Dana Rohrabacher and Loretta Sanchez Joined at the Hip on Afghanistan

There was a time during the unresolved county redistricting process when it appeared the congressional districts of Reps. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) might melt into one.

Maybe that explains why these Members of Congress are starting to sound like one another.

In the wake of President Barack Obama's announcement of a measured drawdown of U.S.
troops in the mucked-up country beginning this summer, Sanchez and Rohrabacher have reiterated their call for a complete pullout now.
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As we've come to love, Rohrabacher is saying so much more colorfully.
For words less measured than those aired and published in the mainstream
media from the Mouth That Rohrabachered, one need only go to his website,
where the House Committee on Foreign Affairs senior member and
self-proclaimed expert on Afghanistan uses phrases like “pull the plug”
and “get the hell out now.:

To wit:

If we're going to leave, we should leave. It's a
disservice to those many American families who will continue to suffer
the loss of a family member who is maimed or killed during the wind down
of this war.

President Obama is trying to have it both ways. If you're going to get out…get out.

The centralized system of government foisted upon the Afghan people is
not going to hold after we leave. So let's quit
prolonging the agony and inevitable.

Karzai's regime is corrupt and non representative of Afghanistan's
tribal culture. This failed strategy is not worth one more drop of
American blood. Under the current strategy, our military presence
alienates more Afghans that it pacifies. So if you're going to pull the
plug, then we need to get the hell out now.

Before Obama's televised address Thursday night, Sanchez's office issued a statement from the congresswoman saying that while she was pleased the president would be announcing troop withdrawals, she supports a full pullout.

Instead of engaging in a nation-building campaign
in Afghanistan,” she said, “we should focus our resources on rebuilding our own
nation, whose economy has been ravaged by the worst recession since the
Great Depression.“

Immediately after Obama revealed his plan to recall 10,000
American troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year and an
additional 20,000-plus by the end of next summer, Sanchez issued this statement:

 

I
believe it is imperative that the President quicken the pace of
America's withdrawal from Afghanistan and get our troops out even faster
than he has proposed. At the cost of more than 1,500
American lives, this war is incredibly costly. At the cost of $113
billion a year, it's expensive, dangerous, and unproductive. It is time
to refocus America's intelligence and defense resources on more imminent
threats from terrorists not just in Afghanistan but in other regions of
the world such as Yemen or Pakistan. I urge the President to move
immediately to end this unnecessary war.

While Dana
may win the war of sharp words, give Sanchez credit for having the eggs to direct barbs
at the same military brass advising Obama. At a House
Armed Services Committee hearing after the president's speech, Sanchez told the gathered military
medal pincushions that our troops must get out of
Afghanistan even faster than Obama proposed. while again questioning the
billions the U.S. continues to pour into training Afghan National Security Forces.

“Last year, the Department of Defense spent more than $26 billion training and
equipping the Afghan National Army, while our workers faced layoffs and
reduced health care benefits and our children faced lower-quality
education,” said Sanchez, ranking member of the House Armed Service
Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. “This disparity is unacceptable.”

She also took a shot at her party's leader:

“I
question what the president hopes to accomplish with the nearly 90,000
American troops he has directed to remain in Afghanistan beyond this
year. According to our witnesses today, the Department of Defense has
trained, equipped and retained about 305,000 Afghan soldiers, at
enormous cost to our nation–and this number does not include those
soldiers who we were unable to retain. We need to responsibly
transition Afghanistan's security to these trained Afghan
forces. This is a transition I believe will actually increase the
chances for long-term success of the mission and will allow the United
States to bring our troops out of harm's way and end this costly and
unproductive war.”