Apparently they areconfused.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday that many Europeans are confused about NATO’s security mission in Afghanistan, and that they do not support the alliance effort because they opposed the American-led invasion of Iraq.

“I worry that for many Europeans the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan are confused,” Mr. Gates said as he flew here to deliver an address at an international security conference.

“I think that they combine the two,” Mr. Gates added. “Many of them, I think, have a problem with our involvement in Iraq, and project that to Afghanistan, and do not understand the very different — for them — the very different kind of threat.”

Gee, I wonder how they became so utterly confused. Perhaps it was statements like this?Chimpy, January 31, 2008:

And the two most evident places that that’s happening right now is in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both those countries are part of the war on terror. These aren’t separate, you know, wars; they’re part of the same war; different theaters, certainly different circumstances, but the outcome is essential for our security.

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