Background
The "war" in Afghanistan is now the longest "war" in U.S. history. For what?
George W. Bush let Osama bin Laden escape from Tora Bora way back in 2001, and then pulled troops and supplies out of Afghanistan so he could conquer Iraq.
Since then, we've been "fighting" the Taliban, not the few remaining Al Qaeda. And we're not really "fighting" them, we're actually paying them protection money to let supply trucks reach our troops. (The Nation's Aram Roston broke this scandal last November . Congress confirmed it and began investigative hearings .)
Rather than pay extortion to the Taliban - with our tax dollars! - it's time to bring our troops safely home .
One year ago, Gen. Stan McChrystal was put in charge of the "war" to devise a "winning" strategy. One year later, his strategy isn't "winning" because Afghanistan remains as massively corrupt as ever, under the hopelessly corrupt leadership of Hamid Karzai.
The contempt of Gen. McChrystal and his staff for America's civilian leadership was shocking. But replacing Gen. McChrystal with Gen. Petraeus brings us no closer to a "winning" a corrupt foreign occupation.
American taxpayers can't afford the endless occcupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. We've already "spent" (actually just borrowed) over $1 trillion and sacrificed over 5,535 brave soldiers.
As our national debt spirals out of control, President Obama's Deficit Commission is secretly plotting cuts in Social Security and Medicare - instead of ending the disastrous occupations.
Under the Constitution, Congress alone has the power to fund wars. After eight disastrous years, it's time for Congress to use its power to bring our troops safely home from Afghanistan.
