Obama's Whitewash of a Disastrous Occupation

This year alone, the Afghan War has killed over 2500 Afghan civilians, almost 500 US troops, and more than 200 other NATO forces. Only in those isolated areas where violence might have dropped, can we proudly claim that "our strategy is winning." Still, President Obama's recent review produced the announcement that the US/NATO occupation will continue at least until 2014, another four years of war, death and devastation for the people of Afghanistan, as well as for the young US soldiers forced to remain in that toxic environment. Sixty percent of the people in our United States understand that the war in Afghanistan is "not worth fighting", that this is a war we cannot win, nor afford. There is no military solution, and yet the military battle goes on, despite its inevitable failure. In addition, the cost continues to rise, exacting a huge price from US tax -payers. The 2010 military budget, plus the costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, totaled over one TRILLION dollars - an amount so huge that none of our citizens can comprehend it: Just the cost of Obama's escalation this last year, those additional 30,000 troops, was over 33 billion. That money could have been more effectively used to create 600,000 new "green" middle-class jobs here at home, and still have $3 billion left to help with the rebuilding of post-occupation Afghanistan.