Barack Obama’s Address on Afghanistan
I’m multitasking this afternoon, but I’ll be listening to the speech. Thought everyone might like a spot to discuss and blog it as it happens and afterward.
UPDATE: Here is Senator Mark Begich’s Statement
U.S. Sen. Mark Begich issued the following statement in reaction to President Obama’s address to the nation this evening on his proposed new strategy for U.S. involvement in Afghanistan:
“The American public needs no reminder of why the U.S. must have a military presence in Afghanistan right now – to eliminate the threat of al-Qaida launching more deadly attacks on our nation and our world. I have long supported this goal.
“Tonight the President laid out a well considered plan for defeating terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His plan is comprehensive, it calls on larger contributions by other nations with a stake in the region and it is designed to restore the confidence of the Afghan people in their government. I am heartened the President’s plan includes benchmarks for progress and most importantly, an exit strategy. I commend the President for thoroughly evaluating all his options and listening to the advice of his senior military and civilian leaders.
“Alaskans have a personal stake in Afghanistan because 4,000 of our Alaska-based service members are serving there in harm’s way today, with more Alaska soldiers to be deployed in the near future. As more young Americans are sent to the front lines, I’ll do everything within my power to make sure they have the resources, equipment and right strategy they need to get the job done.
“That starts tomorrow when Secretaries Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates and Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, brief the Senate Armed Services Committee and answer questions from me and other senators.”
I have said and believed that whenever a country goes to war, that is your economy and that will be the one thing that can destroy the well-being of a country. Nine years is too long to be in a war. The signs are everywhere, you can’t change health care or pull out of a recession until you deal with the war. This war is costing us hundreds of millions of dollars a month, not to mention the lifes of our military men and women. President Obama should have dealt with the issue when he first got into office. The war should have been the first issue on the agenda.
He’s still talking. I’m so thankful there’s an adult in the White House. And good for him saying Dick Cheney’s full of sh*t–maybe not in so many words… (o;
Andrew Sullivan is blogging this. Seems neutral.
President Obama is in an AOS situation- All Options Stink. I hate looking at the faces in that crowd- so young and so full of promise yet being sent off to fight a war that the last group of buffoon FUBAR’d. Sickening to me how they must sacrifice so much for others mistakes…
Chris Matthews does not make sense anymore. It is like he is trying to work things out in his head, but only out load. Good for RM to tell him he is wrong.
“Out loud”!
Now I’m laughing out LOUD! Chris M. is quite a load sometimes, I agree!
There is far more going on in the background than we will ever know. I have family in the military, and a nephew that has been deployed 5 times to Iraq with the Air Force. I know in my heart that my President, whom I respect and am thankful for, is doing what he thinks is the only thing right. “Right makes Might” he said. Just the opposite of what we have been living with over the past 8 years. It’s not easy. I don’t envy him.
What will make this better for me is when all the countries who pulled their militaries out on GWB, send them back to help us out. Because we now have an adult, smart, thoughtful, thinking man in the White House. Please, allies, come back and be part of the solution.
It was a tough speech to hear. All options stink. This is not a war/situation he created. I support him, disagree, but hope for everyone that his strategy is successful.
I am glad that I have faith, and confidence, in the intelligence and
compassion of the President. Otherwise I would have to be ‘taking
it to the streets’ the best I could. Seeing him shake the hands of those
young men and women, believing that he must have the thought
that I do, that some of them will die over there, was really bad.
No one has ever ‘won’ in Aphganistan.
Without having any real, in-depth understanding of the issues (I admit this freely, unlike some Quitter Twitters), I think President Obama is trying, again, to bridge the gap between right and left, hawk and dove. He sees (as I do) compromise as the honorable and logical choice between dictatorship (trying to force your your ideas onto others) and giving in completely. Unfortunately, sometimes compromise is not possible, or desirable. If the US pulled ALL the troops out of Afghanistan, what is the worst-case scenario? We have more terroristic activity on US soil: so is the cost (human, monetary, etc) of these MORE than the cost of our men and women in the military fighting unwinnable wars overseas, with no end in sight? We are between a rock and a hard place on this one.
I sure respect and admire our president, but was hoping for a different decision on this subject. I cannot fathom why anyone would want that office in this climate, but I thank God we have Obama there. I could read a lot of different emotions on all the faces there listening to the speech. History will tell if this was the right decision. I’m sure all our military contractors are hi fiving each other after this. Profits are up, up, up for them.
And no one will ever “win” in Afghanistan. I don’t want more troops there, nothing will change. The country is run by clans, the clans will change alliances on what the clan needs. Terrorist are in every country, not just Afghan. Karzai is a crook, and Afghanistan is like one of the MOST corrupt countries in the world.
I’m not happy.
This situation is a “no win” just like Viet Nam was. History proves that no one has ever “won” in Afghanistan and I fear we are on the same path we took with Viet Nam. Watching those cadets and officers in that audience was telling. I support our President, but I think this is a horrible mistake. I was around in the 60′s and early 70′s, lost family members in the war and this just breaks my heart. I don’t envy President Obama in this difficult decision, but at the same time, I’m not on board with escalating this effort. The Taliban and the terrorist network will continue, no matter how we proceed militarily in Afghanistan.
War has become the defining mainstay of this economy.
We’ve not gone one decade without being embroiled in one FUBAR or another for the last countless decades….I can go 7 decades and count them one by one.
It is pathetic.
Trillions of war-dollars….but still no health care.
It is pathetic.
I couldn’t help but notice how much more gray hair President Obama has now than he did just a few short months ago. I cannot even imagine the kind of stress that man is under, between trying to prevent the economy from collapsing into a full-on depression, dealing with half of a Congress that refuses to support him regardless of what he tries to do, and two unwinnable wars that were started with no clear strategy beyond the initial attack.
I don’t know WHY anyone would want the job of POTUS, but I commend him for taking his time and analyzing all the possible options, poor as they all are, to find the one most likely to create some stability with the least sacrifice. And once again, I an thankful that we have an intelligent, educated, thoughtful man in the White House who makes decisions based on information, advice and deliberation, not knee-jerk reaction and gut feelings!
I am also grateful that we have a President who, in an astoundingly short time, has begun to regain the respect and support of other world leaders. All nations are now so much more closely interconnected than we have been at any point in history, and we can’t accomplish any goals by playing cowboy and ‘deciders’.
The decision made by our Commander in Chief was undoubtedly reached with deliberate care and consideration and was not at all taken lightly…. and though the vanquishes of war are never pleasant ~ I feel that we are continuing in this effort for the right reasons, this time around.
For those reasons and more, I respect and support the clarion judgment of the President.
We really did not win in Iraq either there is still violence and bickering.If we can get out of Afghanistan and have help from Pakistan in defeating al Qaida we will be doing the best we can,I hate to see more of our people sent over there but better many than not enough to support those already over there,
InterestedPerson is right no one ever won in Afghanistan the most we can do is root out the terrorist and try to set up some form of government.With their own people in charge.Than we need to get out.
I am glad to hear that he his now going to carry out the strategy that he outlined during the campaign. He’s going to go after al Quida, he’s going to work to transition the economy from poppies and he has a end in site with a draw down in 2011.
We need to finish the job of responding to 9/11 and disrupt the cells wherever they are.
I think there is much more to this and there are things that Obama cannot talk about publicly. I do have confidence that we now have adults in charge and that they will make informed decisions as this whole mess evolves.
Gwynne Dyer has a very insightful article on this very topic.
Go to gwynnedyer.com, latest articles, November 2nd.
Lots of other worthwhile articles that many folks never get to read.
No matter what you think about President Obama’s decision here, we can all agree we (and the world) are FAR better off than if (shudder) John “Bomb, Bomb, Iran” and Sarah “Quitter” Palin were in charge.
God bless Barack Obama, and God bless America!
God help us all…..
I’ve heard variations of this speech so many times in my life — Johnson, Nixon, Bush I, Bush II — I’m just sick and tired of war and escalation. There’s GOT to be another way.
I believe your President also made his decision for all the right reasons too. He just can’t pull the troops out right away now because the past 8 years would be all for nothing.
I want our soldiers home too, they have suffered so much, they all have. Thankfully they will all be home by the end of 2011. We went into Afganistan for all the right reasons back in 2001.
I just wished that Bush hadn’t taken his friggin’ eye off the ball and was all hell bent to invade Iraq. This all could of been over by now.
And another thing, I gained so much more respect for the President by facing those young cadets. I couldn’t look at their faces tonight without tearing up thinking of my own sons and wondering if they could be going over there next
I think that it is also important to remember that we are only one of 43 nations who are fighting the terrorists. We have the biggest deployment by far but we are not alone. I hope that more countries will also step up to send more resources especially for the civilian efforts. We need to have many people of goodwill have lots of tea to restore some level of civility to this difficult land.
If you are not familiar with “Three Cups of Tea” you can start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Cups_of_Tea
McCain has already come out (in a suspiciously already prepared statement) against Obama’s timetable for withdrawal. Actually, the timetable was one of the few things I agreed with. If the Afganis don’t want a national government, don’t want the Taliban defeated, and don’t want to take on this fight, then there’s no hope anyway. They are the toughest fighting force in the world – if they wanted the Taliban out of their country, the Taliban would be gone. I think Obama has chosen the only option possible right now, and I think he realizes there’s no winning this. Give it two more years then get out and let the Afgan people seek their own solutions.
I watched President Obama give his speech at West Point. I believe this speech will be talked about for years to come. He laid out very clearly the history that has brought us to this place. He slapped the previous administration for dropping the ball on Afghanistan to make unnecessary war on Iraq without naming a name. As always he is subtle and nuanced.
I am so grateful for his careful and deliberate nature. I think no matter what he decided it would be a terrible choice. I am unhappy at sending more of our fine young men and women into war. I wish there were no war and no hatred. I wish we could live in peace and tolerance. I wish.
Do to lack of funds. Those being borrowed and spent on War. We best forget about global warming solutions, health care, and education.
You can’t have it all. You can’t spend trillions on war, spend trillions to millionaires on Wall Street and still afford social services.
If t’wer be done, best be done quickly, or something like that.
Overwhelming force and an exit strategy. Get it done and that takes big numbers. Better than a long slog with too few.
I see McCain and the Hannity crowd are coming out of their holes tonight and giving their take on our President and his plans for the War in Afganstian.
It makes me ill to hear all of their negative remarks.
I thought it pained President Obama to say he was sending more troops to Afganistian. I also think the men at West Point were with him all the way.
I hope that other countries will join in the fight to put an end to this conflict.
I have never been in favor of War as a solution, but we are there, and hopefully we can finish the job once and forever.
If we do not take care of the Afghan problem, the problem will come back to bite us on the keister. Hard.
As long as these wars keep going then all other domestic issues will be put on the back burner.
The wars are fueling part of the economy yet killing other parts of our economic recovery and plans to strengthen our domestic position.
I feel sad for those that will lose their lives and am thankful that I’ve not known anyone involved in the military for I could not agree with the path that they have chosen. (I truly am sorry if that seems harsh but I am an unapologetic pacifist)
Strengthening America should begin at home and the billions spent on these fruitless conflicts make my head hurt. By the time we pull the troops out of Afghanistan in 2011 there won’t be any jobs for the survivors to come home to because China and India will have become the industrial and technological powerhouses of the world. I guess we can all just hope that they open factories in America to take advantage of the cheap labor.
Mr Begich and Mr Obama, please promise to take just as much diligence caring for our returning warriors as you promise in support sending our people to war
Thanks AKPetMom! The world needs more unapologetic pacificists. We have no national interest in Afghanistan. The 100 or so Al Qaeda that may be there can’t touch us from there. This is not a geographic war. The next attack could be organized by 10 people in ten different countries, over the internet.
Let’s, instead, enhance our image in the world as we have started to do under Obama. Let’s continue to work on defending our country. And let’s, above all, quit killing people. Ground the Predators. Fire the contractors. Bring our boys and girls home. Strengthen our economy. Deal with vital national problems like jobs, health care, immigration, energy, global warming, education.
I am glad that President Obama has given a date to begin withdrawal. I would rather that he had named tomorrow as that date.
Not sure if anyone is on this thread or if it’s now over to the open thread…
Anyway, just watching Hardball (was out during Keith & Rachel), Chris Matthews annoys the heck out of me because he always interrupts his guests and doesn’t allow them to finish, so I don’t watch much. But just listened to a fella that deserves a gold medal for something! General Paul Eaton. What a guy. I get so frustrated with the idiots in the military who equate patriotism/military with the GOP. I was surrounded by those sorts of losers/morons in Alaska, went to dinner with some once at a neighbor’s house and had to point out to them a few salient points that of course went over their heads. Never dined with those people again. So, Gen’l Eaton is the awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You must watch that clip, forward it on to everyone & anyone! He was quite clear about the fact that the GOP has been a hugely destructive force for the US military over the past 8 years in many different ways. It was so great! I banged my head against that wall with so many people over the past few years, it is so great to have heard a General say it loud & clear. Watch it watch it watch it!
SMR: I agree! I watched General Eaton too.also and was pleased as punch! Yea!
AkPetMom…….exactly. This war will surely cost lives and I find that horrifying because it will really not change anything. I, too, am an unapologetic pacifist. I think our President is a good man but has been advised poorly on this situation. Al Qaeda knows no boundaries and will continue their agenda regardless of our presence in Afghanistan or not. The deadline he gives is not a great idea. These guys have no timeline or deadline for their agenda. I think our government needs to address this threat from a totally different perspective than war on Afghanistan. Just my opinion.
I hope you all noticed the sheer agony in President Obama’s eyes when he announced he felt compelled to escalate the US presence in Afghanistan and send those young officers into harm’s way. I may not agree but I respect the decision. Now that its made I urge the most competent and decisive use of force possible to accomplish the mission with the least amount of casualties to civilians and our soldiers.
Barack Obama is the one who is real.
Let’s pull together and support our troops, and their Commander in Chief.
DivaBabe right on. IMO it would not have mattered what President Obama did or said someone would not like it.McShame is a war monger and what does one expect from the likes of him.He likes to play the game of politics but IMO the only time he has crossed the table is when it was of benefit to him.I knew from the start that President Obama would probably send more troops just from his speeches about we should have stayed and kept more troops in Afghanistan and this whole thing might have been over.With the necessary troops from the beginning we could have rooted out Bin Laden by now but someone had to send all our troops to Iraq and Mr McShame went right along with it.Better enough troops to defend and keep our troops already over there safe than not enough and to lose all.Mr McShame would have war continuously if he had his way,as would apparently would a lot of the repugs.
It is better to see and end in sight than an never ending war.
Wall Street is having a great year. The spoiled subhumans got bailed out and now they get more war profit from someone who was supposedly going to be a gun control freak. Wall Street wins again. Arms and oil. Contractors and construction.
I presume the national interest and security the President mentioned refered to pipeline security in Afghanistan and securing oil from Central Asia and the Caspian Sea area. I think our national interest and security would be better served by changing putting an end to foreign policy that so often seems to be the mouthpiece of corporations.
The President stated “we have no interest in occupying your country”. This is probably true, we will likely try to install a system that is amenable to oil companies.
I agree with “Blue in AK”, I too have heard this speech before. I have grown very cynical and discouraged as a result of years of war. I am beginning to think that the two parties are just a front to keep us at bay. I go to work and bring home a paycheck so I can support the death of troops and civilians while the bankers and brokers get drunk with power and money.
I would be in interested observing what would would happen to the U.S. economy if the arms industry was cut by 50%.
I understand there are monster-like humans in the world, but I still can’t help but think that we are going to escalate the resentment.
Agree with SMR and califpat. Usually can’t stand that CM. But did see the ret. Gen and hope he is right. What he had to say about the f’ed up stuff the GOP did needed to be said.
The other thing that needs to be said is McCain has LOST ALL CREDIBILITY. ALL OF IT. Country first, $$P’s a$$.
Please don’t hate me, mudpups, but I am not very happy with President Obama’s Afghanistan policy.
I voted for President Obama, and I am still glad I did. (One has only to consider the alternative). I did not agree with every one of his campaign policy positions, and I certainly did not view him as a particularly liberal or progressive politician, but you have to choose among the available alternatives, and he was (and still is) by far the best choice.
One thing I particularly didn’t like in his campaign was his commitment to increase US involvement in Afghanistan. I felt that he had been persuaded by his own 2002 rhetoric about justifiable and “stupid” wars, and that he wasn’t paying enough attention to reality as of 2008.
I completely understand that the policy he announced in his West Point speech is consistent with his campaign policy statements. I disagreed with his reasoning then, and I disagree with it now. The fact that I voted for him does not obligate me to agree with him on all matters, and the fact that his announced policy is consistent with his campaign promises does not automatically make it a wise policy.
So, what is my problem with what I guess is now the “Obama Doctrine”? There are two main issues. First, I think that the current specific threat of al Qaida in Afghanistan is overstated (and that the correlation between al Qaida and the Taliban is also overstated). As many others have observed, al Qaida is now more of a concept than an organization. Perhaps the most extreme example of this is “al Qaida in Iraq”, which didn’t exist before the US invasion of Iraq, and which has at best tenuous connection to the bin Laden group. This is not to say that the various al Qaidas are not dangerous; just that they are not significantly linked to the remnants that survive on the Afghan/Pakistan border. There is no central control; there is no Dr Evil.
The second issue is that there really is no such thing as “Afghanistan”. It has never been a true state, with a capable central government, and it is not really a nation (common ethnicity and culture). It is just a defined geographical area, sort of like the old Yugoslavia. The population is made up of dozens, or hundreds, of sub-tribes – if you believe Matthew Hoh, every valley is a different country. There are some ethnic aggregations, but then you have to consider that the Afghani Pashtuns probably have more in common with the Pakistani Pashtuns than they do with other Afghanis.
Trying to fabricate a single stable state in such an area is a mug’s game. For examples, see the above-mentioned Yugoslavia; also Czechoslovakia, and the whole USSR.
As an aside, the comparison of Afghanistan with Vietnam is quite inappropriate. North and South Vietnam were artificially separated parts of one Vietnamese nation. It is not surprising that they eventually merged, and became quite stable. We just happened to back the losing side. Without the pesky Soviets, we could have invaded the North, and the unified Vietnam might have been anti-Communist — not that you could necessarily tell the difference today. (Yes, I know it’s a lot more complicated, but that’s the short version).
Afghanistan, in contrast, is an artificially thrown together collection of tribes and partial nations. I just don’t see much of a prospect for unification. I’d have a better opinion of our chance for success if most Afghanis thought of themselves, first, as Afghanis. But I don’t believe that is the case.
There’s also the problem that most of the rural valley tribes are intensely “traditional” (that is, socially still in about 700AD). Even with educational efforts that we cannot afford, changing this kind of attitude takes generations, not years.
Ultimately, I don’t believe that we will have any more success at making a Westernized country out of Afghanistan than have any of the others which have tried. And, based on what I know, the threat from al Qaida in Afghanistan does not seem to justify trying.
Now, I realize that it may be that there is information, to which I don’t have access, that would change this evaluation. All I can say about that possibility is that I’m 62, and I don’t recall any similar case.
I voted for the President. I support him. I think his Afghanistan policy is a mistake. I hope to be proven wrong.
Best regards to all mudders.
I watched your Presidents speech,I was entralled ,thirty-five minutes seemed to pass so quickly.
I also watched the face of those young people they where also entralled.
They looked like they trusted this man,and who could blame them.
America you have a great President.
Rejoyce in the fact its not McCain and Palin in charge.
I’m so glad to see the comments on this thread are so generally supportive (and good for Mark Begich). As Andrew Sullivan said, the reaction from Democrats is “Almost uniformly negative. And the GOP will do all they can to destroy this commander-in-chief. ”
We’ve got to stop acting like we’re the opposition party, unless we want to fuel the Republican take-over of Congress next year so that none of our domestic agenda gets enacted. And the Republicans who can’t believe that we can provide health care to our own people are willing to chase a moonbeam in any other country indefinitely.
One of Andrew’s readers had these thoughts, which are interesting. Chances are Obama and his team had them too, because they took time to think before they acted: I think the hope of the White House is that the Taliban will lay low. If the Taliban want to wait until we leave, perhaps there is time for the Afghans to train and begin to defend themselves. If the Taliban attacks, there are enough troops to counter their attacks and weaken them by attrition. A win/win for us.
I sure wish we didn’t have to be in this war. But I trust Obama to have found the bare necessary need for us to be there. Not even a justification on the basis of human rights. Just basic military need to secure our own country. This was a speech for and to the people who have to go fight this war: We need you to do this. This is what you’re going to do. You’re not going to have to do this forever.
If just leaving right now is not an option, then I am with the President. You can’t do this quickly without overwhelming force and he wants us out.
I think seeing all the graves at Arlington did two things; made him want to finish this war and to find some positive resolution to honor the dead who gave their lives for this mission. Honor the dead soldiers by making something good come of all this.
His emphasis on Pakistan’s involvement tells me that it is the border region that is his real target. That is where Omar is and bin Laden, if he is still alive.
If he gets these guys, will we all forgive him?
I agree with Strangelet’s comments. Pres. Obama is too easily influenced and dazzled by all the brass and medals of his generals. They are NOT smarter than he is.
We need to get out of Aghani-Vietnam now.
Please read Michael Moore’s Open Letter to Pres. Obama on CommonDreams.org on Dec. 1st. It’s brilliant and is more eloquent than anything I could write.
All the military contractors and the defense corporations that contribute to each candidate in presidential elections have too much influence in the government.
I asked my Congressman Nadler (D.NY) to support Rep. Barbara Lee’s (D. Ca.) bill to not rubberstamp the money for this new surge.I voted for Obama, and still support him. He is trying, but is not listening to us. I do not want a second Iraq. This is tragic. The poor soldiers and their mourning families.
Big Slick says:
“Barack Obama is the one who is real.
Let’s pull together and support our troops, and their Commander in Chief.”
““““““““““““““““
Amen to that.
Bingo, Lilybart! It is all about Pakistan, that’s why the emphasis in his speech. THAT’S where the real risk is, with their nukes and the potential for loose nukes getting into the wrong hands! We need to contain them, and to do so means we need to contain the region. THIS was BushCo’s major failure, they never saw the big picture because their greed & bloodlust blinded them. John “Bomb Bomb” McCain and Clueless Sarah would have just compounded the problem.
I very much agree with Strangelet and his/her analysis. Our President has been between a rock and a hard place ever since he took office, with the most serious problems any country could face. I sure don’t know the answer, but WAR is never the answer, in my humble opinion. The point that I never hear mentioned is the BinLaden wanted to destroy our country financially, and by keeping us in unending war, he is winning without having to do anything more at all. But I do thank gawd every day for this intelligent young man that is trying so hard to lead out of this abyss. It just seems to be a no win situation.
Divabave and LIbbyart, yes, I concur that Pakistan is why we are in the region. They have nuclear weapons and the knowledge of how to use them. NATO does not want these weapons to fall into the wrong hands. That is why we have a “force” sitting in Afghanistan. It is about the border regions and going after Bin Laden. The Pakistani’s have been moving on these regions finally. The last thing that needs to happen is for Al Qaida to run back to Afghanistan. I don’t want to see us fighting in a war but I also recognize the danger that is a destabilized Pakistan run by extremists.
I am going to support Obama because I voted for him to make decisions with all the information. I don’t think we are privy to all information about the goings on in the region, so we must trust our leader.
It was a tough decision for him to make and I support him. I’m sure he is also aware that no one ever won a war with the Afghans.
I love Obama but we keep repeating the same scenario: Commit to a righteous cause; find ourselves losing; escalate our commitment to try and recoup our losses; refuse to leave because it would be a betrayal of those who have died or are mangled; escalate the commitment and the losses. Its the classic definition of insanity: keep on doing what doesn’t work. The unlearned lesson of Viet Nam: the only way out of the cycle is to bear the humiliation and the losses and LEAVE.
I respectfully disagree. No nation has the right to invade and occupy another nation unless that nation has committed an act of war against the occupier.
Helping Afganistan yes, but we are destroying that nation and slaughtering it people long past any rational justification.
The war we are fighting is one to protect an oil pipeline. It is not about national defense it is about Exxon’s profits.
In Iraq as many as 1M dead and 4 million refugees and probably much the same in Afganistan, with no end date set, only an if maybe when we see how its going date.
OMG like she honestly thinks he is listening to HER??? the woman is delusional!!!
NEW – Sarah Palin applauds Obama’s Afghan troop increase
NEW YORK (AP) — Sarah Palin says she supports President Barack Obama’s decision to boost the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.
But she warns that his plan to send 30,000 additional troops may not be enough to achieve victory, and that talk of an exit date might encourage enemies to “wait us out” in the region.
Palin made the comments on her Facebook page hours after Obama delivered a speech Tuesday night on his new Afghanistan war plan.
The former GOP presidential nominee noted she had urged Obama to increase U.S. forces there three months ago. She said she was glad he had “mostly heeded” the advice.
Palin said she especially welcomed Obama’s decision since he had opposed President George W. Bush’s troop surge in Iraq in 2007.