VIEWER’S RESPONSE: Barack Obama and the War in Afghanistan

Let me clear before I start this blog post: I do not support war; I do not support the taking of civilian lives and I do not support the brave men and women of this country being taken too early because of a cause that isn’t worth fighting. Let me clear: I do not support war.

In March, 2003, I sat on the floor of my room in my mother’s home and watched as my President addressed this nation. He looked me square in the eyes, lied to me, and then dropped a bomb on Baghdad that started a “conflict” that continues to this day. I opposed the war in Iraq; I opposed the taking of innocent lives and I opposed the capturing and execution of a leader who frankly, did absolutely nothing to us.

I oppose the Iraq War.

I oppose the blank check we signed over.

I oppose War without strategy.

To say I feel differently about Afghanistan would be untrue. I do not support war and I do not support the taking of innocent lives. But I do support my country – and when my country realized that it was the Taliban insurgency that caused the horrific events on 9/11 which have defined my generation, I took a deep breath and prayed that God would keep those being sent to fight safe. We were joined, at that time, by many countries from around the world, including full support from the UN Security Council. Do not misunderstand me – I don’t see this as a “justified” fight, but rather an affirmation, that what we did was the right decision at the time.

Had the United States not invaded Iraq in March, 2003, perhaps we’d all be singing a different song today.  Perhaps the Taliban would not have reemerged after we pushed them back; perhaps Afghanistan would not only be self-sufficient economically, but politically and militarily as well. Perhaps the women of that nation would be free; and the men would not be able to keep them as slaves. Perhaps this worls would in fact, be different.

 Unfortunately we will never know. What I do know is this: the war in Afghanistan is not an option, and it’s not a choice, but a decision that is being made in the best interest of America and the best interest in the security of the world.

I disagree with John McCain that the 18 month timeline will only force the Taliban underground for 18 months; I think it is time for the United States to declare that we will support the countries that need support, but we are done fighting your fights for you. The decade of fighting the fights because they need fighting needs to come to an end. We can no longer afford to support an open-ended war; we can no longer afford to spend American tax-payer money on a problem that has no viable solution.

I oppose the Iraq War; I oppose War overall. But I support my President. I trust my President. I have faith that my President has taken his time, had the tough discussions and made the best decision at this time in our nations’ history.

I do not support War; but I agree that in this time, it's time to end all the spending, all the death and all the fighting and bring our troops home.

Unfortunately, this seems to be the only way to do it.