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March 16, 2008 When I first heard that Obama wanted to pull our troops out of Iraq and send some of them into Afghanistan it sounded pretty good. Heck, I want our troops out of Iraq and it seems quite likely that the best place to look for Taliban is in Afghanistan. Then I started thinking a little deeper about Obama's strategy and the more I thought about it the less sure I was of it on many levels. There are three main problems. Strategy, success and money. Strategy I recently watched a documentary made by a man who went to, and walked, the front lines with our troops in Afghanistan. It's a tough place. The best way to hunt out the enemy is on foot, literally on foot. Afghanistan has some of the roughest terrain in the world. Let's put it this way, Russia was fighting Afghanistan, finally gave up and went home. No, I'm not kidding. Success Afghanistan seem impenetrable. We have lost a lot of good soldiers in Afghanistan and a lot of Allie countries are quite squirmish at this point about leaving or sending their men to that barren country. Like every other American, and most people in the world, I don't want terrorists harming our country, any other country or our global society. That being said, if it's a war that can't be won, let's not waste our money and kill our soldiers by foolishly sending them to the wolves. I'm sure there are other ways we can handle the Afghanistan issue. The documentary I watched clearly laid out that the terrain was too rough for vehicles. Our soldiers lived in abandoned mud huts and everyday they would carry about as much weight as they could handle and walk out as far as they could in search of the enemy then turn around at the end of the day, return to camp and repeat the following day. Even when our soldiers could see or feel the enemy was near the terrain was such that it keep the enemy at a distance and our soldiers simply couldn't make headway. The soldiers said Afghanistan was a hard place to be, that it was a rough life to live and would often take a toll on them mentally. The Iraq war is one that should never have taken place. Yes, it has given Haliburton (and their stockholders), Cheney, Bush and oil companies (and their stockholders) more profit than otherwise imaginable. But those are greedy individuals mixed up with big business ventures and if you don't think those two men are capable of bringing America to it's knees you need to think again because they are very close to doing it with a little help from their big business friends. Money The American economy is faltering to such a degree that one could equate it to being the leaning tower of Pisa smack dab in the middle of a Los Angeles earthquake. You know it's going to crumble without some major supports in place. I'm not a nay-sayer, I'm just a concerned citizen that doesn't want America in a position that it is too weak to recover from and that is precisely the road we are going down. It's the big pink elephant in the living room that no one is willing to talk about. If you're too busy shopping or worrying about your own finances to think about the economic stability of the US, you might want to think about that fact that a deeply depressed American economic situation will greatly affect your shopping power while increasing your financial woes. If you don't believe me then let me as you this question... How much are you paying in gas these days? America's economic woes very much hit you and your pocket book personally. America is a large animal and while it can fall hard it might very well have a difficult time getting back up. America is your country which makes this your concern. Remember, the government works for you, not the other way around, which makes you responsible for the happenings in America. The Problem with Obama's Plan Okay, back to Obama. Obama's strategy is probably pretty straightforward. I'd guess he doesn't want to lose any votes so he's going for a middle ground even if it's not necessarily the best plan for our country. There will be some people thinking America should stay in Iraq and others thinking we should come home. If Obama appears to be focusing on terrorism, via sending more soldiers to Iraq, he appears strong in foreign affairs and on the surface appears to have come up with a good plan. The problem is that it's a war America probably can't win. With that in mind his strategy wouldn't be successful and will cost the US money it simply doesn't have and can't afford to spend. We are currently spending $12 billion dollars a month on the war. Our economy can't sustain it. The American market is having issues. The US is having recession woes. And, the dollar is falling far too fast. Soon, the US may not be able to recover. There is a good chance the dollar will be so low that questionable countries may very well decide to cut there losses and look to greener pastures. As a country, we simply cannot afford for this to happen. Conclusion In the end, these facts and factors put together mean that we should not expand our efforts in Afghanistan but rather bring our troops home and focus on putting the pieces of our crumbing economy back together again, help America to strengthen it's moral and social fibers, and try diligently to rebuild our very bruised global reputation. 
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