Posted on 10/04/2009 9:34:13 AM PDT by SkyPilot
WASHINGTON (AFP) By openly declaring their views on the Afghan war, US military leaders have placed President Barack Obama in a bind as he faces a fraught decision over the troubled US-led mission.
Obama has refused to quickly approve a request from his commanders for a major troop build-up in Afghanistan, insisting first on a full vetting of the current strategy.
But while a war council takes place behind closed doors at the White House, top military officers have made no secret of their view that without a vast ground force, the Afghan mission could end in failure.
"They want to make sure people know what they asked for if things go wrong," Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of defense, told AFP.
As a result, if Obama chooses to change course in Afghanistan or decline a request for large numbers of troops, he will be rejecting the advice of the US military, raising the political stakes.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
My goodness! They look so young. I have shoes older than the young man in front. May God bless and protect them.
“If, the day after Inauguration Day, every Republican president is to blame for every military death, every damned homeless vagrant on the streets, then Obama owns all of this lock, stock and barrel.”
EXACTLY!! They were blaming Bush from his first day in office. It’s been nearly 9 months into this farce, and it’s still “Bush’s fault”. What a crock!
CHECK OUT Mesta’s post number 57!
From “BREAKING: Eight U.S. troops die in attacks in Afghanistan”
To: SE Mom
Its amazing, isnt it, to find ourselves in some really convoluted way on the same side as virulent anti-war people? I never, ever believed Id think it- let alone say it, either.
That is the same thng that eventually happened during the Vietnam war...by design. The people who had always supported the vietnam war became anti-war when it became painfully apparent that the leadership in Washington had no intention or strategy to win the war.Its a very sad morning for America. God Bless our military in their hour of need and loss.
199 posted on Sunday, October 04, 2009 9:22:25 AM by penelopesire (”The only CHANGE you will get with the Democrats is the CHANGE left in your pocket”)
To: SE Mom
This is not much more to him than an intellectual exercise in differing theories. He is failing his first obligation to protect and defend the people.
Excellent point. Do we dare to take it a step further and ponder whether the man may actually want America to fail in Afghanistan and Iraq? His radical past would suggest that that may be the case.
Heaven Help Us!
212 posted on Sunday, October 04, 2009 9:48:58 AM by penelopesire (”The only CHANGE you will get with the Democrats is the CHANGE left in your pocket”)
To: penelopesire
“That is the same thing that eventually happened during the Vietnam war...by design. The people who had always supported the vietnam war became anti-war when it became painfully apparent that the leadership in Washington had no intention or strategy to win the war.Its a very sad morning for America. God Bless our military in their hour of need and loss.”
EXACTLY what I was thinking about this morning Penelopesire. I get a sick feeling that the gross incompetance of Obama may be his strategy. Is it his design to purposely lose the war? Make sure any potential conflicts we engage in of the future will be compared to Vietnam AND Obama’s Afghanistan?
MAY GOD BLESS AND PROTECT OUR MILITARY. They deserve so much more than this Mickey Mouse CIC.
223 posted on Sunday, October 04, 2009 10:05:57 AM by 444Flyer
To: penelopesire
Our thinking is matching up. I think we’re on to something. Until we see otherwise and are proven incorrect.
232 posted on Sunday, October 04, 2009 10:30:59 AM by 444Flyer
I would have been back sooner, but I was a bit upset after being called a “noob” for posting the truth, and being told for the umpteenth time that I am “ignorant” of the facts.
It is amazing to me how many people came late to these problems and now claim to be so worldly effing wise about it all.
McChrystal took over in JUNE. It has been a veritable slaughterhouse ever since. Something is rotten in Denmark....
Oh. Wait a minute.....
That is literally TRUE, isn’t it? They are still fumigating the place.
EVIL incarnate, joe. I don’t believe I could have drempt this in my worst nightmares, and I have had a few.
I keep wondering what will finally be the straw that breaks the camel’s back because I don’t know how much worse it can continue to get.
May G-d protect all our Warriors and their families wherever they might be, because this administration is bereft of G-d and conscience.
The difference is YOU GET IT and can see the long term big picture on this subject and how Obama is risking the lives of our military for his own whims or ignorance now. Evidenced by his ROE’s.
Some people just want to label you without digging into the facts and that is unfortunate. Sooner or later, the truth always prevails.
God Bless our troops on THEIR mission!
Mr. Obama these soldiers are NOT expressing disappointment that you, Michelle and "the Oprah" did not WIN the Olympic games for yourselves. The are not saddened to hear of the medical care benefits you are likely to take away from them and their families if your ObamaCare somehow passes. Their concerns are more timely, dire, and grave. As their CinC, they want you take ONE of TWO actions to either: Stop playing your pansie indecisive Community Organizer games with America's sons & daughters, damn you! Those are your two options, Mr. Obama: Drop all of your: THOSE ARE YOUR OPTIONS GET TO IT! |
If Republican don’t take control of the House or the Senate by next year, we need to get the troops out. We can’t send our troops into combat with their hands tied.
In residential areas
No Close Air Support
No Arty
No Americans allowed in Afghan homes without Afghan soldiers first going in
NO firing on at or in Mosques
I say NO VIETNAM REDUX
I thought the president claimed during the debate he was capabe of multi-tasking.
Weekly Adresses and going on vacation do not qualify!!!
What is most infuriating is if he keeps it up he will undo all the hard fought and won victories and progress made in that hellhole of a region by our Troops over the last 8 years. But maybe that too, is part of his apparent slimy strategy to lose.
10-04-09
“Barack Obama urged to act after eight more US soliders die in Afghanistan (Pantywaist ALERT!)”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2354948/posts
God help me, I’ve been sickened with that
inconceivable puzzling and fear for awhile
now about this Muslim-appeasing fool .. the
terrifying thought of his evil cunning, straddling
the line between his ‘dual allegiances;’ i.e.,
telling us one thing while giving the beasts
their battlefield bodycount.
God help us, mericful God save our military.
The generals MUST stand up.
I had to take a break and kind of calm myself down. When I start taking things personally, I GOT to get out of the path of flying adjectives and slow the adrenaline down.
Eventually I started looking at this as a glass half full. When you and I and a couple of others were screaming at the tops of our lungs about this, we couldn’t get a freaking headline to save our lives. NOW it’s front page news and our radio guys are leading with it.
Thank you to all of you for caring so much about our Troops and what they are going through. It is sickening that so many had to pay the ultimate price before the world started paying attention. If their sacrifice stops others from meeting their fate, maybe their deaths will not have been in vain.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009990698_usafghanvillage03.html
For troops, Afghanistan ‘like Vietnam without napalm’
The men of Bravo Company have a bitter description for the irrigated swath of land along the Arghandab River in Afghanistan, where 10 members of their battalion have been killed since the beginning of August: “Like Vietnam without the napalm.”
By Hal Bernton
The Seattle Times
JELAWUR, Afghanistan The men of Bravo Company have a bitter description for the irrigated swath of land along the Arghandab River where 10 members of their battalion have been killed and 30 have been wounded since the beginning of August.
“Like Vietnam without the napalm,” said Spc. Nicholas Gojekian, 21, of Katy, Texas.
snip
Bravo Company arrived in Afghanistan with 24 Strykers, the first of the eight-wheeled combat vehicles outfitted with high-tech communications and surveillance gear to arrive in Afghanistan. A third of the vehicles are now out of service due to bomb attacks or maintenance.
The bomb threats are so pervasive that Stryker drivers have abandoned some stretches of road in favor of driving through the deserts on different routes. The road to one smaller outpost has so many homemade bombs that the soldiers usually arrive on foot, a treacherous hike due to buried land mines.
snip
The company had 152 soldiers when it arrived, which was more than a dozen short of its authorized strength. Since then, some platoons have been depleted by injuries, including concussions from bomb blasts.
“I don’t have enough troops for everything they want me to do here,” said Capt. Jamie Pope, the company commander, a West Point graduate from Sherrills Ford, N.C. One platoon authorized to have more than 40 soldiers is now trying to get by with fewer than 32 soldiers. After guard duty is assigned, a platoon may be at less than full strength for patrols.
“We may go with 10 to 11 guys, when we like to have 14 to 21,” said Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Dimico, a 1st platoon soldier from Yakima. Another platoon that arrived with 39 soldiers was operating last week with 22, according to Sgt. 1st Class Zalman Dass from Renton.
I couldn’t watch the video, but I don’t think McChrystal will resign voluntarily. I think he will force bam to fire him.
If you noticed, I did the same. Went to sleep for a while. I couldn’t take it any longer. Heading back to bed. God, what awful times we are in right now. The faces on those brave, young men is haunting. I feel their pain and it’s so sad.
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