Obama Facing New Pressure From Left on Afghanistan

New questions are being raised about U.S. domestic support for the war in Afghanistan in the wake of leaked secret documents about the war and a recent congressional vote on funding for the conflict.

30 July 2010

President Barack Obama (file)

It has been a difficult week for supporters of the war in Afghanistan.

NATO announced that six more U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan, bringing the death toll for July to at least 66 and surpassing the previous month's record as the deadliest for American forces in the nearly nine-year-old war.

But the focus was on the secret military documents leaked by the Internet website WikiLeaks that highlighted the military difficulties in Afghanistan.

Longtime liberal critics of the war in Congress, like Democratic Representative Lynn Woolsey of California, took the opportunity to weigh in.

"I believe this war to be a tragic failure that continues to undermine rather than advance our national security interests," Woolsey said. "The American people are running out of patience, and with 114 members of the House [of Representatives] voting this week against the war spending supplemental [funding bill], Congress is beginning to catch up to the public."

Woolsey referred to a House vote on a war funding bill for Afghanistan and Iraq. The bill passed by a margin of 308 to 114, but 102 Democrats and 12 Republicans voted no. Last year on a similar bill, only 32 Democrats voted no.