President Obama's first use of force abroad

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090123/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan.

I guess this wasn't the "change" the President was talking about.

 

Whatever, the man's taking care of business.

 

Huh? Did you follow the Primary or Presidential campaigns one iota when foreign policy was discussed? Obama repeatedly said that he supported precision strikes on al-Qaida and Taliban encampments in Western Afghanistan and Northwest Pakistan. He also said that he supported sending special forces into Pakistan, specifically Northern Warziristan, if they received intellengce on the whereabouts of high ranking members of terrorist organizations, which is in fact a reversal on the Bush Administration's policy regarding encroachment of the Pakistani border. So yeah, this is the change he's talking about.

I know that you're a Libertarian and you want our involvement in foreign affairs scaled back, but you think that we should do absolutely nothing to curtail the operations of terrorists?

 

Close Gitmo, reverse the global gag rule, and kick some terrorist ass. The man is off to a great start.

 

Obama Nation!

 

Funny, how when Bush was doing the same thing he was completely wrong...hummm....... interesting logic.

 

Yeah it is funny. Karmacoma likes wars and aggression when they're initiated by presidents he likes. That's why he forgot to mention all of Clinton's aggression in his eight years of office, like Somolia, Haiti, Bosnia, the sanctions in Iraq, the bombings in Sudan and Afghanistan.

 

I do not think it is our duty to dictate to other countries. This dictation and meddling into the affairs of other nations is exactly the reason why there is an al-Qaida today. Despite their actions, they have real grieviences against the United States. How do you think they felt when we sent our military onto their holy soil in Saudi Arabia? They knew we had no intention of leaving. This was our chance to flex our muscles and show who's boss in the Middle East. We should get the hell out of there and stop telling them how to live their lives. I'm not gonna stop saying that just because Obama's the new boss over there

 

Uh no. Bush going after real terrorists was no problem at all. I don't think anyone in their right mind had a problem with the Bush Administration targeting al-Qaida and the Taliban. Bush invading Iraq and emptying the treasury during the occupation to the neglect of any real efforts at clamping down on terrorism is what most people had an issue with. Big difference.

 

First off, where did I insinuate that Obama can't be criticized or that you can't voice an opinion because he's been sworn in? If you're going attempt to paint me as some sort of blind partisan who's averse to any criticism directed at the President, you're not going to get very far because I have a lot of problems with Obama's policies and the alliances that he's made and I only supported him in the past year during the election cycle because he seemed like the least of all evils among the corporate approved candidates. So save the "you think he's the messiah" bullshit for someone else. I took issue with your post because of your farcical insinuation that Obama was somehow being hypocritical for doing exactly what he claimed he would do so far with regards to foreign policy in the Middle East.

Now, I agree that we should downscale our presence in the Middle East and that the meddling of the U.S. government has done more harm than good and did indeed facilitate the creation of al-Qaida from the US backed mujahideen in Afganistan; however, I firmly believe that these rogues are a band of dangerous criminals who are not to be left to their own devices. Taking a total hands off approach with these people would be a disastrous course of action. IMO we should keep up the military strikes, apprehend any key figures in the movement when possible and strike them at their base of operation in the tribal regions of Pakistan if the government of that country continues to appease them and harbor them. What's done is done. The US has made serious errors in the region, but I'm loath to believe that we'll improve the region's stability by completing backing away and hoping for the best.

 

^^^^^ I didn't mean to imply that you were a partisan. I was speaking to people in general.

I'm well aware of President Obama's intention to commit more resources to Pakistan and Afghanistan. I just feel that it's gonna be about as successful as Bush's adventure in Iraq.

 

That's just it, he wasn't taking care of shit. Eight years worth. Where's bin Laden? 4000 US soldiers dead, uncounted Iraqi civilians dead, billions disappeared/stolen. It was almost five years in before the surge worked. Obama hasn't even been in office a whole work week yet and you sore losers are harping on him. Only time will tell if his policies are any better.

 

Fair enough. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

 

I was not harping on anything, I just find it strange that you see the same act as positive when Obama has not even been in a week, but if Bush did it you criticize. Give the man some time then decide if he's taking care of business or not.

 

Tinkberbell the more I read your posts about politics the less respect I have for you view in this area. What kind of response is the above, should my retort be what about WMD's and the fact that Bush once he realized none were where he was sure they were, instead of leaving Iraq, the battle call became let's liberate Iraq! In other words tit for tat responses do not enhanced your creditability it exposes your inability to provide enough credence to support your statements.

What's been clear is the person you wanted for president isn’t but the person who IS president you repeatedly fire negative shots in his direction. A rational person would give him and his administration time to see what type of president he will be and what his policies will mean to us, he hasn’t been in office a week and your criticism has been very harsh, unfair and without merit.

Perhaps your extreme criticism can be attributed to his immeasurable popularity worldwide. His popularity is uncharted territory for any US president. It seems you like a lot of people have built in resentment towards him because he’s seen as a messiah a savior, super human, infallible, pop star, rap star, rock star and he can’t do no wrong without proving he can do the job. I read on here that he reminded a member as a "used car salesman". I get that, I understand that. But understand the climate in which we live in; the country is in dire straits and Americans are extremely worried about their future and he provides them the comfort they need, the belief that he or Superman can rescue us.

He is only a man and he will fail, he’ll make some mistakes, he’ll continue to do things you disagree with but he deserves his chance, he deserves our support the same support you gave Bush or any other administration. It’s just as unfair to him to look at him as Superman instead of just a man, instead of just a president….

 

Malik the point is that Obama has been in office a whole week, do you really give him credit for things that planned and set out to be done before he ever hit office. If it is a positive act, why not give credit where it is due, to the man who was in charge when it was planned?? A few weeks back??

 

Tinkerbell my response to you had absolutely nothing to due with applying credit where it's due appropriately. I'm not a Bush hater and I am not head over heels for our current president I want to be fair though with my criticism which is what I have not seen with yours.

 

The fact that his first authorization for the use of force was against the organization that was actually responsible for 9/11 speaks volumes about his judgment so far.

 

Well,what exactly should the military do? Terrorists are running around in Pakistan. The cowards hide among civilians and you can't invade Pakistan. Plus Pakistan isn't doing anything about it because they're already screwed.The only things most of these intelligence agencies can agree on is Osama and the rest of those bastards are on the Pakistan border.

 

Maybe if we didn't interfere in their affairs and bully them and occupy their holy ground (American troops in Saudi Arabia), they wouldn't feel the need to attack us :smt102