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Latest Articles: War, War, War
Atonement
Post Date: 2009-10-28 06:44:09 by Ada
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A conscience-stricken member of the House Armed Services Committee is writing a book called "My Daddy's Not Dead Yet" in hopes it will atone for what he now considers his sinful vote to empower former President George W. Bush to invade Iraq in 2003. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., whose district includes the sprawling Marine base of Camp Lejeune, told me the title was inspired by a little boy who feared his Marine father would be killed in Iraq. The setting for Jones' searing moment in 2007 was a classroom in the Johnson Elementary School at Camp Lejeune. He had been invited to read Dr. Seuss to the kids. Jones did that; then asked for questions. "My daddy's not ...
Stan McChrystal's Flying Circus
Post Date: 2009-10-28 06:33:19 by Ada
21 Comments
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander in Afghanistan and Monty Python fan, has put on quite a show of insubordination in the past month or so in an attempt to cram his escalation plan down the world’s throat. He has waged open information warfare in the media, right-wing and otherwise, against President Barack Obama. I wonder how much longer Obama will put up with it. More to the point, I wonder if he can stand up to it. The main thing to remember about McChrystal is that he’s part of the "King David" Petraeus court, and Petraeus is now a de facto Praetorian governor as head of Central Command (CENTCOM) and the most powerful officer in the U.S. military. McChrystal was ...
Afghanistan a Success – Time to Come Home!
Post Date: 2009-10-27 21:02:41 by christine
3 Comments
Eight years ago, the public objective was to displace the Taliban and create a non-al-Qaeda supporting "democracy" in Afghanistan. For a moment, leave aside Washington’s more fundamental objectives in the military invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent base-building – security for the trans-Afghanistan pipeline project, restoring the opium exports that had finally subsided under Taliban enforcement by early 2001, and improved military positions vis-à-vis Iran, Pakistan and Russia. The fossil fuel manipulations, drug money and maintaining a justification for our outsized military-industrial complex are not the topics here. The Taliban, while initially ...
AP IMPACT: Troops already outnumber Taliban 12-1
Post Date: 2009-10-27 20:27:59 by Jethro Tull
7 Comments
BRUSSELS – There are already more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with 200,000 Afghan security forces and police. It adds up to a 12-1 numerical advantage over Taliban rebels, but it hasn't led to anything close to victory. Now, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan is asking for tens of thousands more troops to stem the escalating insurgency, raising the question of how many more troops it would take to succeed. The commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, says the extra forces are needed to implement a new strategy that focuses on protecting civilians and depriving the militants of popular support in a country where tribal militias may be Taliban ...
Afganistan Photo of the DAY
Post Date: 2009-10-27 19:13:52 by tom007
31 Comments
Worst Month Ever for US in Afghanistan; 8 More Killed
Post Date: 2009-10-27 14:22:16 by christine
7 Comments
September was sort of a high water mark for the war in Afghanistan, at least compared to other recent months. It was incredibly destructive, to be sure, but after the massive violence in August’s run-up to the election, it was the first month in awhile that hadn’t broken records for death toll. But as eight US soldiers were slain today in a series of IED attacks across Southern Afghanistan, the month of October surpassed August, which saw 51 US troops killed, and the current month’s record toll is 55 (with several days left). Today’s deaths come just a day after 14 other Americans (11 of them soldiers) were killed and three US helicopters were downed in Afghanistan. ...
8 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan
Post Date: 2009-10-27 11:24:51 by Jethro Tull
8 Comments
8 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan October 27, 2009 11:08 a.m. EDT Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The U.S. military suffered another day of heavy losses in Afghanistan on Tuesday as roadside bombs killed eight U.S. service members, the U.S. military said. An Afghan civilian working with NATO troops also was killed in the attacks in southern Afghanistan, the military said. The military gave no further details about the bombings, which it said also wounded several other service members. The attacks happened a day after 14 Americans were killed in a pair of helicopter crashes in Afghanistan. It was the largest number of Americans killed in Afghanistan in a single day in more than four ...
U.S. official resigns over Afghan war
Post Date: 2009-10-27 10:23:51 by noone222
15 Comments
By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, October 27, 2009 When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan. A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed. But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which ...
The Next Generation Soldier See It Here First
Post Date: 2009-10-26 19:50:03 by tom007
4 Comments
The makers of the eerily lifelike robotic mule have a new creation: a machine that walks around like a real human being. Boston Dynamics is building the “Petman” prototype for the U.S. Army, to test out protective clothing. “Petman will balance itself and move freely; walking, crawling and doing a variety of suit-stressing calisthenics during exposure to chemical warfare agents,” the company promises. “Petman will also simulate human physiology within the protective suit by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating when necessary, all to provide realistic test conditions. ” Like Boston Dynamics’ BigDog robo-mule, Petman stays upright, even when ...
AP Source: 3 DEA Agents Killed In Afghan Crash
Post Date: 2009-10-26 11:58:42 by Brian S
4 Comments
(10-26) 07:44 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) -- A U.S. official says three Drug Enforcement Administration agents were killed Monday when a U.S. military helicopter went down in the west of Afghanistan. The casualties mark the first DEA deaths in Afghanistan since the drug agency began operations there in 2005. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement has been made. Seven U.S. service members were also killed in the crash in the west of the country. Officials say the helicopter had left the scene of a fire fight with insurgents. U.S. authorities did not immediately give a cause for the crash. A Taliban spokesman claimed they shot down a helicopter in the ...
Deadly Day in Afghanistan: 3 Copters Crash, 14 U.S. Lives Lost
Post Date: 2009-10-26 10:29:56 by tom007
6 Comments
Deadly Day in Afghanistan: 3 Copters Crash, 14 U.S. Lives Lost * By Nathan Hodge Email Author * October 26, 2009 | * 10:10 am | * Categories: Af/Pak, Army and Marines * 091005-N-9584H-143Three coalition helicopters crashed in two separate incidents in Afghanistan today, underscoring the dangers of moving around the country’s harsh and unforgiving terrain. According to an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) news release, seven U.S. service members and three U.S. civilians were killed in a crash in western Badghis Province. The cause of that incident remains unclear: The Telegraph, quoting a Taliban spokesman, said militants claimed to have shot down the helicopter; ISAF ...
14 Americans Die in Afghan Helicopter Crashes
Post Date: 2009-10-26 06:29:16 by Disgusted
5 Comments
14 Americans Die in Afghan Helicopter Crashes (October 26, 2009) Seven American soldiers and three civilians were killed in a helicopter crash in western Afghanistan, military officials said, and in southern Afghanistan, the midair collision of two coalition helicopters resulted in the deaths of four U.S. soldiers. A spokeswoman said gunfire from insurgents was not to blame for the collision. The spokeswoman, Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, would not specify an exact location for the deadly crash in the west, although she said the craft was a large Chinook helicopter and the military was “98 percent sure that insurgent activity was not involved.” A reported 26 people were injured in ...
Americans pull strings in Afghan election
Post Date: 2009-10-26 06:24:31 by Ada
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Henry Kissinger once observed that being America's ally can be more dangerous than being its enemy. Take poor Hamid Karzai, the amiable former business consultant and CIA "asset" installed by Washington as Afghanistan's president. As the U.S. increasingly gets its backside kicked in Afghanistan, it has blamed the powerless Karzai for its woes and bumbling. You can almost hear Washington rebuking, "bad puppet! Bad puppet!" The U.S. Congressional Research service just revealed it costs a staggering $1.3 million per annum to keep an American soldier in Afghanistan. Costs for Canadian troops are likely similar. This huge expense can't go on forever. The U.S. ...
Bleep NATO
Post Date: 2009-10-26 05:57:43 by Ada
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Tom Shanker of the New York Times tells us that NATO defense ministers have given their "broad endorsement" to Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s plan to escalate the Afghanistan war into a full-Monty counter insurgency effort. NATO defense ministers love Afghanistan; it justifies their phony-baloney jobs. Like much of the U.S. military, NATO became irrelevant when the Cold War ended. Pseudo-counterinsurgency expert David Kilcullen, who has been an adviser to David Petraeus and McChrystal, says one of the major reasons to press for a larger effort in Afghanistan is to preserve the NATO alliance. He doesn’t think counterterrorism is a particularly important reason to be in ...
Karzai Challenger Calls for 'Dramatic Increase' in Troops in Afghanistan [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2009-10-25 20:09:30 by christine
59 Comments
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's top challenger called for a "dramatic increase" in troops to ensure security in his country, suggesting a failure to send in reinforcements could put Afghanistan "at risk" of falling to insurgents. "The need for more troops is there in order to reverse the situation," Abdullah Abdullah, who is expected to face off against Karzai in a runoff election in two weeks, told "Fox News Sunday." President Obama is deliberating over a request from his top commander for such an increase. He's weighing a call by Gen. Stanley McChrystal and other military officials for 40,000 more troops against calls to pursue a more ...
U.S. Fires Afghan War Chief (From May '09 Memory Jogger)
Post Date: 2009-10-25 20:07:27 by christine
7 Comments
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon ousted its top general in Afghanistan and appointed a new leadership team, in an attempt to jump-start a new war strategy that relies more on counterinsurgency tactics and less on conventional warfare. Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked for the resignation of Gen. David McKiernan, who had been in the job for less than a year, and replaced him with Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a former Green Beret who recently commanded the military's secretive special operations forces in Iraq. Mr. Gates said he would also appoint Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez to run the day-to-day operations of all U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The move, which was reported last week by The Wall ...
Baghdad car bombs near government offices kill 136
Post Date: 2009-10-25 10:03:08 by tom007
30 Comments
Baghdad car bombs near government offices kill 136 AP * Print The dead body of a man is carried away from the blast scene after being killed AP – The dead body of a man is carried away from the blast scene after being killed by a massive bomb attack … * Iraq Slideshow:Iraq * AP Top Stories Play Video Iraq Video:AP Top Stories AP * Car bombs kill dozens in Baghdad Play Video Iraq Video:Car bombs kill dozens in Baghdad AP By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer Qassim Abdul-zahra, Associated Press Writer – 14 mins ago BAGHDAD, Iraq – Two suicide car bombs exploded in downtown Baghdad Sunday, killing at least 136 people and delivering a powerful blow to the ...
Confirmed terror group backed and funded by CIA and MI6 bombs Iran and kills 60+ including military leaders. Iran blames USA and England... promises retaliation
Post Date: 2009-10-23 13:17:03 by Itistoolate
2 Comments
IRAN = www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYwdBa93DFA = www.stevequayle.com/News.alert Confirmed terror group backed and funded by CIA and MI6 bombs Iran and kills 60+ including military leaders. Iran blames USA and England... promises retaliation
Drone Assassinations Are Only Making Things Worse
Post Date: 2009-10-23 06:12:34 by Ada
0 Comments
Jane Mayer, author of the great book The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals, was interviewed yesterday on NPR on the CIA’s drone attacks in Pakistan. She discussed the morality and legality of those attacks as well as their adverse consequences. Last summer CIA Director Leon Pinetta announced cancellation of an assassination program that the CIA was going to implement. Yet, how are these drone attacks in Pakistan any different from an assassination? Suppose, for example, a CIA assassin sneaks into Pakistan, spots a suspected terrorist sunbathing on the top of a house, and blows up the home, killing the suspect and everyone in his ...
Al Qaeda Big Wig Killed. Again.
Post Date: 2009-10-22 15:20:51 by tom007
1 Comments
Al Qaeda Big Wig Killed. Again. * By Adam Rawnsley Email Author * October 22, 2009 | * 12:33 pm | * Categories: Af/Pak, Terrorists, Guerillas, Pirates * yazidAl Qaeda bigwig Abu Mustafa al-Yazid has been killed. Again. We think. Or possibly some other guy. Maybe. Reports of Yazid’s death read like a case study in how unreliable reporting on drone strikes can be. Dawn reports conflicting stories over how Yazid apparently died, either from a drone strike or in a mishap while preparing a suicide vest. Moreover, Long War Journal’s Bill Roggio points out that there’s additional confusion over exactly who died. Pakistani media reports about the incident(s) have used the name Abu ...
America’s Phoney War in Afghanistan
Post Date: 2009-10-22 12:15:11 by christine
5 Comments
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Obama Presidential agenda is how little anyone has questioned in the media or elsewhere why at all the United States Pentagon is committed to a military occupation of Afghanistan. There are two basic reasons, neither one of which can be admitted openly to the public at large. Control of the Afghan drug market is essential for the liquidity of the bankrupt and corrupt Wall Street financial mafia. Behind all the deceptive official debate over how many troops are needed to “win” the war in Afghanistan, whether another 30,000 is sufficient, or whether at least 200000 are needed, the real purpose of US military presence in that pivotal ...
General Treachery
Post Date: 2009-10-22 06:29:48 by Ada
8 Comments
The long war generals are still trying to shoehorn President Obama into going along with their agenda, and they’re not being a bit subtle about it. Gen. Ray Odierno, U.S. commander in Iraq, says he may not be able to meet President Barack Obama’s promise to withdraw troops from that country. In an Oct. 20 article from right-wing media maven Rupert Murdoch’s Times of London, Odierno notes that things aren’t going so well in Iraq: increased violence levels, bickering in parliament, a "bloody campaign" brewing in the months ahead from al-Qaeda and other militant groups, a possible postponement of elections, Anbar province getting out of control again. Tut, tut. ...
Iran: Another War Being Prepared by the Liars in Washington and London
Post Date: 2009-10-21 22:11:00 by X-15
3 Comments
The warmongers in London and Washington, aided by the liars in the controlled media, are busy whipping up a war fever against Iran using the same techniques of deceit they used against Iraq. “The latest example of these deliberate lies and deceit have come from Tory foreign affairs spokesman William Hague, who, at the Tory party conference, issued a new warning about Iran,” said British National Party foreign affairs spokesman Arthur Kemp. “To justify his position, Mr Hague repeated American president Barack Obama’s recent shocking lies about Iran and alleged nuclear bombs,” Mr Kemp said. Mr Hague said that “unless Iran changes course, the time is ...
Obama: Afghan troop decision possible before vote result
Post Date: 2009-10-21 21:08:13 by Jethro Tull
4 Comments
Obama: Afghan troop decision possible before vote result Caren Bohan WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he could reach a decision on his new war strategy for Afghanistan before the outcome of an Afghan election run-off on Nov. 7. The latest sign that Obama was closer to addressing the faltering Afghan war effort came as a new poll showed Americans deeply divided over sending up to 40,000 more troops there. Afghan President Hamid Karzai removed a major stumbling block for Obama when he agreed on Tuesday, under intense U.S. pressure, to a second round of balloting after many of his votes from the August presidential election were tossed out as ...
Report: Taliban Trying To Turn US Troops Into Heroin Addicts
Post Date: 2009-10-21 19:33:21 by Brian S
1 Comments
Insurgents in Afghanistan are using heroin as a tactical weapon against US forces, hoping to emulate the drug problems that plagued US troops in Vietnam and Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, says a new investigative report. In a report at the Daily Beast, author Gerald Posner cites "an internal US intelligence report" that "concluded [insurgents] are targeting American troops in an effort to undermine their effectiveness, while raising cash to pay for new recruits and weaponry." The report brings up inevitable comparisons to the Vietnam War of the 1960s and 1970s and the Soviet war in Afghanistan that ended two decades ago. It also raises the possibility that ...
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