Soul for War: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My very caring, impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about Pat Buchanan, BushCo, President Obama, and the Afghan war. I am more than happy to oblige. He nailed this one.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

Soul For War

Tuesday night prior to President Obama’s speech regarding the Afghanistan War, Pat Buchanan made a remark on Hardball that upset and made me very angry.

Buchanan opined that Obama, by having a defined exit strategy, was showing he had no soul to fight the Afghanistan War, and that it would demoralize our troops and it was sending a signal to the Taliban to wait us out until we leave.

Pat, what audacity you have to say such a thing. The ones who had no soul to fight the Afghanistan War were the Bush/Cheney administration. You seem to forget, the purpose given by President Bush for invading Afghanistan in October, 2001, was to find Osama bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda members, put them on trial and destroy the Al-Qaeda organization.

Yet within a couple of months, the Bush Administration took their eyes off the ball to prepare for, and start, an unnecessary war in Iraq, based upon lies and misinformation.

They turned a deaf ear to requests for more troops to complete the job of capturing bin Laden. They left the troops in Afghanistan undermanned and ill-equipped to complete the job. Pat, their decisions and actions let down the families and friends who lost loved ones on 9/11 and the American people.

Had they completed the job in Afghanistan, there would have been no need to go to war with Iraq, a war which has resulted in the death and injuries of thousands of Americans and Iraqis. Bush/Cheney were more interested in establishing a permanent U.S. presence in Iraq and the oil the country possessed than capturing bin Laden.

Pat, the Bush Administration took this country into two wars without an exit strategy, which is the primary reason our country finds itself in the situation we are in today.

If you wanted to see President Obama’s soul, Pat, all you had to do was look into his eyes on Tuesday night. They had the look of a man who was tired and hadn’t slept very well prior to his speech, anguishing over what he knew would be the toughest decision of his presidency so far, and knowing it wouldn’t satisfy everyone.

Pat Buchanan, I never saw such a look in President Bush’s eyes.

Many thanks again for another timely, insightful, and accurate piece, 42bkdodgr. You never fail to say what so many of us are thinking and feeling, and your perspective is invaluable.