Quoted Text

Barack Obama is set to reject the advice of the Pentagon by announcing on Wednesday night the withdrawal of up to 30,000 troops from Afghanistan by November next year, in time for the US presidential election.

The move comes despite warnings from his military commanders that recent security gains are fragile. They have been urging him to keep troop numbers high until 2013.

The accelerated drawdown will dismay American and British commanders in Kabul, who have privately expressed concern that the White House is now being driven by political rather than military imperatives.

"This is not something we feel entirely comfortable with," a Whitehall official told the Guardian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/21/barack-obama-and-pentagon-split-on-afghanistan

The President of the USA is the commander in chief of the military.  Generals advise... Presidents give orders.  Many military decisions are political...
The USA is going bankrupt ending two Bush wars... (with nothing to show for the 2-3 trillion dollars spent except 1 dead dictator)

I wish Obama had pulled out of Afghanistan earlier.  He is on schedule to pull out of Iraq by the end of the year.

A US President ignoring the advice of his top General...
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki publicly warned the Senate Armed Services Committee in February 2003 that hundreds of thousands of occupation troops would be needed to maintain law and order and to rebuild civil society. He was publicly humiliated by Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and their allies, then dropped as army chief of staff as soon as they could under exceptionally humiliating circumstances.
   President George W. Bush and his White House staff treated the four-star Gen. Shinseki, a heroic Vietnam War vet, like a leper for the rest of their time in office. When Shinseki retired, Bush, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz did not attend the ceremony. Afterward, Bush and Rumsfeld were consistent in refusing to accord him any signal honors, despite his outstanding military record.

Paul Wolfowitz:
"Such as the notion that it will take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq, are wildly off the mark. It is hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam's security forces and his army — hard to imagine."

The ensuing war in Iraq proved that General Shinseki was exactly correct...
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, Wolfowitz, were totally wrong.

This withdrawal means nothing, this will only reduce it to his pre-surge levels, something to think about before giving him praise on this. He could impress many Americans including me if he actually put his foot down and withdrew all troops from the region. Until that happens he is still just another warhawk in power in my eyes.

I don't think I've ever seen a quote from a general that said he had too many troops This war is super exspensive and we can't afford it. Bring our boys home.