The Washington Post reports its latest polling on the Afghanistan war, and once again have managed to put together a baffling question that seems intended to muddy up the debate over a troop surge. The lead and headline (“Poll Finds Guarded Optimism on Obama’s Afghanistan Plan”) stress the idea that the public still seems to have faith in the White House. But the strangest part comes when the paper asked people about sending in more troops. As the Post‘s write-up explains:
Asked to choose between a larger influx of troops to fight Al-Qaeda and the Taliban and train the Afghan military, and a smaller number of new U.S. forces more narrowly focused on training, Americans divide 46 percent for the bigger number, 45 percent for the lower one.
Apparently the Post thinks the debate is between a smaller surge to train the Afghan military, or a larger one to do that plus defeat bad guys. No surprise, then, that a lot of people would find the larger surge option appealing. But does that resemble the actual military debate going on over Afghanistan? And why exclude the option of sending no additional troops, or bringing the ones already there back home?
This is the second time in the last few weeks that the Post‘s polling on Afghanistan has seemed designed to inflate support fora surge of some sort. As FAIR noted, the paper’s October 21 report featured this poll question:
U.S. military commanders have requested approximately 40,000 more U.S. troops for Afghanistan. Do you think Obama should or should not order these additional forces to Afghanistan?
The Post had previously asked the question in a more neutral manner–i.e., without referring to “U.S. military commanders” or to Obama, which seemed to significantly increase the level of support for a troop surge (from 24 percent to 47 percent).
It seems fairly clear that the Post‘s editorial page is strongly supportive of a troop surge; is someone trying to make sure the paper’s polling helps them make that argument?
I urge President Obama to seriously consider the only ‘option’ and that is DO NOT send any more troops into Afghanistan. Juan Cole, professor at the University of Michigan, suggests that the U.S. is causing more chaos than order in a country that will NEVER adopt democracy as a form of government. Many Afghans are still nomadic and have loyalties to many different tribes. Always remember…those who invaded Afghanistan and lost: Alexander the Great, Arab Islams, Genghis Kahn, The Turks, The Maghills, British Empire, and, of course, Russia.
Please do not send in any more troops, and withdraw those that are in Afghanistan. It is a quagmire that cannot and will not be purged, no matter how hard we’ve tried. Sending more of our military is not the answer. Civil war will erupt whenever the troops are pulled, whether now or 5 years from now, but with an increasing exponential toll for our troops. Save the money for valuable physical and mental rehab for those who are there now, and for those who have returned. And there will still be plenty left over for health care and medicare/medicaid.