[PAA-Discuss] Helen Thomas says to Obama: "Declare Victory, Leave Afghanistan"

[Lee Loe]

Did you see what Helen said? That all Obama had to do to "appease the
armchair hawks" was to send drones to bomb the Taliban and Alqueda leaders
-- an outrages suggestion as it just increases the ## of civilian dead (and
I imagine the Taliban leaders are fathers/brothers and loved and admired by
folks will just join the movement -- We nned to contact her about that. It
also doesn't fit with Declare Victory, Leave Afghanistan. I am very upset!
Wish we could send Obama a cd of Tariq Ali's Rothko speech. But how do we
get past his minders? I asked this of Ann, by the way. Lee Loe 

-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces at paa-tx.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at paa-tx.org] On
Behalf Of Bill Crosier
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 10:07 PM
To: Ann Wright
Cc: board at hpjc.org; PAA Discussion List
Subject: Re: [PAA-Discuss] Helen Thomas says to Obama: "Declare Victory,
Leave Afghanistan"

Thanks, Ann, for forwarding Helen Thomas' latest column to us.  I'm cc'ing
the HPJC board and the Progressive Action Alliance discussion list, as I
know they'll want to read this too.

Thanks also for coming to our HPJC awards dinner, and even more for the many
trips you made to Houston and other cities all over the country during the
last few years, as we tried to turn our country around from the
empire-building strategy towards one of peace.  It seems that this work is
just as important now, too, and I know I want to continue pushing for
peaceful solutions, as you have worked for, too.

I hope you are doing OK, and keep in touch.

Bill Crosier


>Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:20:22 -0800 (PST)
>From: ann wright <microann at yahoo.com>
>Subject: Helen Thomas says to Obama: "Declare Victory, Leave Afghanistan"
>To: ann wright <microann at yahoo.com>
>
>  Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Hearst Newspapers Declare Victory, 
>Leave Afghanistan
>
> 
>
>by Helen Thomas
>
> 
>WASHINGTON -- The Nobel Peace crown lies uneasy on President Barack Obama's
head as he ponders the next U.S. move in Afghanistan, with hints and leaks
showering down to tell us that he will eventually send thousands more troops
there.
>
> 
>
>His decision -- which could be announced soon -- was triggered by the
request from Gen. Stanley McChrystal for 40,000 more troops to secure the
cities and protect the citizens of Afghanistan, in addition to the 68,000
U.S. troops there now.
>
> 
>
>Obama has been reviewing the U.S. role in Afghanistan for months, a
time-consuming study that has led to accusations from conservative pundits
that he is "dithering" and afraid to make a decision. Few, if any, of those
pundits have been to war.
>
> 
>
>By taking time and seeking opinion from all sides, this president actually
looks careful and deliberate, compared to his predecessor, who rushed to
invade Iraq under wrong pretexts.
>
> 
>
>It's easy for Obama to appease the armchair hawks-- critics like former
Vice President Dick Cheney, who managed to dodge the draft as a student
during the Vietnam War era. All Obama has to do is give the go-ahead for
more drone-dropping bombs on Taliban and al Qaida leaders.
>
> 
>
>The tougher decision is whether to bolster the numbers of GIs in
Afghanistan. And the answer to that question depends on what the U.S.
strategy is there.
>
> 
>
>The reason we have fighting forces in Afghanistan is that, 10 years ago, it
was a failed state where the 9/11 plotters could practice their evil in a
vacuum, without fear of local authorities.
>
> 
>
>Withdrawal from the Afghanistan quagmire is not an option for Obama. Even
though he inherited the war, the president has embraced it. And he has done
so without a whiff of domestic political protest. There are no visible peace
makers, no loud protesters chanting "how many kids did you kill today?"--
those painful anti-Vietnam war slogans Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and
Richard M. Nixon were forced to endure daily in the late 1960s and early
1970s.
>
> 
>
>More poignantly in the aftermath of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Obama
attended two national memorial services -- one for the victims of the Fort
Hood massacre and the other for the dead in all wars at the Nov. 11 Veterans
Day ceremonies.
>
> 
>
>Those provided opportunities for the president to announce that the U.S.
would not be a party to further mayhem and that we would be a leader in the
search for peace, a word not heard in the White House in recent years.
>
> 
>
>If Obama cannot learn from the lessons of Vietnam, he is bound to repeat
the mistakes from that debacle that besmirched two presidents.
>
> 
>
>As Obama weighs Gen. McChrystal's request for more troops, he should recall
what President Johnson told reporters. All he ever heard from the generals,
LBJ said, was "more, more troops" and we will win the Vietnam War.
>
> 
>
> Well, we didn't.
>
> 
>
>U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry -- a retired general who had been the top
military commander in Afghanistan up to 2007-- has reportedly sent two
cables to Obama objecting to the dispatch of more troops.
>
> 
>
>Matthew Hoh, a State Department official in Afghanistan quit his post to
protest the reality that Americans were dying there, "fighting and dying for
the Karzai regime."
>
> 
>
>Both Eikenberry and Hoh said they were concerned about corruption in the
Karzai regime.
>
> 
>
>The president should listen to these men who have been there and who are
sending warnings to him against escalating the war.
>
>He also should consider the high human cost of war on all sides, in terms
of Americans killed by Taliban and al Qaida and in terms of the innocent
Afghan civilians who happened to be too near a bomb target.
>
> 
>
>This war looks like an expensive, endless gopher hole where we can pour our
blood and our treasure that could be used to help the Afghan poor and the
American people suffering from job loss and poverty.
>
> 
>
>Obama is facing probably one of the most crucial decisions of his
presidency -- one that will define him in history and test his courage to
choose peace over war. Yes he can.
>
>C 2009 Hearst Newspapers
>
>Helen Thomas is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers. E-mail:
<mailto:helent at hearstdc.com>helent at hearstdc.com [1].  Among other books she
is the author of
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684868091?ie=UTF8&tag=commondreams-20&lin
kCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0684868091>Front Row at The White House: My
Life and Times [2].
>
> 

--
Bill Crosier
paa at crosierbiomed.com      713-641-4941
Progressive Action Alliance   http://progressiveactionalliance.org/
KPFT - Radio for Peace - 90.1 FM Houston   http://kpft.org

---------------
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