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MR. LEHRER: Afghanistan. Lead -- a new lead question. Having
resolved Iraq, we'll move to Afghanistan. (Laughter.) And it goes to
you, Senator Obama, and it's -- it's -- it picks up on a point that's
already been made. Do you think more troop -- more U.S. troops should
be sent to Afghanistan? How many, and when?
SEN. OBAMA: Yes, I think we need more troops. I've been saying
that for over a year now. And I think that we have to do it as
quickly as possible because it's been acknowledged by the commanders
on the ground the situation is getting worse, not better.
We had the highest fatalities among U.S. troops this past year
than at any time since 2002. And we are seeing major offensive taking
place -- al Qaeda and Taliban crossing the border and attacking our
troops in a brazen fashion.
(View cut data)They are feeling emboldened.
And we cannot separate Afghanistan from Iraq, because what our
commanders have said is we don't have the troops right now to deal
with Afghanistan. So I would send two to three additional brigades to
Afghanistan.
Now, keep in mind that we have four times the number of troops in
Iraq, where nobody had anything to do with 9/11 before we went in,
where in fact there was no al Qaeda before we went in, but we have
four times more troops there than we do in Afghanistan. And that is a
strategic mistake, because every intelligence agency will acknowledge
that al Qaeda is the greatest threat against the United States and
that -- Secretary of Defense Gates acknowledged the central front, the
place where we have to deal with these folks is going to be in
A
Author: CSPAN
Keywords: C-SPAN Foreign Policy Debate Troops Afghanistan
Added: September 29, 2008
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