President Obama’s Remarks on New Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan

[BigRob]

What makes you think that you can achieve this victory over Al Qaeda?

How many years evidence of failure on the part of the co-allition and other nations who are much closer (USSR) do you need before you accept that this war is unwinnable? It has already been going on longer than the second world war.

The situation the US is in and the situation the USSR was in are not exactly parallel scenarios in which you can blatantly draw this conclusion.

And let's be real about this, they don't exactly have the fire power of the US do they?

So what?

The fact is that western countries cannot deal with modern warfare where the enemy doesn't come walking over the hill wearing the same clothes as each other. Al Qaeda and the Taliban have shown quite remarkably how a small number of poorly armed but very determined guerilla fighters can frustrate a hugely well equipped modern army that is a long way from home.

What is it that you think will change to make an outcome any different to the one you see day in day out?

Strategy changes can result in enhanced partnerships with the local populations, a better economic environment to decrease potential recruitment, bring in more burden sharing with NATO etc etc... There are options.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

Thinking that war can be nicely predicted in advance in lunacy.

then why is it that so often the problems we are running into....are the very ones people said 8 years ago would be the problems...but for 8 years no one seemed to listen?

Just about evry problem with Iraq....I stated being the biggest problems before the war started...lucky us, some where not as bad as I feared they could be.

You can have a good idea, you can have goals that are reasonable...you can at least ask the questions....rather then...war war war....don't agree you hate America...No questions kill kill kill...the way some seem to go into the idea of going to war.