Free Republic

New military rules of engagement ostensibly to protect Afghan civilians are putting the lives of U.S. forces in jeopardy, claim Army and Marine sources, as the Taliban learns to game plan based the rules' imposed limits. The rules of engagement, or ROEs, apply to all coalition forces of the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Their enactment is in response to Afghan President Hamid Karzai's complaints over mounting civilian deaths apparently occurring in firefights. Despite the fact that the newly arrived U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, imposed the more restrictive ROEs to minimize the killing of...

Gen. Stanley McChrystal's long-awaited testimony before Congress on the Afghanistan "surge" was, according to one account, "uneventful." The general himself, another story noted, was "a study in circumspection." And questioning from lawmakers was, said a third, "gentle." That's a nice word for it. "Ineffectual" is more like it. Throw in "callous," too, given House members' obligations to constituents in the war zone, operating under what are surely the most restrictive rules of engagement (ROE) in U.S. history. But not a single lawmaker appears to have ventured one question about these dangerously disarming ROEs, which, in Gen. McChrystal's controversial view, are...

FORT CAMPBELL, Kentucky — The highest-ranking military officer in the United States on Monday told soldiers, including many bound for Afghanistan, that he expects casualties to rise next year as additional U.S. troops pour into the war.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama's order to surge 30,000 troops into Afghanistan presents the US military with a giant logistical challenge as it faces some of the most forbidding terrain in the world. With few paved roads and a vast, rugged landscape, moving soldiers and equipment into Afghanistan "is a bigger challenge than certainly was the case in Iraq," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last month. Fulfilling Obama's vow to send troops at the "fastest pace possible," the first units of the buildup are due to arrive within two to three weeks, and the military plans to have all...

Washington (CNN) – A leading Republican strategist and one-time aide to former Vice President Cheney said Sunday that President Obama’s recently announced decision to send an additional 30, 000 troops to Afghanistan is “a reassertion of the Bush doctrine.” “The [Bush] doctrine is no safe havens [for terrorists intent on harming the United States] and we go after those that provide a harbor [for such terrorists]. That’s the doctrine,” Republican strategist Mary Matalin explained Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. Obama’s decision to surge additional troops into Afghanistan is “solid policy,’ in Matalin’s view and “a reassertion of the...

Some parishioners in the Church of Obama discovered last week that their spiritual leader is a false prophet Consider the blow suffered by the liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, who issued a plaintive plea to the president on the eve of his announcement that he was sending 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. By escalating the war, Moore wrote: "[Y]ou will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your...

Obama told us throughout the 2008 campaign that Afghanistan was the war we should be fighting. The conflict where we supposedly took our eyes off the ball (even though Bush handed control over to NATO long ago, as the left wanted) and the conflict where most of our resources should go to. So he becomes President and nominated McChrystal to head it up and sent over 21,000 more troops. He then told McChrystal that his mission was to destroy the Taliban. Then he forgot all about Afghanistan as he pursued his Socialist utopian dreams onto this country. Well, McChrystal took...

President Barack Obama's attempt to clarify his July 2011 deadline for a US departure from Afghanistan has resulted in more confusion and will dilute Pakistan's commitment to fighting the Taliban, Senator John McCain has told The Daily Telegraph. Sen McCain, who has led criticism in Washington over the President's most controversial element said that senior administration officials had only contradicted each other when trying to explain how the timeline for the beginning of a US troop withdrawal would work in practice. "Since the President made his speech we have not had further clarification, in fact we have had further contradiction,"...

Hovering in the shadows of President Barack Obama's decision last week to ramp up the nation's war effort in Afghanistan, even as he promises to bring it to a swift conclusion, are ghosts of another decision, made 44 years ago by a Texan in the White House. In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson took ownership of a war he, like Obama, had inherited. Gen. William Westmoreland wanted more troops in Vietnam, and after a protracted debate within the White House, Johnson sent them. Over the next three years, he would send hundreds of thousands more and launch a carpet-bombing campaign against...

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato Secretary General, said he had received commitments from 25 countries and details would be announced in the coming weeks. He said he also expected more pledges to follow an international conference on Afghanistan in January. Yesterday's meeting of Nato ministers in Brussels raised an extra 3,200 troops on top of the 3,800 soldiers pledged in the last month, including 500 from Britain and 1,000 from Italy. It came as Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State, called on the alliance to rally behind the American-led surge of troops planned in 2010. "This is our fight,...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2009 – More than 1,000 International Security Assistance Force troops are partnering with Afghan forces to begin a large-scale operation in northern Helmand province. About 900 U.S. Marines and sailors and British forces began partnering today with 150 Afghan soldiers and police to start Operation Khareh Cobra, or Cobra’s Anger, to clear insurgent forces in the Now Zad valley. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 7 and 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion are partnered with Afghan army and police. The forces began helicopter and ground operations in the Now Zad valley early this morning. Now...

After a full three months of damaging dither, Obama has finally announced his strategy for Afghanistan. It is nothing less than surrender dressed up in deepest, blood-boltered hypocrisy. The media have reported the headline announcement of an extra 30,000 troops as if he has finally junked his anti-war persona and turned into George W Bush reborn. Even some hawks who should know better are purring that he has finally done the right thing in committing America more fully to fighting and winning the war in Afghanistan. Are they all nuts? This is nothing of the kind. Obama’s speech amounted to...

We shall fight in the air, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields, we shall fight in the hills — for 18 months. Then we start packing for home. We shall never surrender — unless the war gets too expensive, in which case, we shall quote Eisenhower on "the need to maintain balance in and among national programs" and then insist that "we can't simply afford to ignore the price of these wars." The quotes are from President Obama's West Point speech announcing the Afghanistan troop surge. What a strange speech it was —...

Three months ago, I joined a number of Americans in urging President Obama to provide the resources necessary to achieve our goals in Afghanistan. Tonight, I am glad he mostly heeded that advice........

President Obama May Not Remember Vietnam Turmoil WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama insists that his decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan by sending in 30,000 more troops is not Vietnam all over again. Well, it sure reminds me of the perils and the price of that unwinnable war in Southeast Asia and the political chaos it wreaked at home. In Afghanistan, the designated enemies are remnants of the weakened al-Qaida network and the native Taliban, which has been growing in strength despite the eight-year war started by President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 catastrophe....

The ladies (and I use that term sparingly) at Code Pink are calling Obama’s escalation of the Afghanistan War a “devastating announcement”. Looks like maybe President Obama’s attempt to smooth things over by blaming Bush just isn’t going to cut it with the radical left. Yeah, they hate Bush, and they’re willing to let him shoulder the blame for just about anything, but that doesn’t mean their stance on the war has changed just because Obama’s now in charge. The following quote is from the Code Pink website, and yes I needed to shower after going there: Let’s tell Obama:...

While the smoke rises from the Capitol building where the health care debate proceeds, Obama is losing his political base on the left. His decision to send 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan, an odd move for a peace candidate, his failure to close Guantanamo, our continued military presence in Iraq, and his failure to act on liberal priorities like gays in the military and immigration reform are all sapping his support from those who voted for him. And, even in the health care debate, the under-30 voters are learning that they are targeted -- just like the elderly -- for...

Earlier today I wondered whether President Obama's speech about Afghanistan would sound more like a description of a war plan or a structured settlement of a legal dispute. What I heard tonight tilted decidedly in the latter direction. To be precise, the speech sounded to me like a slick lawyer trying to sell a dubious settlement to a skeptical client or, in this case, set of clients. Consistent with slick salesmanship - as well as the president's character - the speech was quite self-referential. Providing a potted history of our military efforts in the war on terrorism, Obama took shots...

AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ VETERANS NOT READY TO SUPPORT OBAMA STRATEGY IN AFGHANISTANUsually supportive of administration, largest progressive veterans group in America has serious questions about future of War in Afghanistan following Obama speech WASHINGTON -- Veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are not ready to support the strategy for the war in Afghanistan, laid out by President Obama this evening, saying they had serious reservations and questions about it.  The veterans of VoteVets.org, the largest progressive group of veterans in America, said that the strategy left unanswered too many questions regarding strain on the Armed Forces, and...

All he meant, I take it, is that the current commander-in-chief might not be Mr. Popularity among the presumably hawkish, right-leaning majority of cadets. But when your mouth is bigger than your brain, this is what happens. Twitter’s already buzzing about it so have at it. Exit question: How soon before the public apology? Middle segment on tomorrow night’s “Hardball”? Opening segment? Or does he take to the airwaves tomorrow morning and do the deed on “Morning Joe”?

Here is video of Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters tonight saying she is "saddened" that a "bright, articulate" President Obama has decided to send more troops to Afghanistan. Waters said Obama's strategy "doesn't work for me," and that she "will not support" Obama's efforts. Waters indicated Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee feels the same way. . . . (VIDEO)

Obama made his loooooooong anticipated speech tonight on Afghanistan and announced he would send 30,000 troops to help fight the war and then announced a date to withdraw hereby officially dooming this war to the same fate as Vietnam: President Obama, in a speech that could define the rest of his presidency, announced Tuesday that he was sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan with plans to start withdrawing them in July 2011, a move intended to appease the military, a war-weary public, and anti-war liberals. President Obama boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., as he travels...

MSNBC's Chris Matthews says President Obama went into "enemy camp" when he delivered his Afghanistan speech at West Point.

Just-obtained excerpts of tonight's Afghanistan strategy speech by President Barack Obama seem to indicate the strategy is no strategy at all. As evidenced in the sentence below, it's both a withdrawal and an announcement of a timetable for beating feet out of the stone-age nation: "Taken together, these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011.

Here is video of Charles Krauthammer on "Special Report" questioning if Obama is "committed to success" in Afghanistan. Krauthammer said a timetable for withdrawal sends a bad signal to our allies in Afghanistan by saying "in 18 months the Americans are going to start to leave, and you will be left naked against the Taliban, who will be angry if you help the Americans during the 18 months." (Video)

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama will announce Tuesday he'll deploy 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan "at the fastest pace possible" with a goal of starting to withdraw forces from the country in July 2011. "The 30,000 additional troops that I am announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010 ... so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers," Obama will say, according to excerpts from his speech at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. Obama will say that the additional U.S. forces "will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility...

Administration Outlines Afghan War Endgame Official: U.S. troops will start leaving region 'well before' end of first term NBC News and news services WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan over six months, an accelerated timetable — with an endgame built in — that would have the first Marines there as early as Christmas, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. U.S. troops are expected to start leaving the region 'well before' the end of Obama's first term, the AP reported Tuesday. A senior government official told NBC contributor Col. Jack Jacobs that...

Live from New York...it's Barack Obama!On the banks of the Hudson River at West Point, Obama will give his military strategy for Afghanistan, based on the tactical genius of Capt. Spaulding, aka Groucho Marx:Hello, I Must Be GoingOh dear, he is coming, At last he's here. (Spaulding) Hello, I must be going, I cannot stay, I came to say, I must be going. I'm glad I came, but just the same I must be going. La La. (Mrs. Rittenhouse) For my sake you must stay. If you should go away, You'd spoil this party I am throwing. (Spaulding) I'll stay...

thought with this administration we were going to get our coalition partners to be on equal footing with us? Officials in Brussels says Obama will be asking Nato allies to provide up to 10,000 extra troops. Asking? How about a demand… and if you don’t we pull out and you all can fight this stinking war yourselves! The US currently has 68,000 troops in Afghanistan, with foreign forces overall totalling more than 100,000. The additional American soldiers are expected to focus on tackling the Taliban in volatile southern and eastern Afghanistan. A senior Pentagon official said the new troops will...

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama intends to conclude the Afghanistan war and withdraw most U.S. troops within three years, according to senior administration officials. Obama is sending 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and ordering military officials to get the reinforcements there within six months, White House officials told CNN Tuesday. Obama will travel to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, later Tuesday to officially announce his plans. It would to be his second escalation of U.S. forces in the war-torn Islamic country since he came to power in January. The president also is seeking further troop commitments...

Democratic Rep. John Murtha — just back from a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan — said Monday that he never got a clear definition of what constitutes an “achievable victory” for the United States and fears that American commanders are assuming more time for the war effort than voters at home will allow. “I am still very nervous about this whole thing,” Murtha told POLITICO. “If you had 10 years, it might work; if you had five, you could make a difference. But you don’t have that long.” A top Democrat on military matters, the Pennsylvania lawmaker captures the skepticism facing...

The Pentagon is gearing up for a significant troop deployment as we near the official announcement tomorrow night of President Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy, which he delivered to his top advisors in a Sunday meeting at the White House. After all the media hoopla generated by a very public disconnect between Gen. Stanley McChrystal and the President over plans for a new Afghanistan strategy, it looks like McChrystal is getting what he wanted. According to a report from CNN, the U.S. military is preparing to send approximately 34,000 additional troops to the Afghan theater. This number stands significantly higher...

President Obama ordered top military leaders to begin carrying out his new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, a move that is believed to include the deployment of more than 30,000 additional troops into the eight year old conflict, the White House confirmed Monday. In a 5 p.m. Oval Office meeting Sunday with his defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his top military commanders, Mr. Obama "communicated the final decision on the strategy and issued orders as to the strategy's implementation," said Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. "The commander in chief delivered the orders," Mr. Gibbs...

The US military will deploy up to 9,000 Marines to Afghanistan's Helmand province -- doubling US presence there -- in the days after President Barack Obama's war strategy announcement this week, the Washington Post said Saturday. Citing senior US officials, the daily said the extra Marines won't move to the restive southern province until after Obama's address to the nation Tuesday from the prestigious West Point military academy in New York state. The aim is to regain a footing in the region that has been a base for a fierce Taliban insurgency in recent months. Some 1,000 army trainers will...

WASHINGTON — As President Barack Obama prepares to announce his long-awaited decision on Afghanistan, many war-weary Democrats in Congress are holding their tongues, uneasy about the possibility of a troop surge but wanting to give Obama space to make a defining decision of his presidency. San Jose's Mike Honda is not one of them. "I would oppose it," said the soft-spoken, unassuming Democratic congressman, who has emerged as a leading voice of progressives in Congress who oppose a troop buildup in Afghanistan. Though his position is consistent with his liberal bent on most issues, Honda does not relish standing in...

As If Making The Afghanistan Announcement From West Point Fools Anyone It has been close to 90 days since the demands made by General McCrystal were aired, and the leisurely process seems to be finally winding down despite itself. The healthcare plan has passed the initial hurdle to get to the Senate floor, so the field is clear to make an announcement on troop strength and strategy. Now if this was a war the way that WWII was a war and President Obama was a general, we would have been in big trouble. If every decision that is "critical" takes...

believe that Republicans are poised to cement their complete opposition to everything Obama and reap a huge political win by twisting their political principles to oppose further escalation of troops in Afghanistan. Unless, of course, Obama can be convinced not to send more troops. Obama’s decision about whether to send more troops in Afghanistan is expected on December 1st, and he may well be going with an increase of around 30,000 towards a war we don’t have a way to win. We’ve reached a crucial juncture. More troops to Afghanistan would be a disaster, both over there and politically over...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will not be in Afghanistan eight years from now, the White House said on Wednesday, as President Barack Obama prepared to explain to Americans next week why he is expanding the war effort. After months of deliberation and fending off Republican charges that he was dithering on Afghanistan while violence there surged, Obama will address the nation on Tuesday on the way forward in the costly and unpopular eight-year war. He is expected to announce he is sending about 30,000 more troops as part of a new counterinsurgency strategy that will place greater emphasis...

That’s according to unnamed “military sources,” although under the circumstances, anonymous intermediaries may be more credible than an on-the-record interview. For obvious reasons, McChrystal couldn’t object to this publicly even if he wanted to, especially given the uproar after his speech in London. Even better: Assuming NBC’s tipsters are right, there’s no timetable for withdrawal in The One’s plan. That’s a great relief given the emphasis on “off-ramps” lately.

US President Barack Obama is widely expected to announce next week that he favours sending more than 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan, in a momentous decision for his presidency. At an appearance on Tuesday with Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, Mr Obama said that after eight years in which the US did not have “either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job”. He added: ”the whole world... has a core security interest in making sure that the kind of extremism and violence that you’ve seen emanating from this region...

Afghanistan: Word is out that President Obama will send 34,000 reinforcements for our military in Afghanistan. It's better than expected, but mere numbers aren't victory. A strategy and a will to win are. Still no word on that. White House leakers Tuesday disclosed that President Barack Obama will dispatch the troops and make a televised announcement about his decision on Dec. 1. After months of dithering, it's coming in just under the wire for what Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal called a limited time frame for a chance of victory. Maybe it will make it. The numbers are stingy, given...

President Barack Obama met Monday evening with his national security team to finalize a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional U.S. troops over the next year to what he's called "a war of necessity" in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told McClatchy. Obama is expected to announce his long-awaited decision on Dec. 1, followed by meetings on Capitol Hill aimed at winning congressional support amid opposition by some Democrats who are worried about the strain on the U.S. Treasury and whether Afghanistan has become a quagmire, the officials said. The U.S. officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized...

President Obama makes no effort to conceal irritation when the first question he's asked in Asia is about what's taking him so long on Afghanistan. Photo: AP SHANGHAI, China – President Barack Obama made no effort to conceal his irritation when his press corps used the first question of his maiden Far East trip to ask what was taking him so long on Afghanistan. Jennifer Loven of The Associated Press had asked: “Can you explain to people watching and criticizing your deliberations what piece of information you're still lacking to make that call.” “With respect to Afghanistan, Jennifer,” the...

In a press release about his recent trip to Afghanistan, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan asked the public for its views on American policy. Florida Veterans for Common Sense agrees with Buchanan that the Obama administration should consider all options for troop levels in Afghanistan. But our organization considers the recommendation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal to increase troop levels by 40,000 to be the worst option. We are extremely proud of our troops, and there is no doubt they are highly skilled and motivated. Yet, no matter how well our soldiers execute their orders, they cannot prevail if the mission is...

The U.S. ambassador in Kabul sent two classified cables to Washington in the last week expressing deep concerns about sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan until Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government demonstrates that it is willing to tackle the corruption and mismanagement that has fueled the Taliban's rise, said senior U.S. officials. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry's memos were sent in the days leading up to a critical meeting Wednesday between President Obama and his national security team to consider several options prepared by military planners for how to proceed in Afghanistan. The proposals, which mark the last stage of a...

President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration official said Wednesday. Obama is still close to announcing his revamped war strategy — most likely shortly after he returns from a trip to Asia that ends on Nov. 19. But the president raised questions at a war council meeting Wednesday that could alter the dynamic of both how many additional troops are sent to Afghanistan and what...

Barack Obama will likely hold off deciding his strategy and troop strength levels until December, according to a New York Times report on his upcoming meeting Wednesday with his national security advisers.That would make four months since Obama's hand-picked Afghan General Stanley McChrystal made an urgent request in August for 40,000 to 80,000 reinforcements, warning the war would be lost within twelve months without them.Obama recently asked for new troop level options and for reports on the provincial Afghan governments.Obama has made numerous excuses for delaying his decision, most prominent of them the election controversy over Hamid Karzai's reelection as...

<p>MSNBC and Bloomberg are reporting that the Obama administration is denying reports by CBS News and the AP that Obama has decided to send nearly 40,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan.</p> <p>Both outlets report that Obama has not received final recommendations from his advisers and he would then need time to review them.</p>

A whopping 70% of Americans — including 52% of Democrats as well as 88% of Republicans and 73% of Independents — think the Obama administration does not have a clear plan for Afghanistan, according to the latest IBD/TIPP Poll. But then, the public itself seems unsure of the best course of action in the nine-year-old conflict. Americans continue to oppose an immediate troop withdrawal, with even Democrats opposing such an action by 52% to 45%. But in contrast to last month, more now believe the war is unwinnable and oppose sending more troops and resources. Forty-eight percent are now...

(CBS) Tonight, after months of conferences with top advisors, President Obama has settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the president will send a lot more troops and plans to keep a large force there, long term. The president still has more meetings scheduled on Afghanistan, but informed sources tell CBS News he intends to give Gen. Stanley McChrystal most, if not all, the additional troops he is asking for. McChrystal wanted 40,000 and the president has tentatively decided to send four combat brigades plus thousands more support troops. A senior officer says...