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president obama will speak about the future of u_s_ soldiers in afghanistan
becomes more than a year and a half
after he announces troop search
but this evening he'll be staying about something entirely different the
drawdown of american forces
there are three main ways they can execute that drug i was very important
let's go over the smallest option would remove ten thousand troops this year
there's not the pentagon one cent question a lien is also exactly
for the defense contractors one
longer wars make them allot more money
the second option would remove twenty thousand troops by the end of twenty
eleven
that's the middle ground which is what president obama usually goes with
but he might not actually in this case
and the biggest withdrawal scenario
the president would remove almost fifty thousand troops
there joe biden would win because he is a fairly been the one pushing this plan
to his great credit
a new glass in aerial afghanistan strategy would then focus on
counter-terrorism and would mainly lies special ops forces and c_i_a_ units
throughout our kadha and other terrorists
now of course other people who would under those circumstances
is offs the american people because we spend less money on this senseless war
an attack the problem with a much better solution
and as much as me saying that
it is in fact the american people new paltz
truth that thirty six percent
one american forces removed
immediately
that's up sixteen points from just last year
but right now all reports are watching her suggestion the president obama will
go awareness
the first option the removal of just ten thousand troops this year
reports say the remaining twenty-three thousand serb troops would be out by the
end of next year if we're lucky and all troops would be home by twenty fourteen
paranoia and the president's plan everything happens at twenty four teams
that is a much slower withdrawal which is of course
gotta make the best contractors and war hawks ecstatic
and by the way and not withdrawal timeline only holds of obama wins
re-election
ever republican wins
then all bets are off and god knows how long we stick
but these are just reports you'll get to see for yourself in just a little while
which way the president is going to go
and based on the info here you can judge for yourself but the president has done
enough to withdraws from this war or not
stay tuned
now joining me is democratic strategist bob shrum
senior adviser to die during two thousand four ann-margret in daily news
contributor co-founder of no labels
and former adviser to george w_ bush
uh... bottler start with you
if you look at a politically
their president should say up a nap right
we gotta go minimum twenty thousand
i think it should be a lot more but if the reports are true that it's only ten
thousand
why would he make what appears to be a political mistake well first of all i
think a lot of people in the pentagon we're throwing a mission we take out
five thousand troops tackle for an anecdote and they have not been meteoric
rise got out there a lot more money to make well i don't think that's the
reason ashley hall is a rise in the pentagon
is because they think it's the right strategy
but look president certainly and always have resume gave bob there's a link
was on the pentagon is still on
that more war was in the right strategy they always say more workers than colin
powell had a great reluctance to get into armed conflicts unless you do that
with overwhelming force but here they are in iraq anywhere in any energy
density himself has said they wished
that he had taken a different course in iraq
iraq is a diet idoney into a political singer barak but the president
wound the independence both to take on the pentagon
and and dispense with their advice and not just follow polls
he in fact defended his base from the very beginning
by saying we had to what whatever his position on the iraq war initially we
had to finish what we have started and we have been denny then approve the
surge in afghanistan now i think he's going to take out more troops sooner
than the pentagon wants but slower than you want and slower though a lot of the
base once and what this tells you is that he's not being driven by politics
here yeah i don't leave it at all wildly that offer for that look i think the i
think he is
driven by being intimidated by the pentagon cuz they come in and say are
you going to get almost nothing
well i defy you guys and they get to that cash
isn't sure we're gonna see for ourselves in the speech
if he takes up twenty thousand or more at the end of this year i came all the
great in the world
so we'll see but give it a sad
ten thousand that's a minuscule that's not standing up for the pentagon
now mark to let you know that your party the republican party
they they all looked looked like they want to stay longer either in twenty ten
we have all that with a hundred thirty people in congress in housing we should
speed up withdrawal and only had several problems on that side
and this year twenty eleven all the sudden two hundred for support
and twenty six republicans
our republic getting the message from the american people we're not interested
in staying in this doctor sycamore
well you know it's a political problem when you're getting heat from your left
and from the right and you see the uh... candidates like john huntsman taking up
very aggressive position on the republican side asking for a quicker
withdrawal but agree with bob you know
morrison a with a *** assault was is never easy
popular quicken
uh... you know they were just a political decision i'm sure obama would
have pulled out troops quicker faster and earlier
but it's it's not looking at you know if you just didn't do what we do foreign
interventions like these by the politics and then you're not really doing what
your spouse's president which is to protect the country and i'm
and i'm going to get out you know i'm not i'm not i can't make a military
assessment
but i'm gonna give the president uh... the benefit of doubt and assume that
he's been making a decision for the right reasons
in the interest of our national security
well we can bring somebody with a little bit different than you will be some
a little different
as a way to hang on one come back and talk about the politics a little bit
more
but on the rain in interesting ways right now i like the surprise guest
uh... he has been a consistent boys begin this debate an easement instead of
being the troops out of
he is democratic their representative biodata is considered so that all of a
sudden
part-timers who percentage army troops should uh... president obama take-out in
twenty one
hitches mrs
this idea of this being the beginning of the end of the war czechoslovak
they could slow walk this morning after the end of this decade the american
people to have you with the war in afghanistan
we don't have the money to keep this war going extensions are not go state they
are money that's going in areas is being either way sitter stolen
i'm that we defended our troops by bringing him home in ending this war
once and for all
congressman you know we had everybody talk about this thirty three thousand
surge that that president obama put in a in december of two thousand i made that
decision right
but he actually putting twenty thousand troops parlayed framed
so if this peaches as expected any summit a got ten thousand
there by the end of this year then twenty three thousand by the end of
twenty twelve which is when the sermon is up
will have twenty thousand more troops in afghanistan then before president
obama's so if it is an incredibly claimed that he is helping us get out of
afghanistan
now and i think you're there what you're talking about in the size of math is not
an academic exercise
correctly then it is still have more troops in afghanistan then we had when
he began his administration
we have got to have an administration
take a strong stand in getting out you can't be in and out of the same time you
can claim
that the city getting at the end of the war when you're still going to have more
troops and when you first took office the american people her priorities here
at home that are not being met
if we don't start paying attention to our domestic priorities this country is
going to have trouble surviving that congressman you know i was assigned to
bob shaman market and they're saying look at the president's following a
nurse decision about the safety of our
country et cetera now that's a of course is a very legitimate position i have a
position a lot of people have
but as i look at this war for last ten years
ike how liberal could be keeping us safer there's almost no al-qaeda left
there
we kill bin laden
and the more troops we put in
the walmart rooms dekalb the more unstable the country kitni it becomes
it's also teaching cannot make
so then that leaves with a question of pc being intimidated by the pentagon
well i i think that your recitation as far as what what is in a cannot happen
is correct in addition to that
the nation building programs into sales
so side
whether it's the president being intimidated by the pentagon whether
there's a political calculus knows i think that the president needs to listen
to the voices of the american people who want sot of afghanistan they want their
sons and daughters home for you want to sfo kissing and creating jobs helping us
to help protect our educational system making sure they have retirement
security for seniors these are things people care about health care it's time
that we came home and that's what i'm gonna continue to insist on appreciate
being with you i've got to go vote right now archives for these cities thanks so
much for joining us
all right now let me bring bob unmarked bracket
alot fuel volume go back this theory because here you said it's
no it's not right et-cetera but i will have a conversation about it
nobody else in washington to others
but the defense contractors make
and un
old sums of money from these
list ongoing wars
are we to assume
but they're billions upon billions of dollars they make don't affect the
politicians that they fund
five and i don't think there's a noble is listening to these folks
and in fact if you look at what he's done
if you want to know what decisions he's going to make listen to a he said he was
going to get all the combat troops out of iraq by the end of this year he did
he said he was going to stick with health reform and everybody told them
not to heeded he's he's going to end the commitment in in afghanistan by twenty
fourteen he well in fact the new york times reports in this latest addition
online that the pentagon is unhappy with the decision the president's many 'cause
he's taking out more troops cylinder then they would've wish so no i actually
said i really do most of the time but i don't know i don't agree with us they
read that somehow or other
military industrial complex is telling obama what to do
again let me
let me clarify okay so i was i love the audience to get a mistaken impression
right i don't think that the pentagon pulls or the military industrial complex
smoke-filled room pulls president obama's a as signs as you've got to do
the snow that's now works but here is how it works bob unmarked
give a tremendous amount of campaign donations to all the congressman so
all the senators to the president's running is that and most importantly all
those generals this
has they step out of office
they had big fat contract for military contractors
and then you tell me that they are all independent thinking
that although was not all that money to make one two thousand dollars millions
of dollars in may
from those of us contractors
don't influence their decisions mark
not really dot i i i i i get credit for two both uh...
president obama president bush
uh... i think that you know this than president bush tonight oh go to war
because of uh... you know
buffer proper for oil for military contracts
you know he did it for you know
from from from for the same reza president obama is making the same
decisions
at the end of the day his job is to keep this country safe and that's what he's
basing decisions on marked less thing for you it look republicans are nl
it sold more over this
so many other sign of what we should be john mccain of course warhawk videos and
always will be says no we are say they're i guess he's saying we have say
they're forever i never saw him talk about withdrawal ever
in iraq or afghanistan
who alternately beefing wins that fight
in the republican
well it'll be interesting to see although i would just note that as john
mccain s has said on many occasions we still have troops in correa terminate
fell
uh... some great over the sava river always
if it if it's in the uh... intends to protect our national interest i think
they will have troops in afghanistan for a long time and iraq for a long time
because if we do in and germany and korea
a nice force but one to protect our national interest
uh... i have yet to see one
decent argument how this one afghanistan ten years later somehow protecting our
national interest i don't see it at all
but i was in favor bill el nino checklist at this time jelled it's crazy
but his only way they are doing and you know if i had just a joke if you do
over what congressman percentage said
and you pull everybody out right now you're going to totally destabilized not
just afghanistan where by the way we have made progress
you're going to destabilize pakistan and india in a relationship between those
two countries
and threatened to bring on a nuclear war
called him on bob
mizuno
dot i don't know uh... there are no clear their nuclear arsenal at our store
and that is not very safe
we have a situation there
where the pakistanis are afraid that the indians are playing around in
afghanistan
the u_s_ has to do this it'll get out of there
in a way that is gradual and careful and preserve stability juanita lopez
alarmingly high about how else are finding out on a sound like a
conservative on a sound like in american i get a lot of credit to these generals
i think they're patriotic by also victor sometimes wrong and i think they
probably ask for more than the president's going to get them
but that's the job of the president they were on and he decides
i bought rahman mark mckinnon
certainly an interesting conversation you had said been very patient
thank you both very very good