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Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War
nytimes.com ^ | September 23,009 | Kevin Wolf

Posted on 09/23/2009 5:47:06 AM PDT by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!

WASHINGTON — President Obama is exploring alternatives to a major troop increase in Afghanistan, including a plan advocated by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda there and in Pakistan, officials said Tuesday.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who spoke Tuesday in National Harbor, Md., wants to scale back troops in Afghanistan.

The options under review are part of what administration officials described as a wholesale reconsideration of a strategy the president announced with fanfare just six months ago. Two new intelligence reports are being conducted to evaluate Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials said.

The sweeping reassessment has been prompted by deteriorating conditions on the ground, the messy and still unsettled outcome of the Afghan elections and a dire report by Mr. Obama’s new commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

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


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: afghan; afghen; bho44; biden; foreign; frontpage; government; mhmmdnsm09232009; obamatruthfiles; war; weakforeignpolicy
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To: NoObamaFightForConservatives
Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War

He is going to shift from neglect to failure just like most of his policies.

21 posted on 09/23/2009 6:00:27 AM PDT by paulycy (Screw the RACErs.)
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To: NoObamaFightForConservatives

Obama is using the Bruce Lee strategy - way is no way, strategy is no strategy!!


22 posted on 09/23/2009 6:03:20 AM PDT by broken_arrow1 (I regret that I have but one life to give for my country - Nathan Hale "Patriot")
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To: NoObamaFightForConservatives
Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War

Zerø has a strategy?

23 posted on 09/23/2009 6:04:46 AM PDT by TLI ( ITINERIS IMPENDEO VALHALLA)
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To: NoObamaFightForConservatives

I just have a simple question - why, in almost ten years time, have we not been able to create an Afghan military capable of protecting the government and defending it against the taliban?


24 posted on 09/23/2009 6:06:57 AM PDT by reagan_fanatic (Welcome to the Revolution.)
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To: NoObamaFightForConservatives
Yeah, that'll work out just awesome!

Turn a blind eye to the Taliban, let them run roughshod over Afghanistan, while we try to cherry pick al Q, repeatedly going across the border to Pak.

What a great idea!

And if, for some inconceivable reason, it doesn't work, plan B can be surrender.

25 posted on 09/23/2009 6:07:24 AM PDT by End Times Sentinel (In Memory of my Dear Friend Henry Lee II)
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To: TLI

“Zerø has a strategy? “

Yep! How to hand America to it’s enemies on a silver platter!!


26 posted on 09/23/2009 6:08:09 AM PDT by timetostand
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To: NoObamaFightForConservatives

Too few troops so time to scale down forces? IMO we have enough forces and firepower there now if they were allowed to wage, as nearly as feasible, all-out, no holds barred war, ala WWII. Were there civilian casualties in WWII? Of course, lots of them. Was the enemy allowed refuge among civilians? Of course not. And were there sanctuaries which were off limits? Again, of couse not. So long as the ROE make our (and allied) troops hesitant to attack locations known to harbor the enemy, can fire only when fired upon (restrictions unheard of in WWII), and the enemy is allowed off-limits sanctuaries, the war can’t be won no matter how many troops are sent.


27 posted on 09/23/2009 6:08:37 AM PDT by luvbach1 (Worse than we could have imagined.)
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To: bobsatwork

“scale back American forces and focus more on rooting out Al Qaeda...”

More fighting with fewer troops-the Doublethink mentality of this administration continues to validate George Orwell’s prediction of a mega-fascist state that openly tells contradictory lies.


28 posted on 09/23/2009 6:09:26 AM PDT by Spok
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To: SampleMan
Surrender could theoretically be considered a "strategy" of sorts ... but it's a damn stupid one.

Considering the source (0bama/Biden), though, what do we expect?

29 posted on 09/23/2009 6:10:10 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: NoObamaFightForConservatives

BO has ordered his white flag from the French. He has not idea how to fight a war but he can dig up voters along with ACORN.


30 posted on 09/23/2009 6:10:28 AM PDT by Piquaboy (Military veteran of 22 years in Navy, Air Force, and Army.)
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To: reagan_fanatic

There is no “Afghanistan””- just a bunch of tribes with flags engaging in endless blood feuds and opium is about the region’s only significant export

Anyone “enlightened” by western thought or education emigrated a long time ago


31 posted on 09/23/2009 6:12:54 AM PDT by silverleaf (If we are astroturf, why are the democrats trying to mow us?)
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To: NoObamaFightForConservatives

Biden’s plan???????????????????


32 posted on 09/23/2009 6:13:53 AM PDT by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified Decartes))
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To: NoObamaFightForConservatives
http://www.cfr.org/publication/18952/

"Good morning. Today, I am announcing a comprehensive, new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This marks the conclusion of a careful policy review that I ordered as soon as I took office. My Administration has heard from our military commanders and diplomats. We have consulted with the Afghan and Pakistani governments; with our partners and NATO allies; and with other donors and international organizations. And we have also worked closely with members of Congress here at home. Now, I’d like to speak clearly and candidly to the American people.

...snip...

For three years, our commanders have been clear about the resources they need for training. Those resources have been denied because of the war in Iraq. Now, that will change.


YOU LIE! YOU LIE! YOU LIE! What scum. Wow, that strategy didn't last long did it? I guess you made a mistake, oh all knowing one? You had a clear strategy in March of 2009, guess that's before you learned that governing might actually be HARD. Guess that's before you started looking at polls, focus groups, and your left-wing bosses.

What makes this so hard to take is the fact that the press is complicit in this charade. What a joke.
33 posted on 09/23/2009 6:14:49 AM PDT by mmichaels1970
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To: silverleaf
Here's my Afghanistan policy.

Send Karzai back to his restaurant in Cambridge. The Aush soup hasn't been the same since he went to Kabul.

Withdraw all US forces in 90 days.

Announce a zero-tolerance policy for expressions of hostility to the US or India. Permanently station a carrier battle group in the Indian Ocean, and make it public that we will use ALL of our weapons systems to repress anti-Western or anti-Hindu thoughts, expressions, manifestations, and certainly actions.

Other than that - let Pashtuns be Pashtuns. Their barbarism, directed inwardly, is no concern of ours.

34 posted on 09/23/2009 6:19:53 AM PDT by Jim Noble (I hope Sarah will start a 2nd party soon)
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To: SampleMan
Defeat isn’t a strategy.

Correct, defeat is the outcome of strategy, as is victory.

Please define "victory" in Afghanistan.

Then we can talk about ways and means.

35 posted on 09/23/2009 6:21:32 AM PDT by Jim Noble (I hope Sarah will start a 2nd party soon)
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To: DAC21
Yes, in 0bama's narcissistical, radical, power hungry, mind no metter what the income, he can blame Joe.

It is warped beyond words that 0bama pins his failing strategy on Biden, who could not think his way out of a paper bag; over General McChrystal's dire plea. Or the advice of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates

Gates Tells Al-Jazeera U.S. Cannot Think of Afghan Withdrawal

Commander's Initial Assessment

Obama also ignores this and let's slap happy Biden ( As well as Rahm I am sure) and the left wing call the shots...

This abridged text accompanies the release [Document available here] of a policy paper dealing with the same issue, done jointly by Frederick W. Kagan's Institute for the Study of War [ISW] and the American Enterprise Institute [AEI]

36 posted on 09/23/2009 6:23:24 AM PDT by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!
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To: NoObamaFightForConservatives
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who spoke Tuesday in National Harbor, Md., wants to scale back troops in Afghanistan.

Hasn't the top Military commander in theater stated he needs more troops, not less? obama, Biden and company know jack about running a military operation. If I were them, I'd listen to the people that do know something about it. I realize that goes against their "we're the elite, we know best about everything for everyone" mentality, but people are dying here.

As for the strategy, I think we can see that the obama strategy (if you could call it that) has been an epic failure. ROE more suitable for a Girl Scout sleepover; a defensive, hold just population centers while letting the insurgents safely operate and assemble their strength in outlying areas... Isn't Biden old enough to remember Viet Nam? Or are they really that stupid?

37 posted on 09/23/2009 6:23:47 AM PDT by ThunderSleeps (obama out now! I'll keep my money, my guns, and my freedom - you can keep the change.)
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To: NoObamaFightForConservatives

This is another case where there were elections, apparently Obama doesn’t like the outcome, so he wants to punish the country for it.


38 posted on 09/23/2009 6:26:19 AM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: dirtboy

Exactly! This ‘strategy’ is based on the (false) premise that the Taliban and AQ aren’t working hand in hand. What we’re doing is pretending the situation is different than it is.


39 posted on 09/23/2009 6:26:46 AM PDT by 556x45
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To: TLI

“In looking at other options, aides said, Mr. Obama might just be testing assumptions — and assuring liberals in his own party that he was not rushing into a further expansion of the war — before ultimately agreeing to the anticipated troop request from General McChrystal. But the review suggests the president is having second thoughts about how deeply to engage in an intractable eight-year conflict that is not going well.”

Oh dear Lord, the administration has spoon fed this trial balloon to the NYT. Does anybody believe that Obama has a clue on what to do?


40 posted on 09/23/2009 6:26:56 AM PDT by teddyballgame
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