Obama's Post-Election Spin on Afghanistan

Dear Mr. President,

Got 3 letters from The White House yesterday, 2 dated October 24, and the other November 1. (Curious why it took so long and they all arrived on the same day.) In my October 31 letter, I complained that most of my letters were about the war and I had yet to receive a single response to that issue. Well, 2 of yesterday’s letters were about the war: one was dated October 24, the other November 1. The problem is they’re word for word the same letter with different margins and different dates. You should spend less effort institutionalizing Kill Lists and more effort tracking letter responses to constituents. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate your responses, but I read with disbelief those 2 letters about how we’re “fulfilling our mission in Afghanistan, delivering justice to al-Qa’ida, and ending the war responsibly.” I know you didn’t personally sit down and pen this response, but do you really believe this stuff? Here for example is a line that’s counter to your own generals’ assessments: “…al-Qa’ida’s extremist allies within the Taliban have waged a brutal insurgency. But the tide has turned over the last 3 years. Our troops broke the Taliban’s momentum. We built strong Afghan security forces and devastated al-Qai’da’s leadership….” Is this why we’ve been trying to negotiate with the Taliban for over a year? Is this why the Kill Lists never shrink and why new affiliates of al-Qa’ida keep appering? As for your strategy of training and transitioning to an Afghan security force, well, that’s a pipe dream. Absolutely no one—Afghan, U.S. or ally—believes Afghan security force will hold off the Taliban once we leave. And that “historic agreement” you signed with Karzai the Krook on May 2 was forced on you by Karzai as a result of our fuckups. Frankly, Mr. President, your letter is a pack of spin, lies and bullshit. The truth is, you have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of men, women, children, soldiers, insurgents and innocents alike for nothing. You have spent tens of billions that should have been used for peace and human needs and instead went for death and destruction that wounded physically and spiritually the people and the souls of our nation and the nations we terrorize and brutalize. The world is neither better nor safer as a result of your stupid and irresponsible wars in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia. Your wars are no different than Bush’s, bin Laden’s, Hitler’s. Wars are crimes against humanity and everyone loses.