We wish Mr Carter success as Secretary of Defense. We also
hope that he is ready to explain to the country what we are doing in Iraq &
Afghanistan. Let's hope that the subject comes up in the confirmation
hearings.
We learned from Reuters
that we will keep a larger force in Afghanistan than advertised:
"The United States will keep up to 1,000 more soldiers than previously planned in Afghanistan into next year, outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Saturday, in a recognition of the still formidable challenge from Taliban insurgents.
Hagel, confirming a change in the U.S. drawdown schedule first reported by Reuters in November, said the additional forces were needed because delays in signing security pacts had impacted plans to raise troops from other countries.
However, he also said that a particularly violent surge of Taliban attacks in Kabul in the last two weeks was a reminder of the continued need for a foreign presence."
We also
learned at Stars
& Stripes that the 82nd Airborne is headed to Iraq:
"Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division will soon head to Iraq to participate in Operation Inherent Resolve, the Pentagon announced Monday."
I don't have
a problem with keeping a military presence in Afghanistan, specially after
seeing what happened in Iraq when we came home so that President Obama could run
for reelection claiming that he ended the war.
I don't have
a problem with sending troops to Iraq, or fight ISIS. Someone has to lead the
effort against ISIS and I don't see any of the allies asking for the
baseball. We lead or nothing gets done.
My problem is two-fold:
1) Where is the war resolution?
2) What hasn't President Obama spoken to the country and
outlined our military objectives? Does President Obama think that he can
pretend that we are not at war when there are troops back in Iraq. You can call
them "trainers" or "support" but they are men with loaded weapons.
We can't go on escalating our military presence pretending
that we are not doing so. I understand that this is not the way that
President Obama wanted to spend the last two years of his presidency but that's
the way it is. He is a war president and needs to start acting like
one.
P. S. You can
hear CANTO TALK here & follow
me on Twitter @ scantojr.
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