RUSH: I want to start with Obama and Afghanistan. Remember the Democrats told us at their debate the other night, and Obama has pounded this home every chance he gets, that the number one threat facing the world is climate change. Now, all of a sudden, the president has decided that we’re not gonna get out of Afghanistan. After announcing that Bush’s war in Afghanistan is over, now Obama has decided to keep people there. And, my friends, I’m wondering what is really going on here.

There’s something that we’re not being told. There’s either some internal polling data the Democrats have that is very devastating on foreign policy, foreign affairs. Or this situation in Syria with Putin is so bad that Obama all of a sudden has awakened and realized what’s going on and we can’t get out of Afghanistan. Despite all the promises the Democrats made at their debate, we’re gonna get out of the world, every time there is a Democrat primary debate, it’s always a contest over which candidate’s gonna get us out of the world the fastest. And it happened again earlier this week as they told us that there weren’t gonna be any more wars and we weren’t gonna be involved in them and we shouldn’t have gone to Iraq in the first place.

You would have thought the Iraq war was still going on, that it was only yesterday we discovered no weapons of mass destruction. All of this, and here comes President Obama sandbagging these Democrats seeking the party nomination by saying: You know what, it isn’t over in Afghanistan and we gotta stay there. But he’s contradicting himself. And I’m really curious, I’m really curious to know what is driving this.

There’s one thing that we know without question and without doubt, and that is the first consideration this administration makes is: What does it mean for Obama? What is the impact on Obama? Will it hurt Obama? Will it help Obama? As opposed to, are we close to losing Afghanistan?
Do we need to stay in there and hold on to it? That’s not a primary concern. The primary concern is what’s happening in Syria exposing Obama, making him look weak. We need to stay in Afghanistan to look tough and strong. That’s the kind of calculation they make, and, as such, they’re probably driven by polling data in some such fashion, maybe focus group data, I don’t know.

But I’m really curious to know why we are staying in Afghanistan after all of these announcements. He’s made speech after speech, even up at West Point, we’re getting out of there. It’s done. We took care of it. Bush screwed it up, but I went in there, Obama said, I fixed it, now it’s time to leave. We’re gonna bring our troops home, hallelujah. We already brought ’em home from Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the Middle East is in shambles, it’s on fire. Benjamin Netanyahu is about to speak about the recent spate of terrorism uptick in Israel proper. You know, in many ways it’s almost like we’re re-living the 1980s. Putin’s got eyes on Afghanistan again, trying to rebuild the Soviet Union, reconstitute it. Let’s go to the audio sound bites. This is May 25th, Memorial Day this year. Mere months ago, Barack Hussein Obama again at Arlington National Cemetery.

OBAMA: For many of us this Memorial Day is especially meaningful. It is the first since our war in Afghanistan came to an end. Today it the is the first Memorial Day in 13 years that the United States has not engaged in a major ground war.

RUSH: Depending on how you define these things, I mean, that’s total BS, too. But see, doesn’t matter. What they say is what gets reported, is what is perceived as reality, but we’re still at war in many places in the Middle East, and not because of anything we’re doing. We’re under assault. Our allies are under assault constantly. It’s Obama and the Democrats who want to try to pretend they’re a bunch of pacifists and that they’re ending wars and so forth, but reality intrudes. Look at the situation in Syria. Iranian soldiers, Cuban soldiers, Russian jets are pounding our allies on the ground in Syria. How in the hell did Obama ever let things come to this?

Seriously, folks. How many red lines did he draw in the sand for Bashar Assad, and every time he drew a red line, somebody crossed it with impunity, and so there was no incentive for them to not cross, not continue their aggression. Thanks to Obama, the Taliban now controls more of Afghanistan than they did in 2001. And Obama says (imitating Obama), “Yeah, well, Bush screwed it up in there, screwed up the Afghan war, but I fixed it.” And then last May, you just heard him, it’s a victory, bringing the troops home, we’re out of there. Such a mess. But then after he announced that he ended Bush’s war in Afghanistan back in May, this morning at the White House…

OBAMA: Last December, more than 13 years after our nation was attacked by Al-Qaeda on 9/11, America’s combat mission in Afghanistan came to a responsible end.

RUSH: Okay, so last May, the war in Afghanistan was over. This morning, the war in Afghanistan, the combat mission in Afghanistan came to a responsible end. And once again the use of rhetoric here to confuse everyone. A responsible end? What’s a responsible end? We’re left to fill in the blanks ourselves. Responsible end means what? We got out with honor, even though we got our butts kicked? We won but we didn’t kill anybody? We won but no civilians were hurt?

What is a responsible end? Well, there isn’t even an end, because also this morning at the White House, President Barack Obama, speaking about his plans to delay troop withdrawals in Afghanistan… Now, you just heard two sound bites where it’s over. We won! It came to a responsible end. After more than 13 years led by an irresponsible cowboy, George W. Bush, the combat mission in Afghanistan came to an end. And then there was this…

OBAMA: Pressure from Pakistan has resulted more Al-Qaeda coming into Afghanistan, and we’ve seen the emergence of an ISIL presence. I’m therefore announcing the following steps which I am convinced offer the best possibility for lasting progress in Afghanistan. First, I’ve decided to maintain our current posture of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through most of next year, 2016. Their mission will not change. Our troops will continue to pursue those two narrow tasks that I outlined earlier: Training Afghan forces and going after Al-Qaeda.

RUSH: What does that mean, “going after Al-Qaeda”? He’s trying to tell you that we don’t have any real boots on the ground. There are 9,800 people there, but we’re gonna be training the Afghans. We’re not firing shots. We’re not engaging in war because the combat portion of the war ended. He announced that back in May, and he re-announced it this morning. America’s combat mission came to an end. But now, all of a sudden ISIL/ISIS is in Afghanistan in addition to being in Syria, in addition to being in Iraq, and he’s laying that off on Pakistan?

“Pressure from Pakistan has resulted in more Al-Qaeda coming into Afghanistan, and we’ve seen the emergence of [ISIS], so I’m going to maintain our current position. I’m going to maintain our current presence.” What’s that? The combat mission’s over! You’re bringing the troops home.
No, 9,800 are staying. They’re gonna train the Afghans, gonna go after Al-Qaeda. Meanwhile, loyal Democrat Looney Toon voters are beside themselves with confusion because they believe President Obama when he says he’s going to end wars and focus on climate change.

And they believe their Democrat presidential candidates when in debates they say, “We’re gonna get out of Afghanistan. We should have never been in the first place. We’re gonna get out of Iraq. We should never have been there in the first place. We’re gonna stop all these wars. We’re the reason for these wars! Bush and the Republicans are the reason for the wars and we’re gonna gonna stop it. There ain’t gonna be any more war and there not gonna be any more banks and there aren’t gonna be any more births and there aren’t gonna be any more corporations.

“There aren’t gonna any more political donations, aren’t gonna be anything more but welfare as far as the eye can see. Except we are gonna stay in Afghanistan.” What is a Looney Toon Democrat voter to do? Take to social media and put his or her insanity on display in the form of utter frustration. But let no one be confused, ladies and gentlemen. Our objective in Afghanistan is not victory. No, no, no, no. Victory is politically incorrect. You know why?

Because that would mean somebody loses, and we will not be responsible for anybody losing. We’re gonna keep 9,800 troops there, but victory? “Nope, nope, nope! Don’t even think that. That’s not what we’re about. That’s not what America’s about. That’s never been what America’s about. Victory over people? Yeah, victory over the Indians? How did that work out for the Indians? Victory over the Mexicans? How did it work out? We’re not gonna be that kind of America anymore.” Here, listen for yourself…

OBAMA: Afghanistan will not be a perfect place. It’s a poor country that will have to work hard on its development. There will continue to be contested areas. But Afghans like these are standing up for their country. If they were to fail, it would endanger the security of us all. And we’ve made enormous investment in a stable Afghanistan. Afghans are making difficult but genuine progress. This modest but meaningful extension of our presence while sticking to our current narrow missions can make a real difference.

RUSH: You heard it. You heard it right there: “Modest but meaningful extension of our presence.” Nothing about victory, nothing about vanquishing anybody. So what the hell are we doing here? “Afghanistan will not be a perfect place.” What is? What is perfect? They think they can perfect everything. They can perfect people; they can perfect the United States. They can correct all the flaws that were there from the beginning founding days. Now he admits that “Afghanistan will not be a perfect place. It’s a poor country that will have to work hard on its development.”

What? Have you been ignoring what’s been going on in Afghanistan for the last thousand years?

For crying out loud, this is one of the craziest excuses for staying there I have ever heard.

“There will continue to be contested areas.”

Really? You mean the warlords aren’t just bowing down and giving up?

“Afghans like these are standing up for their country. If they were to fail, it would endanger the security of us all. We’ve made enormous investment to stable Afghanistan.”

Hasn’t worked out, has it? We’re still there. So on the surface, we have incompetence on parade here, but there’s something that we don’t know that is dictating this. And as I say, it could well be that they have just had a consensus of scientists tell ’em that global warming is worse in Afghanistan than anywhere else in the world, and that’s why we have to stay, because if it’s not that, somebody needs to tell me what it is.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Alex in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Glad you called, sir. Welcome to the program.

CALLER: How are you doing, Mr. Limbaugh, how are you doing?

RUSH: Very well, thank you.

CALLER: Good. Hey, so just calling about the Obama speech here that we’re gonna be keeping only 9,000 troops in Afghanistan. First off, to let you know, I was in Afghanistan. I helped train some of those troops, and to say that they’re an elite fighting force would be an overstatement by an extreme.

RUSH: Wait a minute. Nobody’s saying that, are they?

CALLER: No, no, no, no. But he kind of is when he said that, you know, Afghanistan’s not a perfect country, very poor, but then he went on to say that it’s up to this Third World country to fight the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and —

RUSH: No, no, no, no, wait, wait, not the Taliban. He left the Taliban out of this on purpose. He’s negotiating with the Taliban. He wants the Taliban to become part of the Afghanistan government.

CALLER: Rights.

RUSH: Which is another thing that ought to be a big question mark to everybody.

CALLER: Sure. But still we have Al-Qaeda and now ISIS in there. And that it’s up to this Third World country to win this battle against these two groups, and the safety and security of all of us depend upon it.

RUSH: See, Alex, you’re making the mistake of falling for Obama’s rhetoric. And I’m not being critical. Not being critical. You’re not falling for it. I should be more accurate. You’re expressing incredulity over what he’s saying is not possible. And you’re right, it isn’t possible. We’re not gonna train — we’ve been there 14 years. I have been there. Folks, we’re not gonna train — it’s arguable that we even have half the country on our side, for crying out loud. But even if we do, we’re not gonna train the Afghan army with 9,800 troops while at the same time go after Al-Qaeda or whatever he said. But he knows that, too.

Alex, this is just so the media will spread his words and so that loyal Democrat voters, low-information people are gonna think Obama’s on the case now. “Oh, we’re gonna train the Afghans to take over, we’re gonna get out? Cool. Right on, man.” And they forget that Obama promised we’d be out of there five years ago, and we’re still there. He’s just mouthing the words so they would be reported as though it’s actual news.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: The caller said that we’re going into Afghanistan because we can’t afford to lose twice. I really think, folks, that when you look at Obama and foreign policy, you can’t plug him in the usual holes where you judge past presidents. I don’t think… I could be wrong. I think he may be concerned about losing Afghanistan twice. I don’t think in Obama’s mind he’s lost anything. I think the guy has the ability to tell himself he hasn’t lost anything.

And, you know, Iraq, if you look at what he did in Iraq… The secretary of state defense is just out there. What is this guy’s name, Ash Asher? Ash Carter. It must be short for Ashton, and Ashton sounds too elitist, so he’s gonna go with the nickname “Ash.” Right, so Ash Carter said, “We’re not gonna give up gains we fought to achieve in Afghanistan.” Wait a minute. What’s wrong with that is “gains”? You told us we won. He told us Afghanistan was Mission Accomplished, and that’s why we were leaving.

Now all of a sudden it’s just “gains,” and we’re not gonna get out now because the gains that we won are in jeopardy of being lost? Well, then, we really didn’t win. So one of two things is happening here. Obama announced the pullout of Afghanistan. I know this is the case. He announced pulling out of Afghanistan just like he announced closing Gitmo, which also hasn’t been done, and he did that to mollify the Looney Toon leftist supporters that he’s got, which you saw on display at that Democrat debate.

“There isn’t any war worth it! We gotta get out of all wars. We’re the reason for all wars; we deserve to lose the wars we’re in,” and they believe that the only solution is to never get into them in the first place. So that’s what Obama had to do to get elected: Tell people he was gonna get out of Iraq, he was gonna get out of Afghanistan, and gonna close Gitmo. The fact that he didn’t do any of that, other than Iraq, which gave us ISIS. He’s just got a little bit of time left here to build his legacy, and he knows that leftist history writers are gonna write the legacy.

But I really think Putin is a factor in this Afghanistan. Syria, Putin, ISIS. I guess the caller has a point in the sense that Obama’s not so far gone that he doesn’t care about the perception that America wins or loses these things. But just don’t misunderstand. There’s a whole lot of evidence that Obama’s really interested in winning any of them. I still think Obama believes the United States is the problem and not the solution.

And I really believe that Obama does believe that our presence is what destabilizes all these places, that it’s our fault and that the solution is for us to get out and not be a presence or a factor. But at the same time circumstances require an American presence for perception reasons, which is what I think he thinks Afghanistan is. The real question is, you know, what do his supporters think? The donors to the Democrat Party. Here’s the lead Democrat not getting out of Afghanistan after claiming we were, and claiming it was victory, and now we’re staying?

He’s no better than George W. Bush, in their minds, the way they look at things.