Afghanistan War On Line

September 23, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Today the papers are reporting you want to take a new turn in the Afghan war.

That is great, but we should not send troops there at all. Trying to fight Al Quaeda is like fighting ants by stepping on one and thinking that you’ve won.

The pursuit, we all know, of Osama Bin Laden is futile. He may even be dead. We all realize that he is just one of many Al Quaeda leaders. For that to be our objective, I have to believe your administration is just using that to explain to the Americans who need a reason for the death of their sons and daughters. Either that or we need a war to sustain our flagging economy? Or, perhaps, you, Mr. President, feel you must continue the conflict to shore up the Democratic party. Are we fighting to keep the Republicans from beating you up some more?

Mr. President, I don’t mean to be rude. You are in a tough spot. You were handed this idiotic war and there is no easy way out. If changing the mission there from killing all insurgents to weeding out Al Quaeda so that perhaps we can have fewer troops deployed, I’m all for it. Keeping any troops there at all, however, is senseless.

The US needs to pull out of that area entirely. You and the other commanders in chief should develop a solid new plan to fight Al Qaeda (and even the Taliban) in cyber space. The latest capture of Mr. Zazi, in New York, is good. He seems to be talking quite a bit (can we believe this?) and providing the authorities with some useful information, hopefully. Our investigators are looking at plans he and others had on his computer. He used the internet to organize a group of terrorists, make a plan of attack and assemble the different materials to make bombs.

This method of combat is what I think the American armed forces should use more extensively. If we have to find people hiding in caves, use their Facebook or MySpace. I’m not trying to be flip. I am serious when I say our enemies use electronic devices and we should track them via that technology. Obviously, we will deploy troops at some point to go get whoever is found out. The number of American at risk would be so few and their objective would be so much clearer and much more direct. At least, they would know what and where the enemy was.

Such a surgical approach and use of many fewer troops would surely make more sense, save many lives and win the approval of the American people. The people of Afghanistan and many other countries would be happier with us too. What right have we to invade these countries, march through villages with sub-machine guns frightening people and putting their lives at risk? We are now trying to “make nice” with those localvillagers. Are we really helping them? The Taliban and other groups kill the elders for talking to American soldiers.

We should be a silent force in our battle with terrorists. Our missions should be clandestine and invisible to our enemies. Our intelligence agencies would do well to get better information to supply to the troops on the ground. It would be nice to be so good that we attack our enemies with surgical swat teams that accomplish their objectives

and then leave, without killing civilians.

We don’t have to risk American lives by making our soldiers befriend Afghani people over tea, ever on the lookout for someone who might kill them. That is ridiculous. Our soldiers with camo and guns should not be doing the job of the Secretary of State and foreign policy experts. Secretary Clinton should be over there winning over Afghani hearts and minds.

Al Quaeda is not an army that assembles at some headquarters in Pakistan or Iran or any other one place. They gather in “cells” all over the world. The recent arrest of Mr. Zazi proves that. Al Quaeda is everywhere. Al Quaeda is on the internet. Do our military really think they have home offices in the mountains of Afghanistan? Cubicles in the caves? Coffee machines and Sparklets water fountains in the rocks?

President Obama, if you really want to take the war in Afghanistan in a new

direction, look no further than your laptop. That is the way in. That is where our enemies lurk. Please get our people out of that desert and onto the world wide web. I makes sense to fight terrorism at its heart and its weakest point. Communication.

Urgent: Obama and Health Care Reform

Dear President Obama,

In today’s New York Times (online) I found the best opinion piece yet about what is wrong with your approach to getting the health care reform we all want.

“Mr. Obama should declare himself in favor of covering as many of the uninsured as possible in the near future; should insist that insurers grant and renew coverage without regard to health status; and should insist on new insurance exchanges in which people without group coverage and those working for the smallest employers could buy insurance at large-group rates.” He should insist,...that a strong public plan be introduced if private insurers fail to hold costs down in the future.”

Declare, insist, push are strong words that echo what the American people

are waiting for you to do, Mr. Obama. You are way too diplomatic. We are no longer

sure of what you believe. There are “reports that the price for winning over Republicans and conservative Democrats” will get us a “drastically scaled-down” plan. We have been

very clear. We want every American to have basic health care coverage. Cutting costs

to please Republicans would be a huge mistake. Democrats need to take advantage of the number of their colleagues in Congress and the Senate at this time and have the

guts to push through a comprehensive health care reform bill that will provide what all Americans want: universal coverage.

Finally, the editorial says, to get through the Republican blockade, “Democrats ought to resort to a parliamentary maneuver known as “budget reconciliation,” which would allow them to push through most reforms by majority vote.” Absolutely right,

Mr. President. This is the time to push hard, use every way possible to do this for our country. If you, President Obama, never achieve anything else while you are in office,

this would be enough of an accomplishment to make you a hero forever in American

history.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Brady Woods

Dear President Obama,

It seems, from my readings, that you may have to relinquish the plan for a public option

when you speak to Congress tomorrow. I want to tell you to do so, but only if

you get in return: 1. a substancial structure in place that will give good care to poor children and the neediest elderly. 2. no allowance of refusal of coverage of pre-existing conditions.

Lets hope for that much.