High expectations in Sonoma County for Obama speech on Afghanistan

<p>Ryan Bush, a National Guardsman from Petaluma who has served in Afghanistan, will be watching President Obama’s speech tonight, hoping he’ll announce 40,000 new U.S. troops will be heading for that war-savaged nation.</p><p>But Bush, who is currently stationed in Camp Shelby, Miss., said Monday he is prepared to accept a slightly smaller number if the President articulates an exit strategy aimed at improving the ability of the Afghanis to take over their own security and manage their own society.</p><p>“It is hard to say whether the right number is 40,000 or 35,000,” said Bush, who served in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007. “When I was there, you can never have too many soldiers that are watching your back.”</p><p>News reports put Obama’s proposed troop surge at 35,000, which would mean the number of U.S. soldiers would top 100,000. </p><p>Bush may represent the views of other veterans of the conflict in Afghanistan who complain that combat in Iraq has too long overshadowed the first war America deployed troops to following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.</p><p>“I used to say that Afghanistan was the forgotten war and now I am glad that the soldiers there are finally being recognized for what they’ve been able to accomplish with far fewer troops than we’ve had in Iraq,” Bush said.</p><p>More important than troop numbers, Bush said, will be President Obama’s commitment to stabilizing the Afghan society and economy which the Taliban threaten to undermine.</p><p>“The goals should be to cultivate new crops rather than opium, to develop schools where females can attend, and to train the army and police to do their jobs,” Bush said. “Everybody expects to send troops in and pull them out, but it’s not at all like that.”</p><p>Bush said he estimates that Obama’s troop surge will mean U.S. forces could begin withdrawing “in a few years,” which he feels the American public should accept as the reality of foreign conflict in an unstable country.</p><p>Veterans of other wars say President Obama’s speech to the nation should address inevitable comparisons with the Vietnam conflict.</p><p>“Obviously, we need to get out, but not the way we got out of Vietnam,” said Windsor resident John Crooker, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 223.</p><p>In his view, the lesson learned from the downfall of the U.S.-supported South Vietnamese government should be that a military solution should override political considerations.</p><p>“We were not out to win in Vietnam because of the politics of what was going on back home, on the streets and in colleges,” Crooker said. “I look back on the Vietnam War not as having been lost, but not having been allowed to win it.”</p><p>Crooker said he agrees with returning Afghanistan veterans who say they need 40,000 more troops to be successful. The troop surge in Iraq was successful, he feels, in reducing the level of violence, as well as the rate of casualties among American soldiers.</p><p>“I would encourage him to add more troops because you have more protection to search out the Taliban,” Crooker said. “30,000 is a lot better than zero.”</p><p>Crooker acknowledged that popular sentiment in the U.S. opposes sending more troops to Afghanistan. But, he said he fears U.S. troops may descend into Vietnam-like military quagmires if their mission receives no further support.</p><p>“Most of the liberals want to get out and not send anyone else,” Crooker said.</p><p>Yet, that’s exactly what nine-term Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, envisions as President Obama’s best shot at stabilizing Afghanistan. </p><p>“I see no military solution to the situation so I would not want him to commit any more troops to Afghanistan,” Woolsey said in interview Monday, shortly before leaving Petaluma to return to Washington. “I’ve been in the district all the last week and, here and everywhere, the majority of Americans do not want us to expand our presence.”</p><p>Woolsey said only an Obama announcement detailing a timetable for withdrawal will force the fragmented leadership of Afghanistan to come together to defeat Taliban forces. She said Obama should reverse proportions of funding so that 80 percent be spent on humanitarian programs and 20 percent on the country’s military, and not the other way around.</p><p>“Our message is for the Afghan people, that although their government is not that solid, we are committed to helping the Afghan people,” Woolsey said. “Nobody wants to leave them high and dry.”</p><p>On the other hand, U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, said Monday that he’ll wait to make up his mind until he hears more details about what President Obama has in mind.</p><p>“I’m very concerned about the safety of the troops that are currently in Afghanistan as well as the troops that may be there in the future,” Thompson said. “I’m also troubled by the amount of money this is costing... I want to see his plan and hear what he has to say before I make any decisions.”</p>