A Changing Tide on the Wars
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As someone whose son was recently deployed to Afghanistan, I'm heartened by poll numbers indicating a majority of Americans have turned against the war there [news story, Aug. 20].
President Obama has tried to frame the war in Afghanistan as a "good" war, as opposed to the "bad" war in Iraq. It appears the American people are not buying his analogy.
Regardless of how these wars are framed, Americans do not support them. To most Americans, both wars are bad. The American people should demand that the president bring all our troops home now. If he refuses, we should ask our members of Congress to defund the wars. Congress must realize that funding these wars is not supporting our troops but killing them.
LARRY SYVERSON
Richmond
The writer is a member of the board of Military Families Speak Out.
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Robert Kagan asserted that "an action can be right or just without being necessary" ["The President and the 'Necessary War' Myth," op-ed, Aug. 23].
A war of choice can always transform into a war of necessity, which I believe has been happening in Afghanistan in the past few years -- after we simultaneously began another war of choice in Iraq.
I believe that President Obama, when he was running for the office, clearly made the case for withdrawing from Iraq and refocusing our efforts in Afghanistan, to rid it of a resurgent al-Qaeda and Taliban. This was my necessary and sufficient reason to vote for him.
So it was said and so let it be done -- a majority of the American people will understand, despite snapshot polls that occasionally indicate otherwise.
