On the recordFebruary 2, 2012
It's Groundhog Day. Phil saw his shadow this morning, and winter will last 6 more weeks. But what comes to mind for me is that old Bill Murray movie called ``Groundhog Day,'' where he wakes up and the same thing happens day after day after day. We're living our own version of ``Groundhog Day'' right now, because every morning, for the last 3,700-plus mornings, the American people have woken to a Nation at war. {time} 1010 Every morning, we've woken up to the same scenario--thousands and thousands of our fellow Americans in harm's way, occupying a foreign nation as part of a reckless policy that is costing us at least $10 billion a month. There was some encouraging news, however, just yesterday as Secretary of Defense Panetta said that our combat role in Afghanistan would be over as soon as the middle of next year, which is a year earlier than we've been talking about. That would be a long overdue but welcome development, a belated recognition that this war is doing more harm than good in every way we're involved. I'll believe it when I see it, though. The goalposts have been moved too many times to put much confidence in a single statement. What I've heard so far is a little too vague to take to the bank, especially since Secretary Panetta maintains that some troops would still remain through 2014 in an advisory role and that the commander on the ground, just this morning, is reported on the news as sounding less than enthusiastic in his response.…
