U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement that 4,000 more troops would be sent to Afghanistan (on top of 17,000 he's already promised to send) wasn't a small affair what with a highly public press conference held to announce it.  

And it also drew a strong response from all of you who come here to share your thoughts and participate in our poll. Below we wanted to highlight some of your thoughts on this subject from the past week. Some comments have been edited for length:

The situation over in the Middle East will never change. So do something else with the money that is being spent on that situation over there. Give it to the American people! (Yeah, right!)
Like I stated in another article, give money to senior citizens that are working, so they can retire. They can pay of their mortgages, buy American made car, put the rest in savings, stop giving them social security. That would then help the economy, create more jobs and help or even stop giving social security.

-Debbie

I'm living in Iran,I'm suffering from the same ideology of my compatriots but the main thing is that this ideology is not gonna be defeated by war,bombs,troops,the people are step by step getting away form the ideology because the new generation understands that this islamic beliefs are not gonna work in the modern society,the only thing the western countries should do is to guide the people into new things,correct ones. Because most people when they get new ideas,they dont get correct ones.

-Armin

I understand people desperation because of the economical crisis, but we can't forget that are people in the world that are in worst living situations then ours...Social help is need for countries like Afghanistan. It will probably help more to battle Al Qaeda then by simply reinforcing the numbers of military there.
People who are hungry, who have lost everything, and in addition, who live with daily violence and war, are easier to be recruited by any terrorist movement. Al Qaeda probably promises those people the social, economical and even spiritual help that others refuse to give them...
It's great you have a job, you can pay your house rent, by a car... but at the end... will the misery of others make you feel safer and better despite all you have?
When the world will understand that it's not enough that we have a great life between the boards of our country, when there are others struggling to survive, fighting for human rights, fighting for land, religion, or justice... fighting simply to be alive?

-Thot

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