great danger physically as well.
The goal of all politicians is more campaign "contributions". It is disingenuous to think that the public welfare could be their first priority unless they are super-rich to begin with and have pangs of conscience.
Some pols may rationalize that they'll switch priorities after their re-election, but by then it will be too late. They will have been bought and gotten used to the good life with the plutocracy. Presidents will be lame ducks anyhow, too late to change much. http://ni4d.us/
"finish the job" ...
"If you dont know where you are going, then any road will take you there!"
The job can only ever be "finished" if its end is defined. If he was serious about "finishing" the job, he should have described the aims, and set down criteria so that we will know when those aims have been achieved. The aims should not be the usual rhetoric couched in terms of good (us) verses evil (them) (e.g. "fighting terrorism"). Instead, the aims should be measurable and have real relevance to Afghani life.
Also, if we know what the aims are then we can know whether any action we take supports or destroys those aims.
On the other hand, if it is completely open ended, and all we have is the usual propaganda and lofty rhetoric as predicted by George Orwell, then the job is "finished" whenever we say it is. Whenever we choose to declare victory and leave, then we will say it is "finished". The truth is that job will never be declared to be "finished" so long as there is money for more military spending.
And unfortunately, I predict more lofty rhetoric, i.e. lies. What Obama really means is that we are going to commit to lots more military spending WITHOUT describing the required end results, i.e. without committing to any "finish" at all whatsoever.
Unfortunately, the US empire doesn't give a dried turd about Afghani life. Nor do they care. If they did, we would be involved in dozens of wars around the world trying to save people from their corrupt leaders and homegrown terrorists.