Obama Declares Afghan War ‘Absolutely Essential’
Insists America Will Never Abandon Conflict
Underscoring his administration’s commitment to continue the already eight and a half year long occupation of Afghanistan, President Barack Obama made a surprise visit today and delivered a speech declaring the war ‘absolutely essential.’
Citing 9/11, President Obama insisted that continuing the conflict makes all Americans safer, and assured the troops that “everyone” knows the importance of the continued occupation of the landlocked nation.
He also threw water on the notion that the war might come to an end any time soon, saying “the United States of America does not quit once we start on something.” He reiterated his confidence that the US would ultimately prevail.
But despite pledging to give the troops a clear mission and a clear goal, and insisting that they would “get the job done,” he didn’t make it at all clear what exactly this job was. His only hint at any mission beyond endless conflict was a reference to al-Qaeda in the region, though administration officials have repeatedly conceded that there are virtually no al-Qaeda members left in Afghanistan, and have not been in some time. Yet momentum and a sufficiently hawkish administration suggests the conflict will continue to find enemies wherever it can and continue indefinitely.
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Claus Eric Hamle
March 28th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Obama is a crazy war criminal ! And McCain is even crazier – if that´s possible ! There´s no proof that the Taliban knew anything of 9/11. But they couldn´t agree on the pipeline from Turkmenistan. The Peace Prize Winner is an insane war criminal.
DavidSpero
March 28th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Really like Jason's reporting. I would say that he is just reporting facts, not opinions, yet he give completely the opposite story to the corporate media's version.
AVietnamWarVet
March 28th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
You are correct! Actually 5 of the 19 terrorists of 9/11 were trained by the CIA in the 1980's war against the Russians – trained here in the U.S. – all 19 'terrorists' were being tracked by the NSA while in Europe – ALL were granted visas by the NSA – ALL were being tracked in the U.S. by the NSA and the FBI – ALL took their 'flight' training here in the U.S.
The Afghan War is ALL about the oil companies wanting a 'stable' Afghan government so that they build a gas pipeline through that country. The Taliban actually ended the growing of poppy for heroin. They offered up Osama bin Laden to be tried in an international court of law – rejected by the U.S.
Obama is indeed a crazy war criminal and McCain is a 'nut' case – remember McCain dancing and singing "bomb Iran, bomb Iran".
Mr. Raven
March 28th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
We've always been at war with east Asia, hurray for big brother down with the Goldstein teabaggers.
AVietnamWarVet
March 29th, 2010 at 12:24 am
YES – Obama is indeed an insane WAR CRIMINAL and a LIAR. The "waging of aggressive war" is what Nazi Germans were hanged for at the end of WWII – maybe they should have defended themselves by calling it "preemptive war."
ALL of the 9/11 terrorists were being tracked by the NSA which granted all of them visas to enter the US where they took their flight training – NONE trained in Afghanistan – the Taliban had NOTHING to do with the 9/11 attack.
The oil companies want to build a gas pipeline through Afghanistan and they want a government more 'stable' than what they perceived the Taliban to be – so – the U.S. is in Afghanistan killing civilians and destroying the country.
BUT – Afghanistan has a well earned reputation as being the "graveyard of soldiers and of empires" – so sad that young Americans are sacrificing their lives for Corporate profits and at the direction of an insane war criminal Obama.
Anti_Govt_Rebel
March 29th, 2010 at 1:44 am
The United States is going to "lose" this war (and properly so), just like it lost the Vietnam war. How many lessons have to learned to quit the insane interventionist foreign policies?
The troops are dying in vain.
Tom Mauel, WI
March 29th, 2010 at 4:22 am
Why has Antiwar stopped reporting on daily US combat deaths? The corporate media employs this strategy in order to down play the effects of the war. And lumping the combat deaths at the end of the week at the bottom of the site while useful is not as effective in conveying the escalation of the war as
reporting daily US combat deaths when they happen. The DOD posts these figures shortly after they appear. If you only mimic the daily reportage of the compromised corporate press what service do you provide in reporting the war?
Obama Declares Afghan War ‘Absolutely Essential’ | Same Old Change
March 28th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
[...] beyond endless conflict was a reference to al-Qaeda in the region, though administration officials have repeatedly conceded that there are virtually no al-Qaeda members left in Afghanistan, and have not been in some time. Yet momentum and a sufficiently hawkish administration suggests [...]
RodW
March 29th, 2010 at 5:29 am
How anybody can say that this clown makes better speeches than Bush did escapes me. When Obama is eschewing the highest flights of rhetorical garbage, his speeches follow exactly the same pattern as Bush's, with all the same glaring non-sequiturs leading to the same school-yard bully conclusions.
Druthers
March 29th, 2010 at 6:55 am
This is the promise of our future. The glowing tomorrow – endless death and destruction because now Obama is morphing into an LBJ plowing forward just as in Vietnam. Towards what? A pipeline all our own. How many lives per mile of pipe? What will be the price of each drop of oil? A drop of blood for a drop of oil?
Gulliable fools that we are following our Napoleon to Waterloo. What new Goya will engrave another "Disasters of War" Will Obana go back in November to serve turkey?
Ideas And Minds | Blog | Obama Declares the Afghan War 'Absolutely Essential'
March 28th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
[...] March 29, 2010 in Syndication, War and Peace, terrorism by Ideas&Minds http://news.antiwar.com/2010/03/28/obama-declares-afghan-war-absolutely-essential/ [...]
Hacklheber
March 29th, 2010 at 9:07 am
They stopped?
doc noss
March 29th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Exactly! Not only did Obama keep Bush's Secretary of Defense, he probably kept Bush's speechwriters too!
ron
March 29th, 2010 at 11:38 am
essential to whom? Certainly not the people of the US or Afghanistan…
jojo
March 29th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Just one biggie left out of O'Bama's speech–Israel oil/gas company has the sole rights in the neighbouring country to Afghanistan that needs the pipeline crossings to ship the oil/gas to Europe.
See,Once Americans cut welfare payments to }sreal,no problem–can depend on revenues from the pipe line :^/
PS–reported last week at WRH
protobone
March 29th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
America's service boys and girls get to die and that's "essential?" The Obama is out of his freaking mind. The Afghaniscam seems to be about heroin. Wow, sort of like Vietnam. Coincidence? Or probably just another quagmire that slaughters without rhyme or reason, makes the military-industrial complex mountains of cash, and at some point in future will just fade into the annals of heinous infamy.
E. A. Costa
March 29th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Afghanistan is not landlocked. Look at the map carefully–as the North Atlantic moved south and absorbed the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, it also moved east into the Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean, now all renamed "North Atlantic". Afghanistan is directly adjacent to the Gulf of Islamabad, as anyone with any knowledge of Realpolitik should know.
Bruce Richardson
March 29th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
The lie continues! To paraphrase Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propaganda minister: tell the lie, tell it big, tell it often, and the people will believe even if they are opposed to war. Those who oppose, he said, accuse them of being unpatriotic. Sound familiar?
Not a single Afghan was involved in 9/11. What Washington refuses to acknowledge and was recently revealed under declassified Stae Dept. documents,a result of foi requests, is that the government of Mullah Omar took steps to prevent Osama bin Laden from plotting to harm the US from Afghan territory. He went so far as to assign his own security for Osama so as to keep him honest and under agreement that he would not plan or implement any assault on America. Osama was a cheerleader for the 9/11 attack, but he did not plan nor implement it, the plans were hatched in Hamburg Germany. The president is lying when he lays the blame for 9/11 on Afghanistan.
Obama Declares Afghan War ‘Absolutely Essential’ « Nudging Obama
March 29th, 2010 at 7:52 am
[...] Obama Declares Afghan War ‘Absolutely Essential’ [...]
Henry_Clemens
March 29th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Yes! He is 100% correct. The war in Afghanistan is "absolutely essential" to the Wall Street banks and corporations that are reaping enormous profits from that war and screwing the American taxpayers with all the costs. Would you care to know how much the Demopublicans reap in recycled war profits in the form of bribes (campaign contributions) from the banks and corporations? OpenSecrets.org
Henry_Clemens
March 29th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Yes, America will lose the war, but the Wall Street Corporations that reap enormous profits from the war will be winners. And so will the politicians that receive bribes (campaign contributions) from those same Wall Street corporations. It's called fascism.
fedupandsick
March 29th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
obombsaway officially sucks. Usually he'll try and dazzle his way thru everything with great speeches but know he's turned into bush. Maybe he'll start walking around like he has grapefruit stuffed under his arms like toug guy georgie did.
Nelson_2008
March 30th, 2010 at 4:24 am
Don't forget that: (1) Obama is nothing but a puppet, just like Bush was. He sold his soul to the same demons that Bush did, and; (2) There's no proof that "Arab terrorists" (or any "terrorists" for that matter, were actually at the controls of the planes).
I'm told that, given the fact that the planes were flying 2 to 3 times faster than the recommended speed (for an approach to a runway of a width comparable to the building's width), and, given the 11 to 22 mph crosswind in that locale on that day, it is extremely unlikely that a human pilot (let alone an inexperienced one under highly stressful conditions) could have executed the maneuvers the planes did and actually hit their targets.
tioche
March 29th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
obomber gets more out of control with every deadly lie he and his fellow war criminals spin… the fascist amerikan empire IS crumbling as this latest insanity plays in Afghanistan !
Peaceful_Idiot
March 30th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
It's a good thing Peace Laureate Obama reiterated his pledge to the Good War, the progressives and liberals and democrats seem like they were starting to worry that Obama has reneged his commitment to the educating the young Afghan vagina about the world, e.g. calculus and condoms.
Oh wait, never mind. WTF does the American Left care about the Good War anyway? They "compromised" the it for their healthcare reform crumb trophy victory and are too busy partying it up to even care. My bad.
Imperial Overstretch in Afghanistan | Amauta
April 5th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
[...] that we would never step down until the Iraqis had stepped up, so Obama declared his war to be “absolutely essential.” General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, even claimed that the [...]