http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikes-letter/open-letter-president-obama-michael-moore



Liberals are starting to get upset with their messiah. He does have a bit of a point though I think, why are the U.S. in Afghanistan? Even if terrorists train there they still need to find americans to attack. Why not just protect the americans in the places americans are? Like their own country.

I'm no expert on politics but maybe there is a strategical reason for the USA wanting to be in Afghan? Maybe oil or an oil pipeline. People too quickly forget that there is competition for resources among countries. They like to think it was something done many years ago, but "it isn't done these days because we learned from our mistakes".

Maybe your right about something strategical. Still gets me that when Russia invaded Afghanistan it was considered evil by the world but when the US does its considered good.

I'm a member of the Military and this isn't news to us. It's funny that everyone is up and arms about it now that Obama is going public but we've been re-mobilizing from being primarily in Iraq to Afghanistan. Why you ask? because we're pretty much done in Iraq, Iraq has become like Korea, we've got many huge installations there, the local law enforcement isn't spectacular but it's light years ahead of what it used to be.

So why Afghanistan? because we aren't done there, we focused our efforts so much on Iraq that we haven't really made much progress in Afghanistan, the terrain is tougher, etc. In any case, this comes at no surprise, it would be a very unwise move to pull troops out now when we are doing so well.

Pulling out too soon is what got us in this mess in the first place back in the 80s when we were training the Afghanis to fight the Russians.

Yes but you must see that there is little difference between your invasion of Afghanistan and Russia's. You're both there for resource/region reasons. I personally don't mind if the USA is out there conquering other countries because they are an ally with us.

If Russia had successfully invaded Afghanistan then it is likely Osama wouldn't have done what he is purported to have done. Don't you find it ironic that the USA helping fight the Russians ended up causing 9/11?

that's what I was saying, but it wasn't just us fighting the russians, it was us enabling the locals with weapons and training. Most of all though, was our failure to stay and and continue to build infrastructure in the country and educate the soldiers we had trained.

You seem to think it's all based on oil, or course there is a monetary agenda, but Afganistan itself isn't exactly the richest source of resources in the world, that's is more down in iraq, iran, and other arab nations further south. I see Afganistan as more of a tactical ground to hold rather than a land or great natural resources.

The point is, we enabled a bunch of young boys and mens to be extremely destructive ( to take down the russians) but then gave them zero education, this is extremely dangerous, especially when they came back from war to find dead family members. They became extremely upset and we left them high and dry since they had served their purpose. They thought we were there friends but we didn't do anything to help them rebuild their war torn country. They felt used, they were used.

If we left early again we'd risk the same problem of leaving it all unresolved.

Think about it, if we leave now we are just the nation that brought war. but if we stay long enough to set up shop and build infrastructure then we are the country that brought education, law & order, prosperity, etc.

Also with more education people are less willing to blow themselves up.

I'm not saying that the United States has any intention of giving out charity, no, but I have a feeling they are going to try to pull an Iraq, which as of now is highly successful.

If you have more interest in the matters watch the film Charlie Wilson's War, it has a lot of inaccurate hollywood drama, but there is a core truth there, we never should have left afganistan so early in the 80s, it was a recipe for disaster, and the president would have to be a fool to make the same mistake again simply to politically apease the generally ignorant American public.

And this is all coming from an enlisted soldier who does NOT want to be deployed outside of the United States. I would be upset about it, but I'm not about to kid myself in thinking that my personal desires are above the greater good.

No I didn't say it's just about oil, I said an oil pipeline could be involved.

I have watched a few films and read a few things about all of this but in the end it doesn't really matter why someone does something. Russia would have had its "good reasons" for invading Afghanistan like the USA/Western World does now. Russia also would have rebuilt it themselves like we have been.

The thing is it's not necessarily bad from our (western alliance) viewpoints that we invaded Afghanistan because it helps us maintain our existing lifestyles longer. It is bad for Afghanistan and the middle east though as they are our targets. I just wish governments would be a bit more open about it and just go "yes we are there for resources or to ensure China/Russia/Iran know we mean business" instead of the silly 9/11 context. Does anyone with a working brain truly believe we are in the region for "terrorists"? I hope not, I mean you even have the PNAC document written in the 90s which outlines the last 8 years of activity in the middle east down to fine details. Even with this though people still are in the cloud.

Terrorism is just the new fear word, it used to be communists. Thanks to the internet though the way governments try and get their "message" across is beginning to fail. I hope this means they start treating us with more respect but I doubt it.

I do have a lot of respect for soldiers/military, I will likely be trained soon myself.