People who care about preserving life should stop trying to keep Obama from sending more troops.  Less troops means more air attacks and predator drones, and thus more innocent Afghani lives lost.  It also means the U.S. troops who are there are more vulnerable.  It would be a great tragedy for Americans and Afghanis alike if the peaceniks (with whom I normally identify) succeed in pressuring the Obama administration into ignoring General McChrystal’s requests for more troops.  We’ve either got to go all in or get all out.  These political compromises (ok, you can go to/continue the war (for the right), but you can’t do it with sufficient troop levels (for the left)) are devastating for everyone involved.  Arguing that more troops = more deaths, as this cartoon seems to, is dangerously misguided.

I, too, find both the comments and the cartoon offensive.  Obama inherited this war.  He did not start it.  The vexing question is what to do now?  He needs to think this through and make the best decision possible. There are no magic answers here.

By melpol, October 21 at 10:06 am

Yours is an interesting comment and makes me think about that ‘other’ group
of people whose patriotism is more about the ‘unfettered’ way of making
money from these illegal wars than from an actual patriotism of defending the
country, those military charlatans who are not seemingly but actually in it for
the monetary rewards which creates these stockpiles of arms and munitions.

So this is just another ‘means’ through patriotism for the military group to
maintain an on-going ruse to pilfer the treasury for their personal gain and
that almost has to be from a switch in military ideology from defending our
country from real threats to perpetuating the ‘globalization’ hegemony which is
what the military is being used for now AND this way of such a high enlistment
and reenlistment insures that this is the ‘new’ military with a whole new set of
values to protect.

If Bush wouldn’t have lied to get us into Iraq, AlQaida would have been taken care
of by now. This is just another mess he has inherited and has to clean up.
Things are shaping up since he took over the reins;
Pakistan has started a 30,000 troop offensive on it’s side of the border with
Afghanistan. Cutting off their supply routes.
Someone with a brain is in office now. It will not drag on just for the benefit of the
war machine any longer than needed.

@gstoddard Why on earth are your grandchildren going to Afghanistan? If their 2 or 4 years are up, tell them to get out or go AWOL. There is no reason to go be shot at for no reason. They are fighting ghosts over they.

If you know of any parents of soldiers, encourage them to tell their children to just come home. I know it’s not easy, but nothing is.

We are trying to bring our soldiers home to defend the Constitution from domestic enemies.

BTW, the US Empire has been at war since its inception spreading “democracy” at the barrel of a gun. The president or administration in the White House is irrelevant.

American warehouses are packed with weapons ready to be shipped to AfPak.
They will be quickly replaced. The weapons manufacturers must not become
become idle. Millions of jobs are at stake. The president must quickly make up his
mind.

Ah yes, death’s sweet smile. North Americans love it.

gstoddard: I am sorry that the spectre of death in re Afghanistan occupation/war reminds grandparents of the possibility of death or disability while in US military.  I am doing my best to protect children by urging people to stop funding US wars.  I just finished a piece of art and have been sending out the art on paper as I could afford to make copies.

  The answer is not to stop showing scary cartoons, but to work for stopping the US wars.  Good luck to all the grandkids from the US and those who live in Afghanistan and Pakistan (and Iraq): the kids are all somebody’s grandkids….and kids…

At least the President has the intellectual capacity to seriously think through the
complexity of this challenge.

That’s some cold comfort- It’s not about intelligence, it’s about a war industry
that keeps growing no matter who’s in charge. Obama is only expanding it.

It is time for seriousness and sober contemplation not political rhetoric.

Take away the rhetoric from Obama, and all you’re left with is Bush with a darker
skin complexion.

Perhaps I am being overly sensitive, but I find this cartoon and the comments
in response offensive and hurtful. For those of us who have grandchildren
scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan and others who may be sent in the
coming months, this is more than a political debate.

The previous administration is the one who left us with these two unnecessary
and terribly mismanaged wars. To portray the man who inherited the problem
and who has the lives of my grandsons and many others in his hands so
cavalierly and disrespectfully, is to fall into the trap of no-think simplicity.

We have had enough of that in the last 8 years and too much of it now. At least
the President has the intellectual capacity to seriously think through the
complexity of this challenge.

It is time for seriousness and sober contemplation not political rhetoric.

Thanks Fish.

I think everyone now realizes that Obama is just a puppet like Bush and it really doesn’t matter who is in the White House.

The House of Rothschild controls it all through control of the Federal Reserve Banking System, the Bank of England, BIS, World Bank, IMF, and most other central banks and fiat money systems.

We all know JFK was killed by the Rothschild’s because of Executive Order 11110.

For those that are aware enough, now is the time to lead people towards taking the appropriate action.

One would be to have all our soldiers come home. Unfortunately, enlistment is at an all time high, because the young people have nowhere else to go.