Barack On Afghanistan War: A Welcome Shift?

[Bragi]

As one who has been very concerned with Obama's too-hawkish (for me) position on the Afghanistan war, I am pleased to see that, in his fine speech in Ohio today, he stated as follows:

It's time to stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus. As President, I will end this war by asking the Iraqi government to step up, and finally finish the fight against bin Laden and the al Qaeda terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission...

I am gratified that he chose to talk about OBL and al Qaeda but did not mention Afghanistan at all.

I hope this means he is creating some wiggle room away from his unwise promise to send an additional 15,000 troops to prop up the religious extremists, drug barons and tribal chieftains that run Afghanistan.

- B