to Barack

To the President of the United States, Barack Obama:

Sir, take a second to think back to a little over a year ago. You’d just been elected and our country was full of this strange feeling that you called “Hope.” Remember that Mr. President? I hope so.
And I hope that you remember the year before you became Mr. November, where you were criss-crossing the country trying to prove that a junior Senator from Illinois had the guts and wisdom to make up for the experience he was lacking. Mr. President, I stood in massive crowds multiple times to hear you speak before the election in 2008. I stood ready to vote for you based on the things you said and the ideas you had. Promises you made.
To many in this country you were the antithesis of your predecessor, someone seen as mildly Machiavellian. You were the answer sir, someone who actually made people excited to go out and vote. Then the election came and by time you took office we were all past the fact that you were the first black president. It was time for you to be something more than a novelty.
And then we found out that you’d be keeping General Petraeus around for some more time to come, because he obviously hadn’t already done enough for our country. There seemed something suspicious about keeping Petraeus around after you’d once grilled him in the Senate.
Then last night, I caught a few snippets of your speech outlining how the U.S. needs 30,000 more young lives to be risked in Afghanistan. A country the mighty Soviets couldn’t handle due to a combination of terrain and the fierce resolve of some Afghani people. I laugh at those crying that this will be the new Vietnam. I think you’re smarter than that if you don’t get talked into something dumb.
However, I don’t think that just because NATO and select other countries are upping their troop levels by a few hundred or thousand we need to send 30,000 more. I heard a congressmen talking on NPR today about how there are only actually 100 members of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Probably in some of the hardest places to get to. So, even if there are 10 times the number of Taliban, we still have 10 soldiers on the ground for every 1 member of the Taliban, and that ratio will soon be higher.
I’ve also read comments from other generals and even a retired colonel who likened the war in Afghanistan to that of ending poverty or world hunger. Karzai’s government is undoubtedly corrupt, so it nearly useless to try and transfer power to them or train more troops to defend Afghanistan when what people really want is an American exodus.
Not only are the American people tired of enduring these wars started by your predecessor that got him one of the lowest approval ratings ever, but people the world over are tired of American interventionism. The Afghan people have stood up to world powers before; I don’t know why it would be any different this time.
I know you want to make it right so that you can say you got all of our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan to clean up the mess that old Georgey go this country into. But getting it right isn’t always “winning” sir, and with all due respect I think the fucked up “we have to win” mentality is what is making the withdrawal of our troops from the Middle East so difficult. We need to stabilize the nation with the forces we currently have while implementing the exit strategy you laid our last night on television to the world. Mr President, last night you said:

“If I did not think that the security of the United States and the safety of the American people were at stake in Afghanistan, I would gladly order every single one of our troops home tomorrow,” Mr. Obama said. “So no, I do not make this decision lightly.”

Sir, with all due respect the safety and security argument was also something that old Georgy used to justify invading Iraq…wasn’t it? And I hardly see how having 30,000 additional troops is going to remedy something two nations have already messed up royally. By putting more American lives on the line, your are placing your legacy on this decision, and given reaction to your troop increase announcement, your
Sir, on behalf of those people who voted for you because we thought you would be better or different, I’d like to say that I know you inherited a mess; but I’m also not at all pleased with how you’re handling it. On behalf of those who voted for you to close Guantanamo and investigate torture, we feel mislead. On behalf of the Americans who voted for a peaceful President that would end instead of extending our military involvement, I’d like to say that you better hope you got this one right…or you could be the most novel one-term President that we’ve ever had.