[Peace-discuss] Republican Defense Approps chairman wants withdrawal from Afghanistan

[Robert Naiman]

CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – DEFENSE
Sept. 18, 2012 – 3:08 p.m.

GOP Defense Stalwart Reverses Position, Calls for U.S. to Leave Afghanistan

By John M. Donnelly, CQ Staff

The Republican chairman of the House’s Defense Appropriations
Subcommittee has reversed his position of support for the Afghanistan
war and now wants to bring U.S. troops home as soon as possible.

“I think we should remove ourselves from Afghanistan as quickly as we
can,” C.W. Bill Young of Florida told the Tampa Bay Times editorial
board in remarks confirmed Tuesday by his spokesman. “I just think
we’re killing kids that don’t need to die.”

Young’s revised view of the war is significant because of his status
as a pro-defense Republican and the longest-serving member of
Congress. Young has not been strident in his support of the war, but
he has been a steady backer of the effort.

Young’s reversal comes during a week of terrible news from
Afghanistan. On Tuesday, NATO indefinitely suspended most mentoring
operations with Afghan forces amid a growing number of lethal attacks
by Afghans on coalition personnel. There has also been a spate of
deadly suicide bombings, as well as violent protests triggered by an
anti-Islamic Internet video made in the United States. And another
U.S. drone attack this month resulted in the deaths of eight Afghan
women and girls.

The 33,000 U.S. “surge” forces will be out of Afghanistan by the end
of the month, leaving 68,000 U.S. troops — plus international partners
— to serve through 2014. The U.S. exit strategy is to train and equip
Afghan security forces to take responsibility for security after 2014,
which means that any pause on advising and assisting small unit
operations with Afghan forces jeopardizes that plan.

The spasm of bad news and Young’s reversal also come as he and other
members run for re-election. Voters are mainly concerned about
pocketbook issues this year, but U.S. military involvement in
Afghanistan is now opposed by most Americans and increasingly by
Republicans, who had previously been stalwart in supporting the war.

In the interview, Young also said that other Republicans share his
view but are reluctant to go public with it.

Young’s reversal on Afghanistan was partly driven by the story of a
constituent, Staff Sgt. Matthew S. Sitton, who wrote a letter to Young
criticizing U.S. commanders for putting troops’ lives in jeopardy.

In the letter, Sitton predicted his own death, and he proved
prophetic, as he died last month when he stepped on a roadside bomb,
leaving behind a wife and 9-month-old son.


-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org