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Key senators on Tuesday weighed what impact the weekend killings of civilians in Afghanistan should have on the pace of withdrawal of U.S. troops in that country.
A shooting spree that left 16 Afghan civilians dead – allegedly at the hands of an Army staff sergeant – has ratcheted up debate on Capitol Hill over whether to hasten the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, predicted the Obama administration would continue with a steady drawdown of troops after 23,000 surge forces come home at the end of September. He said events like the Quran burning and the shooting over the weekend do have an "emotional impact" on policy makers.
"I think there's now going to be a reinforcement for the argument that these reductions should continue," he told reporters.
Levin said the debate now within the Obama administration centers around whether to continue withdrawing troops at a steady rate after the surge forces exit in September, or to pause those withdrawals until mid-to-late 2013.
"I think many of the uniform leaders would like to stop there for a year or more and then have a steep decline to get to 2014, in fact some I think would prefer to wait until 2014 before there's any further reductions after the surge forces are removed,” he said.
All combat troops are set to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
Levin and other top senators had their first opportunity to react to the slayings after returning from the weekend.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said it should be up to the military leadership to determine what level of troops are needed. He warned about talk of withdrawal by Republican presidential candidates.
"If politicians start micromanaging the war like we did in Vietnam, we're going to have a disaster," Graham said.
Graham fiercely defended the U.S. commander on the ground in Afghanistan, General John Allen.
"If we speed up withdrawal because of political concerns in November, we undercut the general and we're gonna fail," he said.
Graham took a swipe at Newt Gingrich saying he was "very disappointed" by his reaction this weekend after the shooting. Gingrich told FOX News Sunday the U.S. was on a mission that might not be "doable".
"When Republican candidates for president and Republican politicians talk about beating the drumbeat of withdrawal, it makes it harder for the general to do his job," Graham said.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), said the U.S. needs to move very swiftly to contain the fallout from the shooting.
"I think the most important thing is for the military to move very, very rapidly, very transparently, very accountably to indict and to make clear the process by which this individual will be brought to justice. That process has to be something the Afghan people can follow and understand," he said.
Kerry speculated the U.S. may need to tweak its presence on the ground and put Afghans in the lead of more missions.
"Right now it’s better to have Afghans more front and center," he said.
He cautioned against changing the plan for U.S. troop withdrawals based on this one incident.
"The president's on a pretty steep rate of withdrawal that the military has agreed to, but I think anything beyond that the military would push back very significantly. I think you have to look at the mission. The mission didn't change overnight just because some guy went out and regrettably created mayhem"
Kerry said he thought the Quran burning may have created more of an emotional impact across Afghanistan. He said that while the shooting by a U.S. solider was particularly tragic sadly Afghans have grown accustomed to war.
"The sort of day-to-day cost of war that they've lived with now for ten years and the fact that civilians have been killed in one instance or another,” he said. “This news is not quite as jarring under those circumstances as was the situation with the burring of the Quran."
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was one Senator who said outright it was time to step up troop withdrawals.
"We got rid of the Taliban; we got rid of Osama bin Laden. Now we have an ally that disrespects us, who disparages us, who is openly confrontational to us," he said.
Would he speed up the timetable for withdrawal then?
"I think so," he said walking onto the Senate floor.
Leave a Comment:
Bring our troops home NOW!!!
What does it say about our military when they send someone back who suffered a severe head trauma for his 4th tour of duty?
It only took about 5,000 troops to invade Afghanistan and chase the Taliban and Al-Quaida out of the country. Why the F! do we need 100,000 troops now?
"If politicians start micromanaging the war like we did in Vietnam, we're going to have a disaster," Graham said.
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Its already a disaster. There is nothing for us to gain there. Afghanistan was called Russia's Vietnam. Guess we had to do them one better and have our second Vietnam.
Can you imagine where we would be as a country if we took all the money spent tearing down and rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan and had spent that money on re-building The United States!!!
JDills, you mean have bridges that aren't crumbling and schools that aren't falling apart? Watch out, you may be labelled a socialist. (Not that that's a bad thing IMHO).
Feisty---why would we think we could accomplish what other nations haven't, which is bring some form of functional government to these people who clearly don't yearn for it. We will never make a difference there and only lose more of our military for nothing. It is time to get out of there. Maybe the Taliban will come back stronger, maybe they will foster terrorism but we know a thing or two about fighting terrorism and can still do it.
SF,
I would like to know who made the decision that we have the RIGHT to cram democracy down the throats of those who could care less...?
Chucky - ... and universal health care? Nah, too much to hope for.
Steeler Fan - if they get too big for their britches again, we just send those 5,000 troops back, run them out of the country and pull out. Doing that every 5-10 years would be a lot cheaper and accomplish the same thing.
I would like to know who made the decision that we have the RIGHT to cram democracy down the throats of those who could care less...?
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Isn't that the main doctrine behind neo-con philosophy?
"I would like to know who made the decision that we have the RIGHT to cram democracy down the throats of those who could care less...?"
Answer: Barack Obama, who said Afghanistan was the 'right' war, as opposed to Iraq. And has fought the War for 3 years in office...that should make him a war criminal, according to pacifist leftists.Oops, forgot, Dems get a mulligan.
Go have another shot Boob - maybe you can drink yourself coherant...
Easy to bitch from the cheap seats - when YOU nor YOUR family have any skin in the game!
Mistress Feisty is still waiting to spank your widdle bottom!
You KNOW you want some... you little masochist you! ;o)
So Bob, what would you hope we would accomplish by staying there any longer? How would things be different in, say, 5 years.
Afghanistan was the right war. That is where Al-Quaida had been holed-up and we went into Afghanistan to get them. They have been mostly gotten at this point, so now is the time to bring the troops home.
I think the war in Afghanistan started out as the chase for Osama bin Laden and al queda. To the extent President Obama signed on to that I can agree. We killed Osama bin Laden, we killed a lot of other leaders and now it is time to get out. Nothing more good can come from continued presence there and a lot of bad, as we've seen over the past months.
Bob in Va---missions evolve and this one has run its course.
Unbelievable. Bob points out the obvious historical fact and fisty mocks him and gives an answer only a dullard could appreciate.
You forgot to mention that Obama was handed two dysfunctional wars, so his first focus was to get us out of Iraq - and he did. Now he has to face the second quagmire. So the only fact Bob got right was the quote.
Obama tripled the troop level and announced a withdrawal date all in the same day.
That will go in the history books as the worst tactical military decision EVER made.
The incompetence is startling. 2/3rd of all US casualties in Afghanistan have occurred under this "commander in chief".
For those of you with a short-term memory (Bob), who masterminded the attacks in 2001?
Was it Saddam Hussein (in Iraq) or was it Osama bin Laden (in Afghanistan)?
I know how Bob#'s feels, but JDills, I don't.
If & it's a very Big IF, Former President Bush had'nt gave up the Authority to Track BinLaden while he was pinned down, to the Northern Alliance, do you JDills think this War would've lasted this long? American Troops asked for ReEnforcements & were Denied @ Tora Bora! Bush could've become 1 of the Best Presidents in Americas History, he instead chose to let BinLaden go FREE, & turned His(BUSHES) anger towards Iraq & Defend his Dads Honor, instead of America's Honor.
The Afghan War would've been shorter than Ronnie Rayguns Invasion of Grenada!
Well, Kiss My Grits!
You Betcha!
Occupy SoggyBottom!
Things could have been so different.
Close to four years ago the media along with a trusting but unwitting public elected a junior Senator with scant experience aside from community service, harvard review editor and a radical leftist upbringing.
It's been well over a year now when General Stanley McCrystal recommended the addition of 80 thousand troops in an Iraq-like (very successful) surge in troop levels.
As you may recall Obama our great "thinker" and "deliberator" took months to weigh this decision, putting his vast community organizing command experience to that of General McCrystal. Obama thought long and hard, long and hard. Obama decided after much thought....let's go half, let's go half of what you think. The hell with your 30 years of field and command experience. I was a community organizer.
Obama during the election kept trumpeting that Afghanistan was the right war. If elected he would make sure we prioritize it. Win it. But Obama's main concern has and always will be his survival. So he gave McCrystal half of what he needed and unwisely set a deadline for withdrawing troops regardless of the military situation. Now the Taliban is in a position to run out the clock and leave Obama with the bitter legacy of having helped restore the Stone Age to the unhappy citizens of Afghanistan
Since U.S. forces threw the Taliban out of power more than 10 years ago, Afghan women have been able to vote, dispense with the body-covering burqas, hold office, go to school and go about in public without a male escort, all forbidden under the Taliban.
If you didn't know it one could argue that there was a "war on women" in Afghanistan.
Embarrassingly, here at home we have Obama and his supporters calling Sandra Flukes burden to buy the "pill" all by herself a war on women.
Very sad. Could this country be any further off course?
This failed presidency can not end soon enough!
Our troops are burned out. You can't spend that kind of time(4 tours) in a combat zone, and not expect psychological and emotional problems to set in.
Bring em home now.
For once I agree with with Feisty, wow must be a first. Bring the troops home now and let the Afghans straighten out their own problems. We went to Afghanistan for one reason, that was to kill or capture OBL and a few of his Lieutenants. That has been accomplished, mission complete now let's get the hell out. We can move all the troops and equipment within 90 to 120 days.
It was bound to happen sooner or later! ;o)
Enough with this quagmire - OUR military & their families deserves better...
I agree with sfcret and Feisty. Guess its time for a group hug.
Feisty and Rand Paul...the odd couple.
Sorry senators - bring those troops home NOW!!!!! Enough already!!! You want to keep folks over there - go yourselves!
phinephancy - The only way congress can make sure the troops are pulled out within the next few months is by cutting off the funding for further operations. President Obama, as Commander in Chief, can order a withdrawal anytime he wants to without congressional approval.
If President Obama was smart he would declare victory and pull out immediately. Even if we stay there until 2014 as President Obama says, the Taliban will again come in and take control of the Afghan Government.
Is he saying that the outright intentional slaughter of women and children as they are supposedly safe at home in their beds is not as jarring as the accidental burning of desecrated books? Did I read that wrong?
Civilians are killed, yes, in war -but it's usually consequently or accidental --- not deliberate!
Holy moly! Maybe Senator Kerry has a bit of PTSD from his time in Vietnam.
Yikes.
Yeah Candace, veterans with disabilities are about as funny as a f@ckng heart attack!
Do you have any amputee jokes? How about some rape funnies?
John Kerry has said plenty of stupid things over the years but that is straight up unbelievable.
Feisty,
There is no way I meant that to sound belittling or flippant of disabilities suffered by our veterans. My comment did come off that way. I am so sorry. You are right to call me out on that. Thank you.
What do you think of Senator Kerry's comment? Do you find his perception skewed and his comment appalling or absurd?