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‘Real News From The Blaze’: Has Obama’s Handling of Afghanistan Been a Failure?

Sep. 20, 2012 10:01pm Christopher Santarelli

September has been a challenging month thus far on foreign policy for the country, and the president especially. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll shows President Obama’s approval ratings on foreign policy have dropped from 54 to 49 percent over the last month, that included anti-American protests and attacks across the Arab world and beyond. The attacks to the U.S. consulate in Libya particularly put the demonstrations to the forefront, as four Americans were killed including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Now the White House has announced that they will continue the U.S.-Afghan security pact and the Strategic Partnership agreement signed last May, and would not change Obama’s timeline for gradually handing over security responsibility to Afghans and eventually withdrawing U.S. troops as NATO has agreed to remove most of its forces in 2014.

On “Real News From The Blaze” Thursday the panel discussed how Barack Obama has handled the War in Afghanistan which he inherited, where there has now been a recent uptick in “Green on Blue” violence where Afghan troops turn their weapons on allied forces. After 36 such attacks this year leading to 51 deaths, the U.S. military announced Monday that they would suspend most joint field operations with the Afghans.

Does this move alter the U.S.’s drawdown strategy that was premised upon training Afghans? Should we still stay till 2014? Should we leave now?Watch the panel discuss the elected GOP and Obama’s handling of Afghanistan in a clip from Thursday’s show below:

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Comments (25)

leonardo44
Posted on September 21, 2012 at 9:33am
This Real News clip shows first rate analysis and discussion on an issue that demands our attention. This war is ignored by this administration and mainstream media except to report deaths of our soldiers. We have no attainable mission presently, why are more people not speaking up about this? Why is Obama once again being given a free pass for a job NOT well done. And Sexton is right to suggest that Republicans should stop being complacent and speak in opposition to the current withdrawal timetable.
Bring our troops home now.

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AJAYW
Posted on September 21, 2012 at 8:51am
Yes, like everything else he touches.

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OLDPAINT
Posted on September 21, 2012 at 7:49am
Nah, it’s an illegal Marxist Caucasian-Hating success.

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HKS
Posted on September 21, 2012 at 7:20am
Everything this guy touches is screwed up, He’s just an upside down guy. Like George Ca stanza would say, “just do the opposite of what he does and you will always be right.”

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Uuuuuuuuuuuugh
Posted on September 21, 2012 at 6:25am
OBAMA’S EXECUTIVE ORDERS:

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
(Think each one over carefully for its significance and government control over your life)
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the of all persons. Postmaster General to operate a national registration
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.
-EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued ov

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- Chet Hempstead
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 6:52am
  None of those are Obama’s Executive Orders. They were all signed by President Kennedy in 1962.
  
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crusaderx9
Posted on September 21, 2012 at 12:26am
obama sounds America’s global retreat as the once impending chaos born of his failed policies finally arrives with a wave of islamist violence and surging evil from many of America’s 20th century foes.

The world is a more unstable and dangerous place thanks to the community organizer bent on transforming America into a third world banana republic that will be neither respected nor feared.

obama is sophisticated enough to read a speech but cannot run the heavy complex machinery that is the US Government. Incapable of leading America to greatness – he runs from the office and intel briefings to the comfort of golf, fund raising, campaigning, access hollywood events, etc, and leaves the mess for the Jay Carney and the corrupt mainstream media to clean up, explain away, ignore – coming back into the picture long enough to cast blame before he is out of the office again…

All of obama’s fanfare of the “just war” is now just another heap of junk piled on obama’s policy front yard. Visions and conjecture of glorious righteous accomplishments in fixing AFG now just a shadowy entanglement of human islamist debris comingled with billions of dollars of American materiel.

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mharry860
Posted on September 21, 2012 at 12:04am
Well since the death rate is double for 3 1/2 years of what Bush’s total was, YES! That’s the only platform he ran on I agreed with. I thought this jerk was going to get us out!

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Tafel1
Posted on September 21, 2012 at 12:03am
The fact that we are STILL IN AFG should tell you it has failed.

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ProgressivePete
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 11:49pm
Obama killed Bin Ladin, nuff said. As the old saying goes “Bin Ladin is dead but GM is alive”
Obama 2012, Hillary Clinton 2016-2024 Julian Castro 2024-2032

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- paulusmaximus
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 6:58am
  G.M is on life support! Killing Bin ladin was a waste of man power and equipment Binny was nothing more then a figure head. The killing was just another stupid political move!
  
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blackyb
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 11:44pm
A failure? It seems to be working out for him and the Islamists quite well.

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marcus_arealius
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 11:32pm
The best plan is to let (or simply stay the hell out of the way) and let the Israelis turn the sand cave dwellers into ash. 1.5 billion morons.

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resme
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 11:13pm
Afghanistan was not winnable from the start. You can’t give freedom to people who hate even the basics of freedom.

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

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- Wool-Free Vision
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 1:03am
  Pardon me for nitpicking, but that quote really doesn’t apply to the situation in question, as America isn’t their oppressor.
  
  Though, you are right in suggesting that the oppressed are not demanding freedom from their oppressors, sometimes the oppressed have been that way so long that they have become comfortable with it.
  
  The problem for us is that their oppressors use the power they hold over the oppressed to send them on suicide missions to kill the free. If they wanted to remain oppressed and NOT take freedom from the rest of us, we probably wouldn’t bother trying, and instead would keep waiting for them to wake up and get out of the Dark Ages on their own.
  
  I believed that the inspirational moment in Tiananmen Square when one unarmed man stopped a column of ChiComm tanks would be the spark that would ignite a revolution in China. Sadly, I was wrong. Still looking for another spark there AND in the Middle East. The difference, of course, is that Chinese communists don’t send suicide bombers onto sovereign American soil to kill innocents.
  
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- resme
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 1:41am
  “Pardon me for nitpicking, but that quote really doesn’t apply to the situation in question, as America isn’t their oppressor. ”
  
  They see us as the oppressor. Instead of seeing their oppressive government, They see America as buying their Government. Let’s take Egypt for example. During the reign of Moubarak, Tear Gas was thrown at protesters, and the tear gas canister says “Made in America”. We prop up the dictators with weapons and aid. The fundamentalist use “America” as the scape goat to incite violence.
  
  We helped with democracy in Egypt. Overwhelmingly elected a Islamist fundamentalist. Who does this hurt the most? Israel. The exact same happened in Libya, and soon to be Syria. I can see John Mccain foaming at the mouth. Syria’s Dictator at the moment helps safe haven Christians. We also support the most oppressive regime Saudi Arabia, 15 out of 19 of the hijackers came from KSA.
  
  I would rather like America to lead by example with peace and prosperity. Trying to help establish “democracies” in other countries is insane(We are a republic championing a democracy to 7th century dwellers). When America is losing freedoms by the day. Our currency is sinking like a ship, We are failing morally, Our judges are corrupt, Congress only cares for the next election, Federal Reserve encourages congress to spend and inflate ( While the federal reserve secretly loans out cash to “foreign banks” ).
  
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- resme
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 1:55am
  “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrerl8EwqH0&feature=plcp”
  
  Here’s a good informative video with Hillary Clinton in her own words.
  
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- Wool-Free Vision
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 2:01am
  News flash Resme: Their stated mission is to convert us or kill us.
  
  It has been their stated mission since Muhammad made it so. They will not stop trying just because we go sit in the corner and wait. If we pull out and go home, they will take Israel. But they will not stop there. They are already infesting Europe and Michigan, and demanding that Sharia be accepted there and here.
  
  If we withdraw from the fight, it won’t be long before Us vs Them becomes half of America vs All of the World. How do you think that’s gonna turn out?
  
  You don’t throw your allies under the bus and expect anyone to be around to help you when you’re the only enemy left to conquer. Ron Paul doesn’t “get” this truth, and apparently you don’t either.
  
  The game they are playing is global domination. Just because you don’t want to play doesn’t mean they are going to respect your wishes. On the contrary, it means that you are an easy target and you WILL lose.
  
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- resme
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 3:50am
  Sorry, I’ll never get the truth of killing 1.6 billion Muslims. “Get them before they get us” “Kill the children so they can’t seek revenge” Justifying murder to stop something “that might happen” isn’t Christian Just War Theory. I’d like to know the % of Muslims that seek to kill us. Again, Most of the Radicals come from Saudi Arabia.
  
  I have several good friends in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Treat me just fine. Still waiting on them to convert me or DIE, lol.
  
  How will they conquer us? Will Iran use their USA made jets? How about their john boats? I don’t really see how they will take Israel either. They have modern USA military equipment. Iran has 1970-1980′s jets…. No navy, No fuel, No Bomb. What’s upset the USA is Iran is trading oil in gold and yuan, Upsetting the Petrodollar balance. How long should we stay there? 100 Years like John Mccain has previously stated? How many more veterans need to commit suicide to quench your blood lust? http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/11/02/a-veteran-commits-suicide-every-80-minutes/
  
  Personally, I’m more afraid of Romney and Obama.
  
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- Wool-Free Vision
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 10:02am
  For the record, I am not suggesting (nor have I ever) that we need to exterminate 1.5 billion people. The premise here is that we stave off the global domination aspect of fundamental Islam long enough for enlightenment to reach these people. Enough enlightenment that they learn to live and let live, so that we might some day actually have peace between Islam and the West WITHOUT the entire world having to surrender our own freedoms and live under Sharia totalitarianism.
  
  Until the oppressed people of Islam can wrest control of their own armies from the rule of the totalitarian fundamentalists, more and more are going to die. It’s hard to be optimistic about that happening anytime soon, since there are currently no Muslims willing to stand up against it.
  
  They may come here to America, they may even LOVE it here, practicing their religion freely under our beautiful Constitutional Republic, but they stubbornly refuse to preach Liberty to their own people.
  
  Where are all the peaceful Muslims who should be trying to correct the absolute wrongness of Sharia? By their silence and their compliance, they give every indication that they would gladly help usher in a new era of Sharia in the West.
  
  I’m sure your Arab friends are nice people, I know some like that too. But what good is “nice” when they will stand by and watch you beheaded by their fellow believers for not converting or conceding to Sharia?
  
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- Wool-Free Vision
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 10:16am
  “I’d like to know the % of Muslims that seek to kill us.”
  
  It is a small, but significant number. However, it only takes 1% of 1.5 billion if the other 99% are going to stand around and cheer while that 1% fly planes into your buildings and saw off your head with a hacksaw. IF there were a significant percentage of Muslims actually decrying that radicalism and trying to correct it, you might have a point. But not when they are willing participants by their failure to speak out against that behavior.
  
  “How will they conquer us?”
  
  Are you blind? Can you not see and hear them tell us exactly how they are going to do it? Do you not know that it has already begun in Michigan? The French, the Germans, the Brits, the rest of Europe will gladly explain it to you. I suggest you ask them, or just look at the news and recognize that they are being overrun by Sharia. Ask the Christians who were being stoned in Dearborn under the watchful eye of Muslim police officers how it will happen here.
  
  “Will Iran use their USA made jets?”
  
  They don’t have to, when their operatives can easily hijack our own jets to accomplish their goals.
  
  “Iran has 1970-1980′s jets…. No navy, No fuel, No Bomb.”
  
  And yet, if gullible fools like you and the American left have their way, they WILL have the bomb, and damned soon! You deny they have a navy? Whose ships are those in Hormuz? No FUEL??????? WHAT>???????
  
  Seriously, Resme. Open your eyes.
  
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- resme
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 12:46pm
  America’s empire is going to fall regardless of either of our beliefs. Empires always crash economically, Which is headed right our way… http://www.wnd.com/2002/05/14055/ Patrick J. Buchanan
  
  Our troops will come home with our currently falling Currency.
  
  ” totalitarian fundamentalists”
  I’d be more concerned with our own government. It’s kinda full of totalitarians…
  
  Report this comment
barber2
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 11:04pm
Excuse me. Obama ” handling of Afghanistan ?” You meant to say ” mis-handling of Afghanistan , correct ? ” When Obama, Alex Not So Great, announced our exit date from Afghanistan, the so-called war with the Islamic extremists was over. Done deal. Americans died for nothing. Nice move, Mr. Apologize . Disgusting. If I had lost a son or daughter , I would be much more angry with YOU than with Bush. Not that you even care. Not that would end your War on American Values. You Democrats are BELOW distain. ROMNEY/ RYAN 2012

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LeadNotFollow
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 11:00pm
…
Obama has been a failure from the moment he was sworn in as President.

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- Wool-Free Vision
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 11:37pm
  I would only note that, according to NBC’s “Trusted But Verified” and “Begrudgingly But Belatedly” admitted evidence, he has been a failure for much, much longer.
  
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