Afghanistan choice won't make everyone happy

No matter what President Obama does about Afghanistan, he will not be able to make everyone happy since no one agrees now.

Navy wife wants US military out of Afghanistan now


By David Edwards
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 -- 9:47 am
The wife of a Navy fighter pilot is calling for President Barack Obama to pull troops out of Afghanistan now. "I think we should pull out of Afghanistan entirely. I think that after eight years of war it has become quite clear that especially to those of us who are the very few americans who are really suffering in this war that the price is not worth it," Lisa Leitz told CNN's Kiran Chetry Tuesday.

"A number of Americans have lost their lives, many military families have been completely crushed by the burden of these wars and we have very little to show for it," Leitz continued. "We have a corrupt Afghanistan government and we have a number of people who are still trying to attack us, particularly not because they belong to the Taliban or terrorist organizations, but rather because we are occupying them.".

Leitz is a board member of Military Families Speak Out. The group is urging President Obama to bring all the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Not all family members are calling for the war to be ended now. Karen Irwin's son is serving in Afghanistan and she wants the president to send more troops to the war zone. "I would tell the president that our soldiers, our brave young men and women, including my son, have invested a lot of their time in support of that country and our country, putting their lives on the line," she told CNN's Chetry. "Some of them have given the ultimate sacrifice and I think they deserve support of our government and support of our people to give them everything they need to complete this mission and to win, leaving a free afghanistan, leaving the people the opportunities, the personal opportunities that we have here in our country."
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http://rawstory.com/2009/11/navy-wife-afghanistan-withdrawal/

If President Obama increases the number of troops he has no way of really knowing if it will be enough or not. He's being advised by other humans, with differing opinions and just as much experience as well as concern for the lives on the line.

The military families can't agree on what the right move will be either.

It would be wonderful if the Afghan people would finally take full responsibility for their own country since they have proven time after time throughout their history they are perfectly capable of fighting their own battles. The problem is, since most are very poor, they have to decide to fight the Taliban or support them, grow poppies or food. No one really knows what will happen in Afghanistan no matter what he decides to do.

Can we do anything about it and know for sure if we are right or wrong? Not really. Ask a group of Vietnam veterans if it was right to pull out of Vietnam and you will find different answers. Just like what is happening now, no one really knows what the answer is.

The only thing we really can be sure of is for however long this goes on, there will be more casualties. Some will come home to an honor guard at Dover. Others will come home looking as if they were not paying the price of combat, but paying none the less with it embedded deeply inside of them. Some will have to live the rest of their lives missing limbs. The list of wounds is endless and so is our obligation to them.

This we know for sure. The wounded will need to be taken care of for the rest of their lives and the fact they were willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of what the nation asked of them should never, ever be diminished by time or budgets.

Let the experts debate what President Obama should do or not do because the next day after he decides, they will come out against him no matter how many experts he has giving him advice. Let the hot heads on TV say how wrong he is but it will not change the lives of a veteran already paying the price for their service when they are waiting for a claim to be approved, praying they don't end up homeless, or save a family falling apart.

We can!