Oh Promise Me

Wow, what a pleasant surprise! President Obama has said that he's pulling all of our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. And he said this in front of a military audience, no less!

Um, well... he didn't actually say that in so many words, but what he did say is: "I will only send you into harm's way when it is absolutely necessary, and with the strategy, the well-defined goals, the equipment and the support that you need to get the job done." But is there any doubt that the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns fail all of these criteria? "Absolutely necessary?" Clearly not, since both invasions were based on completely false and ginned-up pretexts. "Strategy?" I have yet to see any evidence of "strategy" in the case of either Iraq or Afghanistan. The plan was to invade; the current plan is to stay forever. This should not be confused with a "strategy". "Well-defined goals?" Same problem. Our original "goals" in invading Iraq and Afghanistan have proven to be delusional fantasies. Our current "goals" are... well, there really aren't any. "Establishing and maintaining peace in the region" is not a goal because it's completely delusional. OK, then how about "equipment"? Can you say "hillbilly armor"? That point is beyond laughable. And as to "support" -- can you say "KBR"? 'Nuff said.

So -- bottom line -- Obama has promised to get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, since those conflicts meet none of his stated criteria for "absolute necessity". I can't wait for someone to challenge him to keep this promise -- one of the Democratic lefties, maybe? Or Ron Paul? Surely someone besides me has to have noticed...