Daily Kos appears split on Obama's speech

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Tuesday December 01, 2009 · 6:00 PM PST

2009/12/01 · 18:00

I find it fascinating that the people here, most of whom, from my on and off reading, appear progressive, are very split on whether they support or oppose Obama's plan.

As someone who was frequently derided (still is, in person) as an Obamabot, I am frightened that so many actually support the President's plan. Here are my objections:

The war in Afghanistan is as immoral as the war in Iraq. NEITHER IRAQ NOR AFGHANISTAN attacked us on 9/11. A group of hijackers, led by Osama bin Laden did. Osama bin Laden left Afghanistan after Tora Bora and fled to Pakistan, where he still lives, according to most experts. (IF he still lives, say other experts.)

This is 30% increase in troops, as I understand it. That's HUGE. There is no evidence provided that this will help us secure whatever it is we're trying to secure. We certainly can't buy our security HERE with more troops THERE.

Afghanistan is an empire killer. Many countries, most notably the Soviet Union, fell due to the loss of money to a fruitless effort in Afghanistan. These are not people in search of Democracy who just need a little help from us. These are people who are not protesting (en masse) the obviously stolen recent election (not that we're ones to talk in that regard.)

I don't believe for a second this represents Obama's heartfelt desires. I know he talked about Afghanistan during the campaign. But he always put it in the context of bin Laden. Now, he doesn't even mention bin Laden (and how can he, per #1 above). So he hasn't given us any reason. He says we need to be there because terrorists have been "launched" from there. That reminds me of our failed war in the Congo - where we bombed villages because they "allowed" Soviet Tanks to roll through. Some nation building that effort turned out to be, eh?

We need this money here at home. We could pay for healthcare for all if we weren't waging wars on two fronts.

Is this really about Iran? Look at the map. Iraq is to Iran's left. Afghanistan is to Iran's right. If we wanted to wage a two-front war on Iran, as the Bush team did, we've just given those warlords a green light to proceed.

[DELETED - too distracting and only a secondary point.]

But I digress! I started this because I wanted to hear from others as to why there's such an apparent split among progressives. Can anyone who calls themselves a progressive in conscience truly support this? I'm trying to understand this and failing, utterly.

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