<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div id="id_4f727a9b9326f5857968551">[With more than two-thirds of Americans in a new NYT/CBS poll saying that the U.S. should not be fighting in Afghanistan, the Obama administration here gives up any pretense at democracy. Defense [sic] Secretary Panetta rejects - as Obama clearly does - the idea that the opinion of the US public can limit whom the US government can kill. And since our democracy is a sham - "Polls are for dogs" - two-thirds of the Congress can be counted on to continue to vote money for war. Extra-parliamentary pressure - as in the 'Vietnam era' - will be necessary to restore democracy in the US. --CGE] <br><br>========================<br><b>Panetta: ‘War can’t be guided by polls’</b><br><br>US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says there is no question that the US public has had enough of the Afghan war, but also notes that the war's strategy shouldn’t be determined by polls. <br><br>“We cannot fight wars by polls,” he told reporters after meeting his Canadian and Mexican counterparts in Ottawa. “If we do that, we're in deep trouble. We have to operate based on what we believe is the best strategy to achieve the mission that we are embarked on.”<br><br>Panetta stated that the mission in Afghanistan was to safeguard the American people and to make sure the country never again becomes a “safe haven” for the Taliban and al-Qaeda. He also said that the commitment to the effort must be to ensure that lives lost in the conflict were not lost in vain. <br><br>Panetta’s statements were backed by Canadian Defense Minister Peter <br>Mackay, whose country has 1,000 troops in Afghanistan.<br><br>“Polls are for dogs,” Mackay said, quoting former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker “This is our generation's war, this is a test of perseverance.”</div><div data-ft="{"type":10}"><div><br></div><div><i><<a href="http://rt.com/news/american-troops-withdrawal-afghanistan-551/">http://rt.com/news/american-troops-withdrawal-afghanistan-551/</a>></i></div></div></body></html>