Just Calm Down

In September, 2001, I was 17. That's the year Osama bin Laden and the Afghan terrorist group, the Taliban, attacked the United States.

In March, 2003, I was 19 years old. That's the year President Bush took us to war in Afghanistan Iraq.

The day we went to war, I sat on my couch glued to MSNBC. I watched infrared videos of never-ending explosions. I tried to understand why we were blowing the shit out of Iraq, when I had been under the impression that those who had hurt us were from a totally different country. I tried to figure out why we were going to war with an entire country for the selfish acts of a few. I couldn't understand why we fought terrorism with terrorism. I was incredibly sad. Then I was incredibly outraged.

At some point, Bush decided we'd "accomplished" whatever our "mission" was. There was a whole banner-on-an-aircraft-carrier-moment. We all remember it.

Then he kept fighting. He kept killing. He kept invading. He found more and more reasons to prolong this "mission." We found Saddam, killed him, and still we stayed.

In November, 2008, I was 24 years old. That's the year we elected Barack Obama. We had listened to his campaign promises. We believed in his ability to lead. We trusted him wholly, and we held each other and cried and celebrated the night he took office as Commander in Chief.

It's December, 2009. I'm 25 years old. After inheriting an unjust, misdirected, near decade-long, greed-based war, and after spending nine months gathering advice from all sides of the strategic spectrum, President Obama just announced his decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.

When he was on the campaign trail, and since his election, Obama has promised to find a resolution to the fight in Afghanistan. He has kept his word. With Afghanistan in it's current state, we can not pick up and leave. Our President did not take us into Afghanistan, but he is decent enough, and smart enough, to pick up the pieces of the mess we helped make.

And for once, and for the very first time, I trust that our President knows exactly what he's doing.

"As Obama removes our combat brigades from Iraq, he will send at least two additional brigades to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is resurgent. He will also provide our armed forces with the reset capability that they need. He will replace essential equipment, and he will ensure that our men and women in uniform get the care and support they have earned."
-Barack Obama's Campaign Defense Fact Sheet (2007)