I support Obama as president and hope he can bring change to the United States. However, I don’t support his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. I would hate to say it but you can’t change the ways of the people of Afghanistan. In the eight years we have been over there, they have not changed yet. The little news snippets about how the last war changed the lives of the people of Afghanistan was only a smoke screen. Their elections are a joke. The people are forced to vote for a leader, they either vote for the leader the Taliban wants them to vote for or die. That doesn’t sound like democracy to me. We didn't help the people of Afghanistan then and we won't now, thirty-thousand more troops, isn't going to change that. They have had the opportunity on several occasions to take out Bin Laden, but the man is still alive and well. Fighting ‘til death is an honor for them, it is a way of life and you can’t change their culture or their religious beliefs. That is who they are and whom they will always will be. We may not agree with their way of life, but we can’t change them. The Middle East resents America for interfering with their way of life. The same goes with Iraq, we don’t belong there anymore. Most of the people of the Middle East believe we are sinners and want nothing to do with our way of life. I have been to the Middle East, they refer to Americans as Shat`an (Satan). They believe we are sinners and are going to burn in the seven fires of hell… and American Government thinks they can change Iraq & Afghanistan. It’s a pipe dream and might as well give up before the waste anymore of United States money or lose one more life of our great American soldiers by putting more troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. Unless they are a threat to our homeland, we need to keep our soldiers and our money out of Iraq or Afghanistan. There are enough children who has lost their parents to a losing cause.
