President Obama still hasn't quite figured out this foreign policy thing, particularly with our good neighbor to the north. You'll remember - and if you don't this is a reminder - during the campaign he threatened to pull out of NAFTA, only to tell Canada on the side not to to take him seriously. Then shortly after taking office he launched the "Buy American" provision of his porkulus plan, thumbing his nose at our largest trading partner (http://www.canada.com/business/Canada+must+move+overcome+American+provisions+anal yst+says/2233861/story.html).

Now he's not to be bothered with personally consulting with one of our staunchest allies in Afghanistan on his new plan. He will however consult with Britain, France, Germany, Italy, China and Russia.


Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not be among the world leaders briefed personally (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/30/obama-harper-afghanistan.html) by U.S. President Barack Obama about his plans for a new strategy in Afghanistan.

Obama will contact a number of leaders, including those of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, China and Russia. But despite Canada's lengthy military commitment to the troubled region, Vice-President Joe Biden has been given the task of relaying the president’s plans to Harper.

Canada's military mission to Afghanistan began soon after the attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. The current mission in Kandahar, which began at the end of 2006, includes 2,800 troops focused around an infantry battle group.

Harper has repeatedly said that he will adhere to a motion passed in Parliament and not extend Canada's military mission beyond 2011.

Since 2002, 133 Canadian soldiers have been killed serving in the Afghanistan mission, resulting in the highest per-capita death rate among foreign armies in Afghanistan. One diplomat and two aid workers have also been killed.

Let's get this straight, he will personally consult with 2 nations that are not part of the coalition, one that refuses to commit to combat roles (Germany), and one with a lesser troop commitment (Italy), but not Canada. They get Biden? He certainly has a strange way of strengthening ties with our allies.

That's because of this point:

Harper has repeatedly said that he will adhere to a motion passed in Parliament and not extend Canada's military mission beyond 2011. His decision has been set by our parliament, there isn't much to discuss, Biden doesn't even need to come up.

Does that make it any less of a snub? And if Canada is still partnering with us until then don't they deserve to be in on the discussion?

What discussion? For a while it'll be business as usual on the battlefield where the real discussions take place, only there will be more americans soldiers there.

Not everyone is as thin-skinned as you and sees snubs everywhere.

Well if you're not insulted then good for you. Knowing the sacrifice Canada has made and how strong of an ally you have been in this, I personally feel the United States owes Canada more than a paltry schmooze from the gaff-master Biden. A close friend such as Canada, which has for the time being expanded their area of responsibility (http://www.canada.com/news/Canada+expands+area+responsibility+south+Afghanist an/2289317/story.html) in Afghanistan, deserves more honor than that.

Thanks, man. A few ladies I work with are army wives, I help them out with any techie bits they need to connect with their husbands overseas.

A close friend such as Canada, which has for the time being expanded their area of responsibility in Afghanistan, deserves more honor than that.Hello again, Steve:

I don't know what you're saying... You're pissed off at Obama for not talking to Canada, but apparently you think his decision to send more of our boy's off to suffer an "honorable" death, means you like him.

Wassa matter? Can't you get the words out of your mouth?

excon

Hello again, Steve:

I don't know what you're saying... You're pissed off at Obama for not talking to Canada, but apparently you think his decision to send more of our boy's off to suffer an "honorable" death, means you like him.

All that's been covered. Afghanistan was the "good war" according to Obama, remember? Meanwhile he's been 'dithering' for what, 7-8 months now? I may agree with his decision to finally listen to his hand-picked General, even though the commitment has been varying for the last few days, but the man has a hard time making the tough decisions. He needs to man up, make these hard decisions AND recognize our strongest ally and closest friend with more than an obligatory visit from the VP.


Wassa matter? Can't you get the words out of your mouth?

I can't post the words that are in my mouth here.

P.S. You don't think Canada deserves more?

The sad thing is that when all is said and done you will be able to take President Bush's Iraq surge speech ,and change the word Iraq with the word Afghanistan... and that is essentially going to be his address tonight.

His exit strategery is going to be essentially the same. When the country stabilizes we will leave .He will also set "benchmarks " for Afghani progress.
The question then is what took him so long ?

Hello again, tom:

I agree. It IS Bush speak... Engage more troops so you can disengage them?? And, that's what he's going to say.

excon

Did you catch Michael Moore's rant ?



Dear President Obama,
Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.
It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).
So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade Afghanistan!" Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.
There's a reason they don't call Afghanistan the "Garden State" (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has raising poppies). Afghanistan's nickname is the "Graveyard of Empires." If you don't believe it, give the British a call. I'd have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev's number though. It's I'm sure you're about to commit.
With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the "war president." Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.
Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn't have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.
I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush's Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.
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?
Don't be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn't be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can't change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.
The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can't be won over by abandoning the rest of us.
President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either."
What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that's what they'd do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.
All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam "might" be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know.
When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.
Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.
Tonight we still have hope.
Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON'T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother's son.
We're counting on you.
Yours,
Michael Moore

An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore | MichaelMoore.com (http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/open-letter-president-obama-michael-moore)

If our mission there was similar to the British Imperialism or the Russian attempt to make it part of an expanded Soviet sphere then perhaps Moore would have a point. Like it or not ;there are real security risks abandoning the country to the taliban jihad alliance.

Yeah I caught that yesterday, Moore must finally be acting on his pledge from November of 2006 when he warned the new Democratic leadership, "We aren't kidding around, Democrats, and if you don't believe us, just go ahead and continue this war another month. We will fight you harder than we did the Republicans." He forgot to carry out his threat on Iraq so now it's time to make up for it over Afghanistan.

Tonight POTUS will make and address about his non-decision .Then next week, he will attend the Copenhagen Conference to address a non-problem .Then he will stop over to Olso to collect a Nobel Prize for non-achievement.

That's about the size of it so far... except I hear he'll work in some blame for Bush (or has carefully crafted that narrative in the media (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/30007.html)). Reportedly, this close to the speech he still hasn't decided if it was 30,000 or 34,000 troops (wasn't it the full 40,000 last week?). He has a 3 year time line (http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/01/obama.afghanistan/index.html) that's not really a 3 year time line (http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-plank/three-year-time-line-afghanistan).

Just because you have a common border doesn't mean he has to discuss foreign policy with you. Anyway he probably considers Canada more like a domestic issue, it isn't like you are unfriendly. You would get more attention if you were you know

http://michellemalkin.cachefly.net/hotair.com/greenroom/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/WestPointAddress.png

All of this is just more evidence of his inexperience and lack of qualifications.

did you catch Michael Moore's rant ?


An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore | MichaelMoore.com (http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/open-letter-president-obama-michael-moore)

If our mission there was simular to the British Imperialism or the Russian attempt to make it part of an expanded Soviet sphere then perhaps Moore would have a point. Like it or not ;there are real security risks abandoning the country to the taliban jihad alliance.

At least the left are consistent; they don't think there is a war on terror or a threat from a Jihad and so they are right to want us out of Afghanistan.

I want us out of Afghanistan because I don't think this president is military friendly or has the cojones to what is necessary for national security.


G&P