President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai from his vehicle outside the Jane E. Lawton Community Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland, Sunday, March 11, 2012. The President called to express his shock and sadness over the reported killing of Afghan civilians. Official White House Photo by Pete SouzaAmid Anger Over Afghan Killings, U.S. Faces Growing Public Weariness About War -- Washington Post
The massacre of at least 16 Afghan civilians, apparently by an American soldier, forced the Obama administration Sunday to confront yet another nightmare from the war zone and fresh evidence that patience back home is increasingly wearing thin.
A majority of Americans — 55 percent — believe that most Afghans are opposed to what the United States is trying to accomplish in that country, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. About as many Americans — 54 percent — want the U.S. military to withdraw even before it can train the Afghan army to be self-sufficient, a pillar of President Obama’s war strategy.
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Update: The Coming Upheaval in U.S. Afghanistan Strategy -- National Journal
My Comment: This massacre will probably have a greater impact on changing American views towards the Afghan war than Afghans rioting over some burned Korans. When you have a married father of two decide to leave a base at 3:00 AM to go to a village and massacre children .... an American soldier that has served 3 deployments to Iraq and one (this one being his first one) to Afghanistan .... an American soldier who has obviously seen and experienced war for a few years .... incidents like this one must .... and should make us question our strategy and purpose for what you are doing .... because regardless of what the politicians and generals say .... there is a problem.
What's my take of this weekend's massacre .... in times like this I always remember what my father told me when he reflected on his World War II experience. He was on the Russian front for almost four years, and while he served in artillery .... he (of course) experienced many close calls and severe combat .... especially in the last push into Germany. But even with all the horrors that he experienced, what was the worse for him was after the war was over and he found himself pressed into a special unit to hunt down Soviet soldiers who could not stop killing .... that for matters of revenge or insanity .... they just could not stop themselves from killing Germans even though the war was over. Is this the same case with this American soldier .... I do not know .... but I do know that sustain heavy combat will impact a soldier's psychology and mindset, and this is a problem that the US will have to face long after this war is over.