Rush Limbaugh gives up on Afghanistan; sides with Ron Paul

[ryanmkeisling]

At this point? WTH? The war in Afghanistan has been a joke from the start. What do you call "winning?" Killing all the Afghans before we leave?

4 Trillion dollars. 10+ years. Thousands of veterans KIA. Tens of Thousands of veterans commit suicide or homeless. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of middle eastern civilians displaced, maimed or killed.

To kill 1 guy and his gang called Al Qaida =|... Besides the side adventure of going after the Taliban and forcing western ways on to the people.

I'd say it was pretty fail. Yes. Al Qaida needed to pay... but at what cost to us?!

This^^^ Imagine that there are millions that think it was worth it, even here at RPF, there are hawks who claim going after bin Laden made all of this justifiable.

 

[jmdrake]

Only because Obama won't even try to win the war.

I am against the war at this point, but for goodness sakes either try to make progress or leave, don't just sit there.

1) Do you think Bush tried to win? Cause he didn't.
2) Do you think the Soviet Union tried to win? Cause they didn't.

Seriously, at what point do people wake up and realize some wars are just unwinnable from the jump? It's not like the Soviets weren't ruthless enough.

 

[rprprs]

No. It's just a "Thinks are so botched up and Obama's screwed up that we ought to consider leaving now if we're going to apologize and possibly punish soldiers for burning the Koran". Rush didn't give up his chickenhawk card by that statement.

I'm afraid I must agree. This was just another attempt at trashing Obama. Rush is no closer to embracing non-interventionist policies than he was a year ago, or a decade ago.

 

[Demigod]

Does he have a golden microphone?

 

[GeorgiaAvenger]

1) Do you think Bush tried to win? Cause he didn't.
2) Do you think the Soviet Union tried to win? Cause they didn't.

Seriously, at what point do people wake up and realize some wars are just unwinnable from the jump? It's not like the Soviets weren't ruthless enough.

No actually I don't.

 

[dancjm]

Only because Obama won't even try to win the war.

I am against the war at this point, but for goodness sakes either try to make progress or leave, don't just sit there.

Don't worry. As soon as terror has been defeated we will have won

 

[liveandletlive]

If anyone wants to watch a good documentary on the Afghan war, watch RESTREPO


this is really one pointless war, our guys are like sitting ducks over there, i find it insulting that someone like Rush who didnt lift a finger in the fighting should have the nerve to be fed up. F Rush

 

[jmdrake]

No actually I don't.

So let me see if I understand. You don't believe the Soviets actually wanted to win? So what do you think they were doing? And what would "General Georgia Avenger" have done with his Spentznaz shock troops and Hind helicopters that the Soviets were unwilling to try?

 

[Brett85]

This^^^ Imagine that there are millions that think it was worth it, even here at RPF, there are hawks who claim going after bin Laden made all of this justifiable.

No. Some of us just think that we should have gone after Osama Bin Laden and the other terrorists who were responsible for the 9-11 attacks, rather than invading Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9-11, and occupying and nation building in Afghanistan. The war authorization that was passed after 9-11 never gave the government the power to occupy the country of Afghanistan and rebuild the entire nation. The war resolution simply contained the authority to kill those who were responsible for the 9-11 attacks. What we're doing now in Afghanistan was NEVER authorized by Congress.

 

[socal]

If we really leave Afghanistan, we'd be abandoning all the military bases there, which I presume would come in handy during an Iran attack. Just like RP has said we really haven't left Iraq, maybe they're talking about saying we leaving, but not leaving completely,

 

[Feeding the Abscess]

Without the philosophical underpinning in the argument for leaving Afghanistan, it's weightless and able to be molded at a whim's notice.

 

[jkob]

I imagine we'll see a lot of people saying they've seen the light when it comes to Afghanistan when in reality they just want to move on to the next adventure in Iran and Syria.

 

[nobody's_hero]

The Republican party found out that peace is popular, and unless they advocate it (in terms even the hawkiest of chickenhawks can swallow) they will lose in November.

So they're saying that the uncivilized barbarians in that far off land were driven into a tizzy over burnt pieces of paper, and if they don't want our noble bombs in their country they can go screw! We'll go straight home and leave them to their savage, backwards ways!

I'm cool with that. Let's end this war by any means possible, then work on stopping the next one. You know they'll be longing for another in no time.

I've been making that exact argument to some of my neoconservative neighbors for quite some time. It's, demeaning to middle easterners, yes, but it gets the point across. The question I've found most-effective in winning over converts: "Why should we put our troops' lives on the lines for the freedoms of people who don't even want or appreciate it?" They usually pause and say, "well, you have a point there."

And yes, the goal is: Whatever it takes to get our troops home.

(edit: not that we're actually fighting for their freedoms, but I don't tell my neighbors that; it'd be too much for them to comprehend at the moment)

 

[Hyperion]

Well it's encouraging that he sees the point of getting out albeit not for the right reasons. Although it's great to see he's harping on how organizations like the UN and NATO compromise our national sovereignty and aren't in our best interests. It's beyond time to remove our membership from both organizations.

If we are to believe that war with Iran is inevitable(which sadly i do); I find it very hard to believe the US will withdraw from Afghanistan as it would be a needed base of operations for the conflict. My god looking at that map, we've got Iran totally surrounded from every side. How can anyone say we're not a large contributing factor to a potential conflict?

One of the prior posts makes a great point, one that would be highly effective with hawkish conservative types: Why risk the lives of our soldiers for people who don't appreciate freedom?

 

[nedomedo]

This all reminds me of what Alex Jones said last year. I am paraphrasing:

"the more they attack Ron Paul the more popular he gets, they don't understand that yet. If they were smart they would start agreeing with him, because then people would ask why is the establishment agreeing with RP now?...something is fishy...he sold out to the NWO"

lol

 

[nobody's_hero]

Well it's encouraging that he sees the point of getting out albeit not for the right reasons.

Yep. We can stop all the bloodshed and then argue for the principled reasons for staying out of foreign adventurism later. Surely, we need to present the principled arguments to have any long-term effect, but they may not be necessary in the short term. 'Whatever it takes'

 

[KingNothing]

I've been making that exact argument to some of my neoconservative neighbors for quite some time. It's, demeaning to middle easterners, yes, but it gets the point across. The question I've found most-effective in winning over converts: "Why should we put our troops' lives on the lines for the freedoms of people who don't even want or appreciate it?" They usually pause and say, "well, you have a point there."

And yes, the goal is: Whatever it takes to get our troops home.

(edit: not that we're actually fighting for their freedoms, but I don't tell my neighbors that; it'd be too much for them to comprehend at the moment)

I completely agree with this.

Stop the killing. Stop the suffering. Bring the tragedy to an end. If we can do that only by leaving intact the mostly unjustified superiority complexes of chickenhawks and neoconservatives, so be it. We can work to make them see the folly of their pro-war agenda before they start the next one. But for now, let's just stop wasting so many lives.

 

[WilliamC]

Unless they need to bring the troops back from Afghanistan so that they could use them in Iran now.

Iraq/Afghanistan exit strategy.

 

[Captain Shays]

Does he actually name Ron Paul and compliment him? I'm not going to listen to that tool for 5 minutes unless I'm getting a rongasm.

A Rongasm? HEHEHEHEHE LOLOL

 

[SonofThunder]

LOL "A stateless society is just perfect for Al Quaeda to come in"