Santorum On Resourcing Afghanistan War: ‘That Was Not Done By The Prior Administration’
Santorum On Resourcing Afghanistan War: ‘That Was Not Done By The Prior Administration’
Last week, Vice President Dick Cheney attacked President Obama, saying he is “afraid to make a decision” on the war in Afghanistan and that he’s “dithering.” A number of conservatives, including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and columnist George Will, disagreed with Cheney’s language. “I would never want to call my president ‘dithering,’” Hatch said.
But many on the right have failed to mention the more substantive point, namely that Cheney and the Bush administration itself “dithered” on Afghanistan and diverted valuable resources to invade Iraq. But last night on Fox News, former Republican senator Rick Santorum stepped up to the plate:
SANTORUM: My sense is that we have an obligation to support our generals in the field, to give them the resources they need to accomplish the mission. That was not done by the prior administration. Let’s be very clear about that. They put their own political imprint on the Afghan strategy.
Watch it:
Of course, Santorum is right. In 2008, Gen. David McKiernan, then the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, asked the Bush administration for more troops, a request that was denied.
Indeed, as McClatchy’s Jonathan Landay — one of the few Washington journalists whose reporting matched the facts in the run-up to the Iraq war — asked of Cheney’s recent attacks: “Do we smell a campaign of historic revisionism by those widely seen as primarily responsible for the disaster in Afghanistan that has prompted Army Gen. Stanley A. McCrystal’s request for up to 80,000 more soldiers?”:
As late as December 2005, despite official warnings about the Taliban resurgence and a lack of U.S. resources for critical reconstruction programs, the Bush administration planned to reduce the 19,000 U.S. troops then in Afghanistan by 2,500 soldiers in order to bolster hard-pressed U.S. forces in Iraq.
And even after seven years of war _ and the deaths of 630 U.S. service members, more than 400 other coalition soldiers and thousands of Afghans _ the Bush administration lacked strategies for dealing with the al Qaida and Taliban safe haven in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where it backed a military dictatorship, or building Afghan security forces, according to the Government Accountability Office.
It’s nice to see Santorum recognize reality.
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Why are they putting brown slimy stuff on the TV?
October 29th, 2009 at 8:06 pmRick who? The trolls at TP are better known.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:08 pm*cupping ear* I just heard Santorum’s kids crying after he said that! Daddy is confusing them.
The last time they cried: http://reason.com/assets/mc/_ATTIC/Image/santorum.jpg
October 29th, 2009 at 8:09 pmand much more stupid.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:09 pmI’m curious to revisit Santorums utterances from those years of the previous administration.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:09 pmIt’s nice to see Santorum recognize reality.
Don’t worry, it won’t last.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:09 pmStill crying…
http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/11/08/PH2006110800119.jpg
October 29th, 2009 at 8:10 pm“I have no problem with homosexuality. I have a problem with homosexual acts.”
October 29th, 2009 at 8:11 pmSick Rantorum, just like a clock, is right at least twice a day.
That’s about it for him…
October 29th, 2009 at 8:11 pm“Isn’t that the ultimate homeland security, standing up and defending marriage?”
October 29th, 2009 at 8:11 pmThe only thing that Santorun recognizes is that the GOP is splitting apart and he’s positioning himself to go with the ultra-conservative nutbag faction along with Scarah Palin.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:12 pm“In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be.”
October 29th, 2009 at 8:13 pm“It does not affect your daily life very much if your neighbor marries a box turtle. But that does not mean it is right. Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife.”
October 29th, 2009 at 8:13 pm“The notion that college education is a cost-effective way to help poor, low-skill unmarried mothers with high school diplomas or GED’s move up the economic ladder is just wrong.”
October 29th, 2009 at 8:14 pmAren’t those the same acts heterosexuals do?
October 29th, 2009 at 8:17 pmNamed for two archangels, Gabriel Michael was born prematurely, at 20 weeks, on Oct. 11, 1996, and lived two hours outside the womb.
…
Upon their son’s death, Rick and Karen Santorum opted not to bring his body to a funeral home. Instead, they bundled him in a blanket and drove him to Karen’s parents’ home in Pittsburgh. There, they spent several hours kissing and cuddling Gabriel with his three siblings, ages 6, 4 and 1 1/2.
…
He and Karen brought Gabriel’s body home so their children could “absorb and understand that they had a brother,” Santorum says. “We wanted them to see that he was real,” not an abstraction, he says.
Yeesh…
October 29th, 2009 at 8:17 pmSpeaking of ‘ultraconservative nutbag faction’ that Santorum & Palin belong too, here’s another one:
http://whitenoiseinsanity.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/susancollinsricksantorum.jpg
Susan Collins looooooooooooooooooves Rick Santorum!
October 29th, 2009 at 8:20 pmcaption for KayinMaines photo contribution…
http://reason.com/assets/mc/_ATTIC/Image/santorum.jpg
Junior Santorum:
“Oh no, I forgot to feed the box turtle!
October 29th, 2009 at 8:23 pmKayInMaine says:
Aren’t those the same acts heterosexuals do?
October 29th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I don’t want to get Ricky too excited by answering.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:27 pmI bet those kids spend a lot of time crying…
October 29th, 2009 at 8:28 pmI’d make that face too, noseeum, if my mother had dressed me like that and made me stand in front of a room full of people.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:31 pmReminds me of that picture in the waiting room on “Headcase”.
The GNOP and whores are eagerly awaiting for Afghanistan to be Obama’s war and quagmire. In fact, I will bet THIS IS their #1 priority to see happen.
Obama: give the decision of Afghanistan to Congress where it is supposed to be according to the Constitution…. and I dare Congress to go against the will of the people.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:34 pmThe good people of PA threw this dumb SOB out of office. Why do we have to listen to his irrelavant drivel?
October 29th, 2009 at 8:36 pmIt’s nice to see Santorum recognize reality.
not really. santorum has no credibility at all, so it doesn’t matter at all what he says.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:37 pmA stopped clock is correct two times a day. Santorum —probably less.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:38 pmI don’t believe Obama should do it, but someone in his administration should tell chickenhawk dick Cheney/aka/Darth Vader to just STFU.
If he wants to warmonger, he should buy his own country.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
When Sarah Palin runs for president, with every caucus, with every primary, there should be $100,000 deposited directly into her checking account. We should be honored that her shadow appears and pay that. We should identify Sarah Palin’s finger prints in hotels and leave $100,000 in cash right next to every one. We should pay for the honor of feeling honored to hear every syllable of Sa($100,000)rah($100,000) Pa($100,000)lin’s($100,000) name.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:46 pmRemember when George Bush & Dick Cheney didn’t listen to the Generals and others about how many troops to send to Afghanistan in the beginning? I do.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:50 pmOn Thom Hartmann’s show:
There was a time WE, US encouraged Russia to go after Afghanistan as we knew it would bring Russia down as it has and will in the future all countries that attempt invasion/war.
Russia was hurt and the Party of NO would love to see President Obama brought down over it too.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:51 pmThere should be a Milton Bradley board game called “Santorum”. It can be a smash hit like Monopoly and contain some of the same game pieces, like a man and a dog.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:51 pmZooey, I would cry everyday too if I had the Santorums for parents.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:52 pmWhy would I care what Bush and Cheney did? I was too busy shopping.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:55 pmI wonder why it took Santorum this long to see reality for what it is. Plain and simple, it is STILL Bush’s War and still his disaster. Unfortunatley, it’s we, the American People who are going to continue paying the bill for it.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:56 pmIn Blood and Treasure.
And you were busy playing golf and hanging out at your fake ranch too!
October 29th, 2009 at 8:58 pmKayInMaine says:
And you were busy playing golf and hanging out at your fake ranch too!
And playing pool with Osama BL at the Western White House!
You know me well Kay and that’s what I love about you!
I … love … y .. y .. you!
October 29th, 2009 at 9:05 pmNow at lease we know why Bush/Cheney didn’t go to Afghanistan first and went to Iraq. Many questioned why Iraq as Bin Laden was in Afghanistan. Well while we were given the fear propaganda the White House was busy sending Unocal employee over to Afghanistan to be their puppet President. Now follow the meetings and the money and we’ll see how Oil and Drugs worked well and both benefitted. Yes Halliburton and all the Major Oil Companies were working build the pipeline with US tax dollars. The Taliban only agreed if they could continue to grow cocaine and sell it all over the world. As everything was put in place that deal might end in this current election if Karzai doesn’t get to steal the election. The Taliban is working hard to make sure Karzai remains in Office. As we spent more then 1 Trillion dollars on Iraq, Afghanistan is looking for the same. Notice how it’s the US building schools, hospitals, roads, electic, US Embassies and funding the Foreign Banks. We now know Karzai’s brother is paid by the US and the Taliban. As Americans can’t get unemployment checks, Health Care or jobs the GOP is busy trying to continue the Bush/Cheney mission.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:08 pmOT
Our new Trolls Myspace page LOL
LiberalSlayer
And it calls US kooks.
pathetic
October 29th, 2009 at 9:16 pmOT
Oh man, it gets even better. This has gotta be our friend
LiberalSlayer on Twitter
Bwahahaha
October 29th, 2009 at 9:18 pmRandomChaos says,
Think its our friend iri (or whatever the hell he calls himself)?
October 29th, 2009 at 9:25 pmMake NJ a Red State. Good Luck with that!
His page is a freak show. what a Maroon!
October 29th, 2009 at 9:26 pm“I have no problem with homosexuality. I have a problem with homosexual acts.”
Didnt Ted Haggard espouse similiar statements?
October 29th, 2009 at 9:34 pmOMG! I can’t believe it. Ricky is making sense?!! This bozo was MY Senator for years and he has never made sense. Rick was obsessed with gays, abortion, men on dogs(???), and now he sees the light. Yeah Right! Ricky wants to run for President in 2012. Yeah Rick, good luck with that.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:36 pmGot a friend of mine to guy his first gun today. A Glock model 22. He’s becoming less of a sissy. -Liberslayer
This one is half cocked and fully ignorant. A gun gives you the courage to act like a he man?
October 29th, 2009 at 9:39 pmI like this one from LiberalSlayer
The big bang is disproven by angular momentum.
Yes, spinning around and pulling your arms in disproves big bang theory.
Keep spinning LS your not dizzy enough yet. Faster LS faster FASTER!!
October 29th, 2009 at 9:42 pmHis page is a freak show. what a Maroon!
Its amusing in a carnival sideshow kinda way
October 29th, 2009 at 9:45 pmWhere is everyone? Oh well.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:21 pmAnd he still doesn’t know what he said.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:25 pm“I can barely fit my entire arsenal of guns and ammo into my gun safe”.
I’m sure you’ll find there’s plenty of extra space
October 29th, 2009 at 10:30 pminside the front of your pants, Liberal Slayer.
Random, check this out. The future of conservatism.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:42 pmI’m sure you’ll find there’s plenty of extra space
inside the front of your pants, Liberal Slayer.
Heh
October 29th, 2009 at 10:44 pmP.D. says: Where is everyone? Oh well.
Im here. Was off reading some other stuff =)
I notice about this time of night lately it gets rather quiet
October 29th, 2009 at 10:45 pmSupposedly LS lives in CA. (he talks in such general terms I doubt he lives in the Golden State. In one blathering he stated that Gov. Arnold S. acts like a Democrat ).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This from the Dobbs thread
LiberalSlayer says: … Dobbs is popular because his views reflect those of the majority of Americans who are fed up with open borders and mass illegal immigration that is bankrupting us. I live in California and its complete disaster thanks to liberal kooks who invite illegals to come and squat and abuse our social services. You’re clueless and hateful people. Disgusting.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
October 29th, 2009 at 10:48 pmOh geebs, LiberalSlayer, Reagan Country?
October 29th, 2009 at 10:49 pmX@51, Yeah. I watch Keith and Rachel. Then I get breakfast and lunch ready for the kiddies. Damn. What kind of feminist am I? LOL!
October 29th, 2009 at 10:51 pmThen I get breakfast and lunch ready for the kiddies.
You sound like a good mother to me.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:57 pmSmegma Santorum would forcibly convert all of us “heathens” to Roman Catholicism if he could have his way. He may sound rational here, but it’s only a brief aberration.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:58 pmLiberal Slayers only twit without a gun reference:
“I missed the bus to the anti-Obamacare rally. I am pissed!”
It’s probably for the best.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:59 pmObama was planning on taking your guns while you were gone
and distributing them to us liberals. Or communist Kenyans.
Or socialist treehugging illegal aliens. . . .
Ricky is just mad at the gop for not helping him win his election in 06.
Santorum was defeated 59% to 41% in the 2006 U.S. Senate election by Democratic candidate Bob Casey, Jr. This was the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent Senator since 1980.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:10 pmSantorum? Right about something? Must have been an accident.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:15 pmX@55, Thanks. After watching Ed, ‘CountDown’ and Rachel. I want to go to bed with a smile on my face. Politicians and the elite don’t give a sh*t about me, or my Chilren and grandchildren. I only have hope. I can live with that.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:15 pm“I missed the bus to the anti-Obamacare rally”
I think he missed the bus because he was used to looking for a short yellow bus with flashing lights instead of a Greyhound.
/joking
But really I think Richard M has some issues and his demonization of others and the large amount of guns and angst will likely end up with him being incarcerated at some point. I notice he was taking a basic law enforcement training class [BLET] probably so he can take his rage out on people under the guise of protecting them.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:18 pmI had never heard about the way this family handled a miscarriage before. Is this really true? I’ve buried a full term infant and understand the grief, but can’t help but see involving your children in this way as a form of child abuse.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:23 pmPoliticians and the elite don’t give a sh*t about me, or my Chilren and grandchildren
I think the word elite is a complete misnomer today but you are correct, many refer to the salus populi as the chattering class or useless eaters.
Today people seem to think that money alone makes them ‘elite’ and thats all they seem to concern themselves with is profiteering and are not, I say, aretes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arete
October 29th, 2009 at 11:28 pmGoodnight my TP brethren. Catch up with you on the morrow.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:28 pmCheck out Liberal Slayer’s details on his Myspace. He strikes me as the sort of person who could really benefit from democratic policies, yet he is proud of the fact that he is stupid enough to vote against his best interests. Gotta hand it to the conservative noise machine. They’ve got quite the racket going.
Metallica sucks.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:28 pmGN PD
October 29th, 2009 at 11:32 pmto a sadistic neocon like santorum ALL wars are under-resourced. So you can’t say that he got anything “right” – he would give the same answer regarding any war regardless of reality.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:37 pm@ 6. Zooey says: “It’s nice to see Santorum recognize reality.” Don’t worry, it won’t last.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
It’ll last until Limpo drops on him like a two ton tub of lard.
OTOH, the under-resourcing, the screwed up resourcing started on the day Shrub & Darth deciderered that Iraq would be a better war to fight than Afghanistan. It actually may have started before that; there were always those announcements that we weren’t going to be ‘nation building’ in Afghanistan, statements which were echoed in Iraq. Of course, one of the problems in going to war is planning what you’re going to do if you’re successful in the major campaign; what do you do if you win? That wasn’t thought through at the outset of either war.
That might have been forgivable in Afghanistan; since it was as much a war of vengance as anything else, just taking down AlQaeda and it’s main support, the Taliban, was all that counted, initially. Unfortunately, they didn’t get completely taken down, and then Shrub & Darth didn’t understand that the only way a pop-up of both groups could be prevented was that very nation-building that they didn’t want to do. C’est la guerre.
Since Iraq was really done as a cold bit of calculated murderousness on the part of Shrub & Darth, it is surprising that they didn’t devote much thought to what happens after the capture of Baghdad. They’re both too hard headed to listen to their advisers though, if they had any that understood we wouldn’t be greeted with wine, roses and the thanks of a grateful nation. Fracking idiots.
The underresourcing was deliberate and it broke faith with the people, the troops, who went there thinking it was being done for the best interest of the country. It’s nice that Santorum has now come around to a glimmer of that realization, but yes, give him a chance and he’ll bury his head in his ass in a day or two; the old Santorum will be back.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:29 amRight. I bet the generals during the Vietnam war did an assessment too, we sent in 550,000 troops, thousands of fighter plans and helicopters and what happened. Vietnam is still a communist country. Guess why we lost, because we do not have the support of the people in Vietnam at that time, same with Afghanistan, they hate us, they want us out ASAP. Can someone tell me how you can win a war in a country where there is no support from its people?
October 30th, 2009 at 1:33 amot: this is over the top…our condition of humanity is in question.
a 15 yr old girl called her dad as she wanted to leave the homecoming dance. As she waited outside for her father, a friend walked her over to a site and the raping and beatings began. A gang rape and beating lasting for 2 1/2 hrs. with about 20 watching, texting images, and/or participating in the gang rape and beating. The girl was found unconscious and life flight took her to the hospital.
With about 20 onlookers, no one bothered to call for help.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:41 am@ 69. indi1216 … Can someone tell me how you can win a war in a country where there is no support from its people?
Sure. We do exactly what we eventually did in Vietnam. We declare ‘victory’, or at least, ‘over’, and walk away.
We could do that in Iraq now. It’s probably going to take a little longer for the folks in Washington DC to figure out that we might as well do it in Afghanistan too. Al Qaeda is probably to much vested in Pakistan at the moment to move back to Afghanistan, and they’re why we went there in the first place.
I don’t like the idea of leaving the Afghans to the tender mercies of the Taliban, but the Afghan people need to deal with that themselves. We don’t need line combat troops in there fighting the Taliban for the Afghan government any more than we needed line combat troops fighting the Viet Cong for the South Vietnamese government.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:48 amThese phonied up so called wars are about:
* Corporate defense $ making
* guaranteed quicker military promotions
* stealing a country’s resource.
and are hyped up by the media that is also invested in defense.
I trust no one making war decisions who has a profit to be made.
The outrage of Vietnam is still fresh in many minds… and they had the nerve to do it again with Iraq?
And let US never forget Afghanistan was to be only about oBL which apparently no one cares about.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:11 amAnd, do we really need to spend over 50% of our tax dollars on defense…. more than all the other countries put together?
Could we be more like the rest of the world and put some $ towards a decent health care system?
Do we really need to police the world while being the only industrialized country depriving citizens access to health care ?
And we try to force OUR way of life down the throats of others by use of weaponry?
October 30th, 2009 at 2:29 amYanno, where are all these troops going to come from? Remember not so long ago the troops are undergoing stop loss?
Is Obama dithering, taking time making decisions or is the real fact is we just dont have the troops to send? Recall how much equipment has been lost, worn out, destroyed?
October 30th, 2009 at 4:14 amIt’s testimony to the cluelessness and desperation of the GOP that racist opportunistic political whores like Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich THINK they have a legitimate shot of being a presidential candidate in 2012. With Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and Tim Pawlenty in the mix, perhaps John McCain will decide that he could be the Republican default plurality nominee once again. And this time he’d get it right and name Michelle Bachmann as his VP running mate.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:13 am70. Had Enough,
Three decades later, and it appears Kitty Genovese died in vain.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:23 amWhere is Clinton in all this:
http://americaspeaksink.com/2009/10/bring-back-the-nutcracker-hillary/
October 30th, 2009 at 7:26 amSanwho?
October 30th, 2009 at 8:45 amSANTORUM ….. Lie much?
October 30th, 2009 at 9:23 amWhy do reporters keep asking Rick Sanitarium what he thinks? I thought he was committed to a mental hospital.
October 30th, 2009 at 6:32 pm