Feingold questions Afghanistan military strategy
APPLETON, Wis. (AP) — Sen. Russ Feingold says the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan has lost focus, and he wants a flexible timeline for withdrawing troops from the country.
The Wisconsin Democrat made the comments Monday during an interview with the editorial board for The Post-Crescent of Appleton.
Feingold has long supported military efforts in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but he now says he's "not convinced that simply pouring more and more troops into Afghanistan is a well-thought out strategy."
Feingold says President Barack Obama and other top officials are aware of his views. The senator says he's concerned the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan could be driving more extremists into Pakistan.
Aug 25, 2009 at 1:08 p.m.
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blood - I am by no means an Obama supporter, but he never said he would end our military involvement in the middle east. He clearly stated in his campaign that he would begin removing combat brigades from Iraq and send AT LEAST 2 additional brigades to Afghanistan.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/...
Aug 25, 2009 at 12:55 p.m.
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It's about time someone starts questioning our president who campaigned on ending the war in Iraq, only to just transfer the war to Afganistan. That's not ending our military involvement in the middle east, it's just transferring the battle fields! By the end of this year will have almost 80,000 troops there.
My son-in-law did two tours in Iraq and just got deployed to Afganistan last week. We need to have a communicated national policy for military involvement in the middle east or get our children the hell out of there!!!
Aug 25, 2009 at 12:05 p.m.
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If we do not have a clear objective that can be solved by military force, we should wind down our efforts in Afghanistan as soon as possible.
Aug 25, 2009 at 11:37 a.m.
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I think that there is a certain truth to the quotation you take issue with, DiGriz. There seems to be a sort of "balloon effect" in that region...when one area starts having pressure put on it, the extremists move to another. When (and if) the pressure is removed from Afganistan, the extremists will just move right back in...
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Feingold isn't "complaining" about our servicemen, he's questioning policy. That's his job. It's a dangerous thing to equate that questioning with a lack of patriotism. I have nothing but the upmost respect for our military, but believe it is our job to continuously question the when/where/why we put them in harms way...it's our duty to do so.
Aug 25, 2009 at 11:32 a.m.
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andrew jackson you hit it right, Feingold needs to go! complains about the military but loves to be an american, ironic.
Aug 25, 2009 at 10:03 a.m.
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I agree 100%. And to anyone else listening, I would tend to believe a proud American SERVING on the ground long before I would entertain the thoughts of a representative who gets his or her information hand fed to them from the powers that be.
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