George Will Takes on NeoCons on Afghanistan

It is about time someone in the GOP took on the pro-war nut-wings. There remains suspicions that George Will's sudden streak of liberalism is just another ploy to be opposed to anything Obama is likely to do to avoid the abandonment of Afghanistan and a apparent loss to the Taliban. So the anti-Obama people must become anti-war to make it work for them. A big GOP fip-flop for political expedience.

Finally the GOP is moving in Ron Paul's direction. I knew they would come to their senses eventually. They are even lock step behind Paul with the Fed audit.

Only chance the GOP has in 2012 is Ron Paul...or Mike Bloomberg, but he is too smart for them.

Hurray! for George Will. He's right we must get out of Afghanistan. Thank you for your courage.

George Will's suggestion gives the president and the country a new perspective on a crucial manner. Unless the president and the country adopts the new tactic, Afghanistan will become President Obama's Iraq. It is time to direct the generals to a new course.

George Will simply can NOT get it right. He was a staunch and stubborn supporter of the Iraq War, but ultimately he openly admitted that his Iraq War support and the reasons for it were horribly wrong and mistaken. In effect, George Will supported the wrong war. The REAL war, the war that should have been the sole US Middle East war (conflict), is and always has been Afghanistan, where the Taliban, Al Quida and Bin Laden have carved out a sanctuary. Now, George Will thinks we should shrink away from (abandon) the Afghanistan War, in a humiliating, resounding defeat, in the utterly mistaken, misguided belief that the US can avoid the appearance of having been "resoundingly defeated" by simply finessing the withdrawal with ruse, flim-flam, fraudulent rhetoric to the effect that we have accomplished our mission by helping Afghanistan carry on the war that the US is abandoning as futile. George Will and the Republican right are so profoundly witless, opaque, dangerous and incompetent that we should keep them out of US International politics until the danger has passed. Following George Will's extended string of horrible mistakes would have us fighting an Iraq War that has always been utterly pointless and irrelevant, a war that has accomplished absolutely NOTHING, while abandoning the only war that is "justifiable" and urgently necessary to defeat the terrorists who deem Afghanistan to be a safe haven. If the Terrorists could have conjured up a strategy for total victory, they would have followed George Will's recipe to the letter. George Will and the Republicans are either "on drugs" and need to get off them, or they are "off their meds" and need to get back on them. And George Will's record is absolutely abominable. Why does anyone even solicit his opinion?

It does not take "COURAGE" to drop the ball, to fail, to turn and run because the going gets tough. That defines concisely, another C-word; definitely not courage. I am a liberal and would love to have seen the United States never have invaded Afghanistan nor especially, Iraq but that was not the course chosen by President Bush and so, …

The United States must continue to focus on markers whose goal will result in pulling back and ultimately out as we have done in Iraq, but NOT as buffoon George Wills wants to do. George Wills is looking for a Vietnam repeat, where the United States, in some sort of selfish cowardly attempt, just drops everything and runs.

It is our responsibility to see an outcome, which benefits the people of Afghanistan. Place blame where the course was made 8-years ago; do not advocate for an act of cowardice.

George Will is the William F. Buckley of our time. I wholly and heartily agree with him and his logic. He is not and never has been a neo-con. I read his column and only agree with him about 20% of the time, but I recognize him as being a good thinker and a worthy voice to listen to.

From all I have read about the Taliban I have learned that their leaders never liked/trusted Al Qaeda because Bin Laden and most of his followers are foreigners ("Arabs").
I learned further that the Taliban was militarily too weak in 2001/2002 to take on Bin Laden et al. In an article that appeared in the London Times then it was suggested that it was much more likely that Bin Laden could arrest the Taliban leaders than the other way around.
Lastly I have learned that the power relationships are fully reversed today. Bin Laden and his minions cannot take on the Taliban today because they would be defeated.
That ought to be the foundation of our Afghan policy.

How could you take any of George Will's advice seriously. He gives his wise, in his arrogant opinion when to get out of a war. But he gets very upset at the idea of the president advising children to sneeze into their sleeve! What did he say to Nancy Reagan when she advised children "Just Say No"?Please don't expect me to take anything he says seriously. I am a 75 year old southern woman and I think racism has a lot to do with the uproar. Our country will never get it right, at least not in my lifetime.

Fine, we pull out of Afghanistan, and Iraq. Then what, Our foe's will not go away. I did not like the way the war was handled from the start, But if folks think we can just walk away and life will be hunky dory their wrong. The criminal minds we face now, will be around long after we pull out.
(criminal minds = the ones that brain wash 11yr old kids into becoming suicide bombers in order to blow up red cross hospitals) And when we walk out, it will in fact empower them all over the world!!! I don't see a happy ending to this.

The American effort is based on a major political confusion. We are not fighting 'terrorism' or 'al-Qaeda' in Afghanistan. We are in fact fighting the Pashtun tribes, which support a variety of political organizations, including the neo-Taliban. All of the scholarly evidence indicates that the neo-Taliban is not fighting a transnational jihad against western civilization but is fighting to rid Afghanistan of foreign forces. Without a proper understanding of these political factors, the US military mission is bound for disaster -- as it is based on a fatally flawed assessment of what we are up against.

Louise Flowers - I do not think it is racism. It is just partisan nonsense. These pundits should be talking about how Monsanto is ruining our food. They need to do something constructive.

As a long time fan of George Will, I think that after so many years being the lonely voice of reason on ABC, he has become as soft-headed as the leftys he sits with every Sunday.

George Will always represented the reasoned faction of the GOP, long before the Rush faction of high-school dropout logic became fashionable. Whether it is enough to save the party (now only the Old Party, since it is no longer Grand) is questionable however. I give him an A+ for trying though.

When the heck is George going to wise up and ban that shrill left wing Katrina person from his show? She looked like she just got out of bed this morning when she was on. She's a real live loony and people in this country don't need to be seeing her as some sort of role model on TV.

George Will who is a genius and the other smart people on the roundtable are tired of being interrupted and overshouted by the overly shrill and stupid Katrina. Keep Katrina off of our airwaves!!!

How can we walk away from two-Muslim countries that hate us? A better question is, "How can we not?". We "walked away" from New Orleans, away from health care for all, regulation of Wall St...on & on...It's real easy to walk away.

How could you take any of George Will's advice seriously. He gives his wise, in his arrogant opinion when to get out of a war. But he gets very upset at the idea of the president advising children to sneeze into their sleeve! What did he say to Nancy Reagan when she advised children "Just Say No"?...

I'm an old southern woman too and you can bet there's no racism with the current regime. George Will and the military chiefs all agree. The strategy in Afghanistan has nothing to do with racism and those that see it that way likely see EVERYTHING in that light, so it's you that needs to "get over it".

Will spent his credibility this week, and now rests with others that lost their grip, like Ridge, Powell, Noonan, etc. As for those other 'republicans' that might not make themselves irrellevant before 2010, we'll take care of you at the polls and through media choices. Freedom is not for the faint of heart or quitters. Next...

I am tired of being called a racist because I agree with NOTHING that the current president proposes or does. I am not. People that would call me that are the true racists.

no country has ever been victorious in Afghanistan...the Russians were driven out, and so shall be the fate of the US if they continue there...the great US marines cannot fight and win the type of war that is being fought in that country...

Afghanistan was the first and always the real goal after 911. It was never Iraq. While I don't understand the reasoning for staying there, I am sincerely suspicious of Mr. Will's true motive for wanting to withdraw. It seems to me that it is merely another point to counter whatever this administration decides to do. They are consistent in there opposition even when it might of been their stance in the past. Not only do they counter this administrations policies but they seek to cover everything with a cloak of suspicion of un-American intentions.

George Will was correct to support the Iraq War and now to call for a pullout of Afghanistan. Iraq was winnable, in that it has a logical conclusion and benefit for US military power (most of the benefits are protection of the world's oil reserves). Afghanistan is and will always be a quagmire, pure and simple.

I differ in George Will's demand that a pullout happen right now. Obama and the left have upped the ante. Instead of accepting the conclusion that we had torn up the Taliban and sent Al Qaeda packing to the mountains, Obama and the left now want to make Afghanistan into another Iraq victory, as if they are jealous of Bush's successful Iraq surge.

Since the ante has been upped, we'll have to slog it through, until Obama and the left are defeated in 2012 and some Nixonian Republican figure will have to clean it all up with some sort of "peace with honor" nonsense. History repeats itself over and over, doesn't it?

In 1776 The Brit's came to Long Island and killed 3,000 men with an armada and a paid mellisha in a day. George Washington got away and made the best band of terrosists to take back the US from King George. Bin laden has no idea what he is messing with. We would rather demonstrate to people a better way of life but we have people whom echo in the back of our mind's "LET'S ROLL". I DON'T THINK THE BRASS GEORGE WILL IS REFERRING TO REMEMBER THE PENTAGON.