AchTung!
Posted on 09/19/2009 7:09:27 AM PDT by MestaMachine
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.> snip
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. >snip
The White House still hasn't decided how much political capital it wants to invest in Afghanistan, and it considers a health care overhaul, financial regulatory revisions and energy policy its priorities, the senior defense official said.
In Kabul, however, U.S. commanders said they thought that Obama's strategy was based on McChrystal's assessment of what he needs. "We thought that bringing McChrystal here was their strategy," one said.
Those officials said that taking time could be costly because the U.S. risked losing the Afghans' support. "Dithering is just as destructive as 10 car bombs," the senior official in Kabul said. "They have seen us leave before. They are really good at picking the right side to ally with."
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
The above post was from THIS
Afghan husbands allowed to starve their wives if she refuses sex under new law
thread.
Sorry, but this can NOT be what our blood and treasure is being sacrificed for.
“I wish the military would grow impatient about Obama’s undocumented status.”
I wish the military would arrest him and convene a firing squad. Both of us can dream on....
Please don’t apologize. I agree 100%. Islam is not what America is about and does not deserve our blood or money.
“The White House still hasn’t decided how much political capital it wants to invest in Afghanistan, “
And that dear readers, is how a liberal Democrat fights a war.
Bring our brave young people home then Obama, you jackass.
AchTung!
If you supply a war for an HONEST President and Congress who are acting in the best interest of our country instead of doing everything they can to wreck it, and we fight without both hands tied behind our backs, we can win and win easily. Have you heard about the ridiculous rules of engagement Obama has instituted? We can’t attack or shoot back if there is a possibility that civilians could get hurt. How ignorant is that when your enemy has ALWAYS made a practice of hiding behind civilians, particularyly women and children. We didn’t lose ground while Bush was in office and we were fighting two wars at once.
I thinks it makes a lot of sense to fight them over there. Offense is the best defense. That is why I thought Iraq was really a good idea. Heck, the muzzies were coming to us from all over the world to fight us there, and not here in the US. It doesn’t get better than that. If we go after them, they are not going to be fighting over here and we will have to endure and unending stream of terrorist pot shots. Look no futher than what has happened to Israel over the years.
Bankrupt? Think about how the economy reacted in the immediate wake of 9-11. Does your memory not last longer than a minute? Go on defense and we will have a regular stream of terrorist attacks. You will then see just how bad our our economy can get.
Radical Islam must be defeated no matter what it takes. In case you haven’t figured it out, they are playing for keeps. It is either us or them. They will not quit. For the sake of the world, I hope we won’t quit.
He never had it in him to win in Afghanistan. Remember, when he was campaigning, Iraq was at the forefront and it belonged to GWB, things were clicking along in Afghanistan. He made it his war, now the reality is crashing in on him. As usual it was all just talk with no idea of what to do. This is a disgrace to our military and a deadly game to be playing with OUR family and friends that are over there!!!!
Because conservatives can think past the next minute and understand the threat, to Obama, our military are pawns in his political chess game. He could care less about them and that is a fact!!
There is a Japanese best selling book out this week. I saw it in a bookstore, the premise being that Obama is not going to last two years as President. And it seems to be along this (military) line, but I am not going to go into further detail; I will seek that book out again next week and read its premise, but the title was stunning enough.
Now this idiotic work of art, in less than 7 months, has FIVE FORMER CIA DIRECTORS all publicly arrayed against the guy (you can be sure that is the tip of the iceberg). That cant be good (for him at least).
He feels war there will interfere with his war against Americans.
There is a lot of false nostalgia here. Bush left office only nine months ago. The Taliban was already gaining ground then. Somalia was a complete disaster under Bush. in fact, becaame the leading crisis on the continent under his watch. He sent in the Ethiopians to topple the existing government and chaos resulted. Bush then began addiing elements of the very Islamic Courts movement he toppled to install a new government.
I don't share your apparent faith in the ability of big government (whether led by Bush or Obama) to police the world.
Yes, but Bush ALSO opposed sending in more troops....so what the hell do people want??? More troops? Fewer troops? Getting the hell out?? (the best solution IMHO) Or just aimless venting??
I agreed with an earlier poster that we cannot afford to lose in Afghanistan and that the consequences would be devastating. Then I simply added that the die was cast; America sealed that fate last November. No, I don't argue that Bush was winning in Afghanistan last November (back in 07/07 I was sending out Michael Yon's dispatches warning that Afghanistan was slipping away to anybody I knew who cared), but I will argue that the current administration will fumble that entire enterprise and pursue foreign objectives that will have horrible consequences for an entire stretch of the globe from Indonesia to Western Africa, as well as to us.
What we need to do in Afghanistan is burn every opium poppy field to the ground and if they replant it, we burn it again. Don’t need troops on the ground for that.
We bomb from the air every hillside, every mountain range, and if anything moves, bomb it again. Seal their borders. Then let them fight themselves to death because they will never accept us, and why would WE want them to?
AND we should inform the government of Pakistan that if they cannot or will not get their act together, their nukes are stirfried and so are they.
But, see, it won’t happen because the powers that be are making a fortune from the opium and heroin. And since that is the case, our Troops SHOULD be out of there without a look back. But that won’t happen either because they don’t care about our Troops.
As long as there is a market for what Afghanistan exports, our brothers, sons, daughters, sisters will be put into harm’s way to protect it anywhere and everywhere. It is why we went to Kosovo and supported the KLA.
Let the light shine on the truth because THAT is the truth.
I am reliably told by eye witnesses that the American troops are forbidden to shoot back (when under fire), to put to magazines in weapons when on patrol, or even load ammo in magazines unless the JAG/legal administrators back in headquarters are informed AND give the OK to load weapons EACH TIME.......
BTTT
“I agreed with an earlier poster that we cannot afford to lose in Afghanistan and that the consequences would be devastating.”
No need to “lose.” But no need for Troops on the ground either. How do you lose what you never had and can never win?
Thank you for your post, Sir. I have been told pretty much the same thing. I’ve been on the receiving end of quite a bit of flack for trying to move this story, this TRUTH which no one seems to want to believe.
I have been trying since before Fallujah to get the truth out when we KNEW the Brits were collaborating with Iran in the south...stalling with the minesweeping operation because they expected to retain control of the port as their spoils. That is why they agreed to go in in the first place.
There is so much the American people do not know or understand.
“...And it seems to be along this (military) line, but I am not going to go into further detail; I will seek that book out again next week and read its premise, but the title was stunning enough.”
Keep us posted on that please. (My Japanese is a little rusty.;))
Seriously, let us know if it has any nuggets.
“Incoming Tokyo government threatens split with US”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2340746/posts
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