For Thanksgiving 2009, U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will feast on 467,499 pounds of turkey, 199,779 pounds of ham and beef, 61,813 pounds of stuffing, and 68,020 pies and cakes.
They'll also consume 13,231 cans of sweet potatoes and 8,952 cans of cranberry sauce, per the Defense Logistics Agency via USA Today. (Cans? Our troops aren't worth fresh produce and home-style cooking?)
Sadly for both our troops and our country, they'll likely also experience Thanksgiving 2010 in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The White House leaked word yesterday that President Obama will finally announce, next week, his verdict regarding committing more troops to Afghanistan. And, as liberals who voted for Obama in 2008 feared, Obama is apparently poised to send another 34,000 troops to the endless, futile fighting in Afghanistan.
After Obama's addition of 34,000 more troops, the U.S. will have more than 220,000 soldiers embattled in two fruitless Middle East wars: 102,000 in Afghanistan, and as of now, more than 120,000 remaining in Iraq. (For the latest, see Iraq War Facts & Statistics at Nov 20, 2009.)
Despite being mired in disastrous economic doldrums at home, the U.S. continues to spend $7.3 billion monthly in Iraq, plus $3.6 billion for Afghanistan, per a Congressional Research Service report dated September 28, 2009.
You read that correctly: $10.9 billion now spent monthly on two losing, directionless, corporate-enriching wars.
And yet Obama, who won the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination by billing himself as the anti-"dumb war" candidate, plans to up the ante with more troops, more spending, more casualties, more catastropic injuries... all for naught, as history has richly illustrated. Frankly, nothing could be much dumber than throwing untold tens of billions more down the black holes of Iraq and Afghanistan.
My fervent Thanksgiving prayer is that our so-called brilliant President comes to his senses, and announces full and immediate withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from the Middle East, leaving less 40,000 American soldiers in both countries combined for a limited, well-defined post-U.S. peacekeeping transtion period.
To do otherwise... to order 34,000 more U.S. soliders to Afghanistan... would be incalculably devastating for the U.S. economy. Would be cruelly demoralizing for the U.S. armed forces, which are already badly demoralized as epitomized by record-high suicide and desertion rates.
And I fear will be as deadly to President Obama's fledgling tenure in the White House as Vietnam was to Lyndon Johnson's presidency.
If Obama loses his liberal base, he basically has no more supporters, as Palin-loving conservative crazies and the rest of the Republican Party will never, ever support him. And significantly increasing the Middle East war effort will cause liberals to irrevocably lose what remains of their beleaguered faith in Barack Obama. Period!
So please, Mr. President, do the right thing next week by telling our great country that most of our troops will finally be returning home sooner, not later, and that no more Americans will be sent to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And please tell those brave fighting men and women that next year, they can enjoy Thanksgiving turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and lovingly homemade sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce, with their families, not in a mess hall thousands of miles away from home.
(Photo taken on November 22, 2007 of a U.S. soldier at the Baghdad eating Thanksgiving dinner with his weapon close at hand: Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Comments
Deborah –
“The White House leaked word yesterday that President Obama will finally announce, next week, his verdict regarding committing more troops to Afghanistan.”
FWIW, we don’t know that, yet. There have been a number of false reports over the months that have had Obama sending no troops to sending 40,000 troops to Afghanistan. I’m going to wait to see the official announcement before I judge. If it is true, I’d like to see the rationale.
FWIW.
I would be surprised if he doesn’t send a significant amount of troops to Afghanistan soon. I would speculate it will be in the tens of thousands. The reports are more than likely accurate. If he doesn’t, then he will appear weak on defense. God forbid a Democrat after 911 ever appears weak on defense.
So when are those troops coming home from Iraq? If I remember correctly the reason the Dems won back Congress in 2006 was under the pretense of bringing the troops home from Iraq. Here we are over 3 yrs later and still the troop count in Iraq is running strong.
That’s one thing all libs should see in hindsight. The Dems sold out their principles after they won back Congress. And it’s no wonder why the majority of people have a lack of faith in either political party. Its just so sad. I for one have NO representation. Taxation without representation just like it says on the DC license plates. Boy is that the truth.
Throw the bum out.
I remember your savior saying, he would bring the troops home from IRAQ… Not afghanistan. Liberals and conservatives are funny.
All candidates make promises to get votes. Good Presidents make decisions based upon facts, realities, the future of America, and, ocassionally self-honesty. LBJ was a good and honest President like that. He disenfranchised himself from any future candidacy and election base upon a his own review of himself and his statements. Perhaps he was the last President to do so, or has another Democrat come forth.
I don’t think President Obama would do this in a million years if he felt that he had any choice. He is doing it to save lives. There would be a lot of dead women in Afghanistan from people who set a SCHOOL on fire.
Bush originally sent them weapons. Later, after 9/11 they used them on us.
But what about the Republican “litmus test”. To qualify for party support they have to agree to “VICTORY” in both Afghanistan and Iraq. And they have to do it without raising the deficit. That plan under Bush almost ruined America.