How many troops are enough for Afghanistan strategy?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/12/afghanistan.troops/index.html?eref=rss_politics

President Obama faces a very difficult decision; how many troops should he send to Afghanistan, if any, in order to be successful. General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is requesting 40,000 more troops. On the other hand, Vice President Joe Biden is suggesting to use special forces and technology to reduce the number of al Qaeda insurgents on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Senator John McCain thinks that if we are going to send more troops to Iraq, adding any less than 40,000 would be a mistake. He doesn't think that the war could be won by sending fewer troops over. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said that Obama should take the recommendations of McChrystal if he is not planning on pulling out, but that it would be pointless if he has plans to pull out any time soon. But Republican Jim McGovern thinks that it would be a mistake for the Americans to increase the number of troops in Iraq. He feels that way because he thinks by increasing the number of troops it will put pressure on the Afghan government to step up to the plate, which it has not done so far. Originally, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's plan was to win the war in Iraq with smaller troop numbers and a large emphasis on technology, which would in turn let democracy take root. At the beginning of the war in 2003, troops quickly filled the country and were able to gain control of Baghdad. But in 2006, civil war broke out and U.S. forces struggled to maintain control of the cities they had once secured. Rumsfeld later said that no one was well-prepared for what would happen after major combat ended.

In my opinion, I think the whole war in Afghanistan has evolved into something more than I think our country should be involved in. It started off as a war on terrorism, and has turned into trying to set up a democracy over there. I think that it is their country, not ours, and that if they want a democracy and a civilized nation they will ask for our help in doing so or do it themselves. I think Obama should listen to General Stanley McChrystal if he is planning on sending any troops at all more over there. I think General Stanley McChrystal is the one who is in Afghanistan monitoring the troops and is seeing himself with his own eyes what is happening and going on. I believe that he is the one with the best perspective on the whole issue and that he should be listened to. But if President Obama wants to pull the trooops out of Afghanistan and call it quits, then I don't think it is worth sending any more troops over at all. So, I agree with Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. I think Rumsfeld had a good plan in the beginning, but didn't have a plan set up for what would happen after the major combat was over. And right now, the major combat is over. So now what? No one seems to know. I think it is a decision that needs to be made rather quickly because our troops in Afghanistan do have families and do deserve to get back to them sometime in the near future. I don't think it's right for the government to keep dragging the war on, I think it's rather pointless. We are losing American lives and no longer gaining any ground on the war on terrorism. As I said before, the goal of the war itself has seemed to change. Our goal now seems to be more of setting up a democracy over there. I think we need to not be selfish in the fact that we need to worry about our own country and what is best for our citizens, but that is what we need to do. And I think it would be best if we pulled our troops out and called it good. And just worry about protecting our country from future attacks from our home ground.

Alexis feels that too many American lives are being lost in the battle. She says how numbers are just given to Americans of oh, "14 more were killed yesterday, and 8 the day before that." She says how to many Americans the lives being lost are just simply numbers and how they have no meaning to many Americans and how that is something that needs to change. And that many Americans who don't know anyone involved in the war have the mentality of "out of sight, out of mind," and how desperately that needs to change. I think that because she feels this way about the lives that are being lost that she would agree with me in that the troops should be pulled out. And that all the lives being lost are not worth what is being "accomplished."

You can read more about Alexis' opinion at: http://alexisnielsonssii.blogspot.com/