Ryan Driscoll
Period 3B
11-14-10
War in Afghanistan
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001 in response to the 9/11 attacks on the United States World Trade Centers. The initial launch of the war was called Operation Enduring Freedom and was direct response to the terrorist attacks in September of 2001. The United States government claims that the Afghanistan War’s aim was to locate Osama bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda and destroy the Taliban organization. Public opinion in late September and early October of that same year indicated that both Britain and the United States, the two main allied countries, both backed military response to the terrorism displayed in New York City. However, a Gallup poll of 37 nations worldwide indicated that 34 of the polled countries preferred legal action over military response. In fact, only the United States, India, and Israel supported armed response. A similar survey in June 2008 told the world that majorities in 21 out of 24 countries thought that the United Nations should remove their troops from Afghanistan as quickly as possible. Of course, the United States has been the main country affected by this war, and there are many heated arguments occurring in Congress whether to remove troops or to increase deployment. Both the Republicans and Democrats have different views on the matter and these conflicting views are causing virtual gridlock when it comes to making a decision in the United States of America.
In July 2009 a document was leaked from military officials stating that the War in Afghanistan was beginning to fail on a drastic level, and that removing the troops by the July 2011 deadline would be an easy feat to achieve. However, President Obama instead decided that the United States should increase deployment with 30,000 more soldiers in an attempt to counter insurgency in Afghanistan whilst still meeting the July 2011 deadline. This would usually go against democratic views, whose are usually more in favor of removing the troops as fast as possible. Democrats tend to be a more peaceful party and don’t believe in military response unless it is an emergency. There was a high disapproval rating by Democrats during the Bush administration. Senator John Edwards stated that the John McCain was “dead wrong” in hoping to implement the McCain Doctrine, or a surge of troops in Afghanistan as well as Iraq. He believed that this would take too much responsibility away from the Middle Eastern countries in repairing and ending this war. Although the Democratic Party doesn’t necessarily support the war, they do support their troops.
The Republicans, on the other hand, are all for the war. They believe that the only way to end terrorism is to eliminate it at its source, no matter the cost. The Republican party is more in favor of war and military response than the Democrats. Approval of the Bush administration was much higher among the Republican Party, as they believed he was doing the right thing. However, towards the end of his administration, Bush’s approval ratings were drastically dropping as the economy went spiraling downhill. Also, the war seemed to be dragging on forever, and even the Republicans were beginning to say that our troops need to come home. Rebuilding Afghanistan will come at too highly a cost, mainly in American lives. Republicans today still seem to think that the war is winnable, but only if the military is able to execute military strategy that will allow the United States to win the war.
Bibliography
Leland, Mark. "Politics." Fox News. Fox News, 30 Aug 2010. Web. 15 Nov 2010. <http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/elections/federal/Differing-views-on-war-in-Afghanistan>.
Cary, Mary. "Politics." US News. US News, 07/10/2010. Web. 14Nov 2010. <http://apgovecon.blogspot.com/2010/11/issue-paper-solving-deficiteconomy.html >.
Hulse, Carl. "Democrats Have Qualms Over War in Afghanistan." New York Times. Fox News, 23 Apr 2009. Web. 14 Nov 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/us/politics/24spend.html>.
I find the preferences between Democratic and Repulblican parties in this case very interesting. It is not suprising in the Republican's stance on the war and military response due to the fact that they want less gun control, therefore are more on the side of personal protection. However, I find it strange that the Democrat party, the peaceful ones, are in opposition due to the fact that being in favor of strong federal goverment, they don't believe in strong military action, a goverment aspect.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that Obama decided to send more troops instead of immediately get our troops out of there like he said in his campaign. I was sort of expecting it to happen relatively early into his presidency. Him sending in more troops was a bit of a shocker, but whatever the motive was, I'm going to guess it's on it's way to working since the battles have stopped in Iraq. I know there's still troops in Afganistan and wonder when they will be taken out.
ReplyDeleteAlanah is right about the correlation with Republican's being pro-guns and pro-war while democrats are anti in both cases. Though it's a military matter, it still has to do with moralistic values in which both the parties greatly differ.
Very informative paper. Though I had a pretty good idea of what the party opinions were on the war, you expanded on them, like the whole Obama sending in more troops thing, which I hadn't known. In general, their opinions follow what I would've expected- Democrats wanting less war, Republicans wanting more. And whaddya know, that two party opposition has caused the war to deadlock. Ugh. Sometimes our two party system gets really annoying...
ReplyDeleteAnyway. Great paper- well written with plenty of info. Good job!