As the contemptible Republican murder/suicide drama plays out in Washington, our troops are still dying in that dusty, forsaken shithole known as Afghanistan:
This Week with George Stephanopoulos marks the deaths of seven service members in Afghanistan.
US Army SPC James T Wickliffchacin, 22, Edmond, OKUS Army SSG Liam I Nevins, 32, Denver, COUS Army SSG Timothy R McGill, 30, Ramsey, NJUS Army SPC Joshua J Strickland, 23, Woodstock, GAUS Army SSG Thomas A Baysore, Jr, 31, Milton, PAUS Navy LCDR Landon L Jones, 35, Lompoc, CAUS Navy CWO Jonathan S Gibson, 32, Aurora, OR
The Gadfly is cognizant of the fact that President Obama has promised a full U.S. troop withdrawal by the end of 2014, however The Gadfly, given the opportunity, would gladly advise the President to shit or get off the pot and begin that withdrawal tomorrow. The United States is going on 13 years in that now stupid and useless fucking war, the longest war in U.S. history. If the Afghan government and military haven't gotten their shit together by now after years of U.S. advising and formal combat training of their troops, then they'll never be ready.
Seven more dead soldiers this week. Average age of 28. If we stick with Obama's timetable to wait until the end of 2014 for full U.S. military withdrawal, that translates to a hell of a lot more dead soldiers until that seminal event comes to pass. If The Gadfly's math is correct, and using a conservative estimate of 5 casualties per week, that equates to approximately another 325 unnecessary lost lives. That is unacceptable to The Gadfly, and even more importantly, it will be unacceptable to the families that will be having to deal with the loss of their loved one, should he/she have the misfortune to be one of those 325 destined to lose their lives as the government and the Pentagon dither on the withdrawal timetable.
There simply is no justification coherent or judicious enough in The Gadfly's view to warrant keeping our men and women military personnel in that theater of death and misery one single more day.
Bring them home now. Close the final chapter on that sad story of a conflict once and forever. Our troops have sacrificed enough for that cause, whatever it may have been or whatever it now is.
----TFG
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