I have mixed feelings about Obama's expansion/continuation of the Afghan war. To me, the Taliban are the kinds of people that you have to kill with force. I don't think diplomacy will work and as the administration has noted there are no moderate Taliban. I actually think that's the mark of most religious fanatics but that's a discussion for another time. You have to use force.
On the other hand, I don't know if you can actually "win" by force. The war against the Taliban and Al Qaida simply moved 
to Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons. There's a very real chance that continuing this war will just destablize Pakistan, which would mean Islamic fundamnetalists would get ahold of weapons of mass destruction. While I don't think that Iran should be vaporized soon, nuclear weapons in the hands of stateless Islamic fundamentalist groups probably isn't a good thing. For anybody.
There's also the cost of the war, although the cost of killing people is never opposed by our blue dog friends.
Anyway, here's part of Mr. Moore's argument:
Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you're doing it so you can "end the war") will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you've said and done in your first year. One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout "tea bag!"
Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning.
We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can't take it anymore. We can't take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of "landslide victory" don't you understand?
Related: There's also a fake letter from Obama to Michael Moore, which seems like a very good defense of Obama's Afghan policy. He never promised he would leave Afghanistan.
Comments
I can’t stand Michael Moore. He –constantly- contradicts himself. In Capitalism-A Love Story, he complains that the Democrats got campaign money from the financial industry sector, and that they are slaves of the corporations, but HE HIMSELF contributed to the Obama campaign. He also said that democracy was the most important thing and that dissident voices of people proposing real change was crucial, yet in 2004 he had kneeled down on Bill Maher’s show to beg Ralph Nader not to run (after getting a ton of grassroots/leftist cred off his back while supporting him in 2000). Then he writes this stupid letter saying we love you Mr. President, but just a few months later demolishes and exposes the health care “reform” as the corporatist scam it is. I agree with most of Michael Moore’s positions, but I dislike him because he constantly contradicts himself through his actions. Earlier this week, he had the nerve to call Ralph Nader (of all people) a poser.
(continued) … He also accused Ralph of doing what he does so he can “hear himself speak”. Coming from an intellectually lazy, hypocritical, self-serving millionaire, the accusation is RISIBLE. Yes, Mr. Moore shed light on important issues with his films but really, what has he done concretely for the citizens of the USA? Has he helped pass safety laws? Environment protection laws? Consumer rights laws?... Didn’t think so. Michael Moore is an embarrassment for the Left.
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