Obama’s Vietnam

Re “U.S. begins overhaul of Afghan war,” May 12

I’m astounded and saddened to read your article.

We learn that our president and Defense secretary believe that a change in top brass will produce “victory” on that hopeless battlefield.

Our war effort there is a lost cause and drives the civilians into the arms of terrorists. Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires: British, Russian. Can you guess who’s next?

We need affordable healthcare, housing and education for our people and repair to our infrastructure. Instead, our leaders give us war.

Our president errs in his handling of the war. Instead of following the footsteps of his predecessor, George W. Bush, the “overhaul” ought to consist of a swift, total withdrawal of all U.S. troops and a focus on our needs at home. The Afghan war will soon become Obama’s Vietnam.

Kim Carney

South Pasadena

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Re “Obama’s right on target in Afghanistan,” Opinion, May 13

Your readers are fortunate to benefit from Max Boot’s many years of implied military expertise and political wisdom in Afghanistan. (By now, your readers are very familiar with Boot’s unfortunate “expertise” in Iraq.) However, when the likes of Boot find the administration’s Afghanistan policies “impressive” -- or “on target,” as your headline suggests -- I become very, very anxious.

June Maguire

Mission Viejo

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Boot couldn’t be more wrong about Obama’s policy in Afghanistan. We still have a problem defining who the “enemy” is. If we consider the Taliban the enemy, it will be a no-win situation, and we will continue to lose lives unnecessarily. If we are in Afghanistan to root out Al Qaeda, our hands are tied because they use Pakistan as a sanctuary.

Benny Wasserman

La Palma