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Military growing impatient with Obama on Afghanistan
Miami Herald ^ | 9/18/2009 | NANCY A. YOUSSEF

Posted on 09/18/2009 7:48:21 PM PDT by markomalley

Six months after it announced its strategy for Afghanistan, the Obama administration is sending mixed signals about its objectives there and how many troops are needed to achieve them.

The conflicting messages are drawing increasing ire from U.S. commanders in Afghanistan and frustrating military leaders, who are trying to figure out how to demonstrate that they're making progress in the 12-18 months that the administration has given them.

Adding to the frustration, according to officials in Kabul and Washington, are White House and Pentagon directives made over the last six weeks that Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, not submit his request for as many as 45,000 additional troops because the administration isn't ready for it.

In the last two weeks, top administration leaders have suggested that more American troops will be sent to Afghanistan, and then called that suggestion "premature." Earlier this month, Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that "time is not on our side"; on Thursday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates urged the public "to take a deep breath."

The White House didn't respond to requests for comment. Officials willing to speak did so only on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

In Kabul, some members of McChrystal's staff said they don't understand why Obama called Afghanistan a "war of necessity" but still hasn't given them the resources they need to turn things around quickly.

Three officers at the Pentagon and in Kabul told McClatchy Newspapers that the McChrystal they know would resign before he would stand behind a faltering policy that he thought would endanger his forces or the strategy.

(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; bho44; bhodod; cicobama; healthcare; islam; jointchiefs; mcchrystal; mhmmdnsm09182009; military; mullen; nationalsecurity; nsp; nspnationalsecurity; nss; obama; obamacare; palin; third100days; veterans
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To: markomalley
Gates danced around the question of when the administration would be ready to receive McChrystal's request, which was completed in late August. "We're working through the process by which we want that submitted," he said.

WTF?

61 posted on 09/18/2009 8:48:39 PM PDT by 1066AD
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To: exit82
Hear here! And no one knows how to buikd a working, durable guillotine for enemedia fifth column goons.
62 posted on 09/18/2009 8:49:27 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Dems, believing they cannot be deceived, it is impossible to convince them when they are deceived.)
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To: PAR
By not making a decision one way or another, Obama is personally responsible for deaths of American soldiers.
And he knows it.

I'm not sure that he does know. I sure hope he's hearing it from Jones and the JCS.

Hell, I doubt Obama knows the response McAuliffe gave to the Germans at Bastogne.

One thing I learned as a Butterbar Platoon Leader decades ago is you'll get less troops killed with a bad decision than no decision at all. Move, shoot, and communicate...that's the name of the game. If you ain't movin', you're a sitting duck.

Fortunately, I had great NCOs. And I was fortunate that the "light came on" after my first ARTEP (tac eval). Hey, I was no Patton, but I knew how to get 'er done, and my soldiers responded magnificently.

For example, I had the most inexperienced platoon, with 3 out of 4 squad leaders that were "acting jacks". Still, we were the only platoon in my battery to pass the biggest evaluation of the year.

Mr. President, tell your Teleprompter to lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way!

63 posted on 09/18/2009 8:51:35 PM PDT by Night Hides Not (If Dick Cheney = Darth Vader, then Joe Biden = Dark Helmet)
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To: unkus

Ecmcon, a special comunications unit, set up near El Paso, to help facilitate the revolt!


64 posted on 09/18/2009 8:53:42 PM PDT by Empireoftheatom48 (Zero will never be my President, never!!!!!)
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To: PAR
By not making a decision one way or another, Obama is personally responsible for deaths of American soldiers.

Don't encourage him.

65 posted on 09/18/2009 8:54:09 PM PDT by Cementjungle
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To: Empireoftheatom48

loose lips


66 posted on 09/18/2009 8:54:37 PM PDT by maine-iac7 ("He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help" Lincoln)
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To: Empireoftheatom48

Ecomcon, correct spelling.


67 posted on 09/18/2009 8:55:38 PM PDT by Empireoftheatom48 (Zero will never be my President, never!!!!!)
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To: Lancey Howard

Zer0 and Gates are both doing a tap dance to buy more time because Zer0 can’t make a decision. Either one is wrong for him in his eyes but our troops are paying the price with their blood each day these ROE are in effect. Mullen, Petraeus and McChrystal had better get his attention and get it fast.


68 posted on 09/18/2009 8:56:09 PM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: nufsed

I don’t think the Commanders in the field will put up with this B S for long. They’d better NOT!


69 posted on 09/18/2009 8:57:13 PM PDT by unkus
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To: maine-iac7

Elections have consequences, and the depth and size of the current consequences are growing exponentially in an obvious negative way in all spheres of perspective. Voices of concern are being ignored,generally. Now, NATO cooperating with the Russians just after the Poland missile defense debacle...what next? There are NO rules or understandings or policies that are not on the table for surprise upset, apparently. A blitzkreig of surrender or only slightly less dangerous indecision is not the answer. WIth victory continually debated and in doubt, this is not the time to add troops with only a larger supply or withdrawal problem. Direction from the top is not clear, ambivalent, and indecisive, and therefore, the enterprise is dangerously vulnerable to the US and its Allies. We are not doing so well with loyalty to Allies at this time.


70 posted on 09/18/2009 9:17:39 PM PDT by givemELL (Does Taiwan Meet the Criteria to Qualify as an "Overseas Territory of the United States"? by Richar)
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To: unkus

Yep.


71 posted on 09/18/2009 9:21:50 PM PDT by Eagles6 ( Typical White Guy: Christian, Constitutionalist, Heterosexual, Redneck. (Let them eat arugula!))
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To: ScottinVA
Pick one, dumba$$.

Sorry, this will have to wait until the tax payer funded date night with his "fashion czar".

72 posted on 09/18/2009 9:26:09 PM PDT by PistolPaknMama
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To: markomalley

Remember the words; “Our long national nightmare is over.” —President Gerald Ford


73 posted on 09/18/2009 9:27:53 PM PDT by onedoug
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The Mohammedan-in-Chief is still more afraid of the military than he is of us.

He’ll only pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq to install martial law here.


74 posted on 09/18/2009 9:30:02 PM PDT by decal (The Key To Flexibility is Indecision)
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To: maine-iac7

That is ENTIRELY possible.


75 posted on 09/18/2009 9:35:36 PM PDT by milagro
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To: nufsed

Let’s just deploy the 1st and 2nd Code Pink Brigades over there to Nag the Tallies into submission. < / Sarc & Sick Humor


76 posted on 09/18/2009 9:38:33 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country! What else needs said?)
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To: Parley Baer
"From what I read the “new” policy of engagement has cost American lives."

Here's the first example of it:

http://www.military.com/news/article/ambushed-marines-aid-call-rejected.html?col=1186032325324&ESRC=airforce-a.nl

The U.S. troops (4 killed Marines) had to wait more than an hour for attack helicopters to come to their aid and their appeal for artillery fire was rejected, with commanders citing new rules designed to avoid civilian casualties, the report said.

77 posted on 09/18/2009 9:53:59 PM PDT by oldbill
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To: markomalley

BULLSHIITE!!!,,,

Bomb the Poppy fields and the Poppy farmers!!!

B-52 Time!!!...


78 posted on 09/18/2009 9:56:36 PM PDT by 1COUNTER-MORTER-68 (THROWING ANOTHER BULLET-RIDDLED TV IN THE PILE OUT BACK~~~~~)
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To: markomalley
I really wish they would stop pressuring the poor boy. Don't they realize his job is hard enough, what with all those spooning interviews he has to do? Gov't-run death care is so much important than protecting the country from another Taliban-inspired terrorist attack.

Honestly, if we make it thru these next few years without another attack, it's proof-positive that God exists.

But in the meantime, I sincerely hope that _resident jOker is developing ulcers the size of Jupiter.

79 posted on 09/18/2009 10:14:05 PM PDT by kromike
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To: maine-iac7
They were REFUSED air cover ...

Sounds eerily similar to Lib/Dem support for the Cuban expatriots at the Bay of Pigs...

80 posted on 09/18/2009 10:24:05 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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