Every American soldier should be pulled out of Afghanistan today

[Political Lurker]

Finley: New Afghanistan strategy sacrifices troops

Every American soldier should be pulled out of Afghanistan today. It's immoral to commit our troops -- our children -- to a war without doing everything possible to protect their lives.
That's not happening in Afghanistan.
The politicians and generals have decided to make the safety of Afghan citizens a higher priority than avoiding American deaths and injuries.
They call it a "hearts and minds" strategy, meaning that if the military objectives can be accomplished without inflicting suffering on the civilian population, the people will be more willing to cooperate in defeating the Taliban

There's no evidence that Afghan civilians are warming to the approach. But there is concern that it is costing American lives.
Lara M. Dadkhan, an intelligence analyst writing in the New York Times last week, detailed the effect of a new policy from commanding Gen. Stanley McChrystal to use air strikes and long-range artillery under "very limited and prescribed conditions."
Air support is used to soften targets and provide cover for advancing troops. But Dadkhan contends under the new policy, troops must wait for help from the air and artillery while the civilian impact is weighed.
In one instance cited by Dadkhan, marines last September in the Kunar Province called for air support when they came under fire while searching for a weapons cache. Their request was rejected out of concern for civilians.
An hour after their call for help, the marines, pinned down and running out of ammunition, were finally backed up by helicopters. Four marines and nine Afghan allies were killed, and 22 others wounded.
The Taliban has been quick to exploit our sensitivity to civilian damage. Both U.S. and Afghan troops told the Associated Press that insurgents are using civilians as human shields, placing them on the rooftops of the buildings they're firing from.
New reports from the military also note the emergence of deadly Taliban snipers, who are inflicting great pain on U.S. troops and are able to more freely operate without the worry of air strikes.
Civilian casualties are an inevitable and regrettable cost of war. They ought to be avoided whenever possible.
But it's not always possible when the lives of Americans are at stake.
Harry Truman rained down hellfire on Japan's civilian population to spare the lives of a half-million allied troops.
He wasn't worried about Japanese resentment. He was trying to avoid sending any more "We regret to inform you ..." letters.
Maybe our kinder, gentler warfare will soothe the Afghan people.
But if it results in higher U.S. troop deaths and injuries, it will lose the hearts and minds of the American people, who have every reason to expect their government to value the lives of their soldiers -- their children -- more than a PR campaign to win over the people our troops are dying for.
Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The Detroit News. His column runs on Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at nfinley@detnews.com or (313) 222-2064.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100221/OPINION03/2210312/1008/opinion01/Finley--New-Afghanistan-strategy-sacrifices-troops#ixzz0gJaEzakO
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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

[OxfordBlues]

Why do you keep posting this rubbish?

Your continued need to stir up shit is really detracting from the mission of this forum as a place where people can come together for mutual language learning.

There are plenty of places online where you can find venues for trying to get Americans to play in your petty arguments. I can't imagine that's the actual reason you joined this forum. It's certainly not the reason the vast majority of people visit this site everyday.

And please don't respond with some half hearted comment where you pretend you have no ulterior motives and issue some insulting half complement.
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[Bergdeutscher]

Yes, i agree with you, Oxford Blues. Only what I see is constant procvocation.
Sometimes i think, we should leave Afghanistan to itself, but that would be wrong.

Two things to this:

A great number of People
sound off and convict
with weighty look
People in situations
in those themselves
had never to act
(Kristiane Allert-Wybranietz)

And:
we simply have to ignore Jamie. In other forums we called Users like him "Troll"

[Political Lurker]

Hehe!! back for yet another pop at me Oxy - Just remember Im Irish which might explain why I feel less insecure :-)

You're Ad hominem attacks are becoming more desperate!!

Maybe if you could convey yourself a bit better you wouldn't continually be put in your place. This was posted on a few other forums by an American friend with no negative response's. Last time you were lecturing me on American culture -

[Bergdeutscher]

Well, Jamie-Sweety. Too bad for you. I do not love boys. You have too look somethere else.

[Political Lurker]

[Bergdeutscher]

Jamie, it goes on and goes on: what I sayd: Provcation, inusults, to twist somebody's words, attacks to certain groups of persons or one person - that's what no one like in fourms (and in real live). It shows that you are a troll.

You are an Irish in an english learning forum and you are not helping other learners. What I said: your english must be worse then my, because you missunderstud me once more again:

Where in my post have I insulted Gays?

[Political Lurker]

[Bergdeutscher]

I'm sorry for it: "Give him enough rope and he'll hang himself" is an english proverb, that can be ambiguous - esspecialy in an english learning forum it can be understood as an insulte.

[Political Lurker]

[Bergdeutscher]

[Political Lurker]