With Bin Laden Dead, Can We Finally Leave Afghanistan?

Posted by | May 3, 2011 09:00 | Filed under: Top Stories


by toma

For many, the attack on a Pakistan compound resulting in the death of Osama bin Laden changes the thinking about the war in Afghanistan. They say it’s time to start wrapping up the war there and to begin bringing everybody home.

With bin Laden dead, the movement to get out of Afghanistan has a new argument. Capturing or killing the man behind 9/11 was one of the reasons for the war. Now that it’s done, it’s time to get out.

“The rationale for the war in Afghanistan as understood by Americans has been completed, and it’s time to get the troops home,” said Robert Greenwald, the filmmaker and a leader of Rethink Afghanistan, a pro-withdrawal group. “Al-Qaeda has been driven from Afghanistan, and Osama is dead. With Bin Laden dead, the American people won’t tolerate spending $2 billion a week on a war that’s lost its rationale. We should recognize that this is the stopping point, and get back to focusing on our problems here at home.”

Rep. Barney Frank echoed the sentiment:

“That’s why we went into Afghanistan,” he said in an interview with ThinkProgress. “We went there because Osama bin Laden had been using Afghanistan as a base from which to murder people, in the thousands.” Frank anticipated a backlash, and dismissed it immediately. “People say, well, America can’t look like it was driven out with the mission not accomplished. We went there to get Osama bin Laden!”

An op-ed in the Seattle Times also called on the president to end the war:

As the spontaneous revelers know, this is certainly a moment of pride for the Obama intelligence team, for the men and women who serve our country and their families.

But once we wrap up the celebration, let’s get very serious about bringing troops home from Afghanistan.

. . the president should come up with a sturdy plan to end America’s involvement in Afghanistan.

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Copyright 2011 Liberaland
By: toma

Foul-mouthed blogger.

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