American views on their war mongering President

Cadets stand for the national anthem before a speech by U.S. President Barack Obama in Eisenhower Hall at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York Dec. 1. Obama announced a troop surge to Afghanistan over the next six months (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

It was an announcement based on lies. As was expected US President Obama has announced an escalation of the war in Afghanistan. The US will send an additional 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan, and is begging its foreign allies- including Australia- to send an extra 10,000 troops. This announcement will take the total number of US troops in Afghanistan to 100, 000 with at least an equivalent number of private contractors.

This decision will result in the deaths of thousands more Afghan men, women and children and likely hundreds, even thousands of young American soldiers. Any hope that Obama’s election would drastically change U.S. foreign policy has been totally destroyed.

Among those who voted for and supported Obama there is outrage about the betrayal. Here are some responses to Obama's announcement from US writers and commentators.

Jim Hightower

"How many more dead and mangled American soldiers does the government's "new" Afghan policy deserve? How many more tens of billions of dollars should we let them siphon from our public treasury to fuel their war policy? How much more of our country's good name will they squander on what is essentially a civil war?

We've been lied to for nearly a decade about "success" in Iraq and Afghanistan — why do the hawks deserve our trust that this time will be different?"

Robert Scheer in Truth Dig

It is already a 30-year war begun by one Democratic president, and thanks to the political opportunism of the current commander in chief the Afghanistan war is still without end or logical purpose. President Barack Obama’s own top national security adviser has stated that there are fewer than 100 al-Qaida members in Afghanistan and that they are not capable of launching attacks. What superheroes they must be, then, to require 100,000 U.S. troops to contain them.

Scott Ritter

" He has deluded himself and others into believing that the people of Afghanistan want to be part of such a grand social experiment, and furthermore that they will tolerate the United States being in charge. The reality of Afghan history, culture and society argue otherwise. The Taliban, once a defeated entity in the months following the initial American military incursion into Afghanistan, are resurgent and growing stronger every day. The principle source of the Taliban’s popularity is the resentment of the Afghan people toward the American occupation and the corrupt proxy government of Hamid Karzai. There is nothing an additional 40,000 American troops will be able to do to change that basic equation."

Democrat Senator Russ Feingold:

"It's an expensive gamble to undertake armed nation-building on behalf of a corrupt government of questionable legitimacy. Sending more troops could further destabilise Afghanistan and, more importantly, Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state where al-Qaida is headquartered."

New York Democratic representative Louise Slaughter:

"I see no good reason for us to send another 30,000 or more troops to Afghanistan when we have so many pressing issues like our economy to deal with in this country."

Shamus Cooke

"Who really benefits from war in the Middle East? So far, U.S. weapons manufacturers have (Boeing, etc.), U.S. oil companies (Exxon, etc.), and the big banks that help move the spoils around (Citigroup, etc.) who also dominate the finances of the conquered country. Corporations that deal with “reconstruction” contracts love war (Halliburton, etc.), while also the multitude of “private contractors” that specialize in everything from cooking (Halliburton again) to mercenary fighting (Blackwater, etc.)"

Here is the The Veterans for Peace on Obama's decision:

"With millions of U.S. people feeling the fear and desperation of no longer having a home; with millions feeling the terror and loss of dignity that comes with unemployment; with millions of our children slipping further into poverty and hunger, your decision to deploy thousands more troops and throw hundreds of billions more dollars into prolonging the profoundly tragic war in Afghanistan strikes us as utter folly. We believe this decision represents a war against ordinary people, both here in the United States and in Afghanistan.