Columbians weigh in ahead of Obama's speech

COLUMBIA — President Barack Obama is expected to announce Tuesday night in a speech from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point that he will send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

We asked Columbians what they thought about the expected troop escalation and the United States’ role in Afghanistan. Check back for more during the day.

• Kathy Sapp, homemaker: She supports sending more troops. “I think that’s what they should do. They have been asking for them for a long time. Those guys need help,” she said.

• Gabrielle Ellul, 19, MU student: "I understand that we need to help countries get back on their feet, but its their country, and every country has their own problems and sometimes we shouldn't stick our noses in them. But I totally, 100 percent, support the troops."
  

• Steve Buckels: He isn’t fond of President Obama sending more troops abroad. “I don’t like it," he said. "He ran a campaign of getting troops out and reducing the forces in the Middle East. I don’t like the idea of sending 30,000 more troops.”
  

• Ted Glasgow, 43, works in the Physical Therapy Department at Boone County Hospital: He supports the decision to send more troops and emphasized the importance of building strong relationships with the people of Afghanistan. "As opposed to changing people, we need to become their friends and allies. Instead of telling them what to do, we need to work with them and help them achieve their goals," he said.
• Ken Sloan, 55, Air Force veteran: "There had been a lot of debate about where troops have been in the first place. Afghanistan or Iraq? The Taliban and Al-Qaeda is strong there. While war is dreadful and people lose lives, compared to other wars we've been involved in, casualties from other wars are more. I appreciate the effort to decide a strategy. Not only to send more, but an exit strategy as well."
• Rickie "Slikie" Williams, 53, Army veteran: "If it has to come to war for peace, to get the situation stable. T, then get peace and pull out."

Missourian reporters Alee Quick, Catherine O'Neill, Bethany Jones, Tanya Ortiz, Maggie Menderski and Katie Maupin contributed to this report.