Skeptical Dems Told 30,000 More Troops Can Win War
WASHINGTON – Confronted by a wary Congress, the president’s chief military and diplomatic advisers insisted Wednesday the quick infusion of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan was the nation’s last, best shot at winning the war and staving off “severe consequences for the United States and the world.”
Lawmakers from President Barack Obama’s own Democratic Party expressed deep skepticism about the plan’s chances for success but conceded they had little likelihood of blocking it. Republican supporters of the troop increase had their own objections, chiefly Obama’s announcement Tuesday night of a July 2011 timeline for beginning to bring American forces home.
The stakes are great — al-Qaida’s ability to regroup and plan the next terrorist attack on Americans — Obama’s top advisers warned during a day of hearings before House and Senate panels.
“We cannot defeat al-Qaida and its toxic ideology without improving and stabilizing the security situation in Afghanistan,” said Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
With voter support of the war on the decline, Democrats questioned the escalation and sought assurances that Obama’s target date to begin withdrawing troops was firm.
“It seems to me that the large influx of U.S. combat troops will put more U.S. Marines on street corners in Afghan villages, with too few Afghan partners alongside them,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The hearings were aimed at building support among war-weary lawmakers for Obama’s dramatic rewrite of the battle plan in Afghanistan. By the end of next summer, the president plans to increase to 100,000 the number of U.S. troops there, marking the largest expansion of the war since it began eight years ago. The new strategy also relies on a pledge by NATO to commit an additional 5,000 to 7,000 troops.
Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a vocal war critic who is a senior House Democrat overseeing military spending, predicted that Congress would pass a $40 billion war financing bill early next year to pay for the added deployments.
It’s unclear how long we’ll continue to run up our National Debt while paying for these nation building wars. President Obama is sure to have a hard time selling this to the public with the costs it incurs while our own economy is still struggling.
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