Gen. McChrystal needs 45k more troops or will resign!
McChrystal to resign if not given resources for Afghanistan
By Bill Roggio
September 21, 2009 4:17 PM
Within 24 hours of the leak of the Afghanistan assessment to The Washington Post, General Stanley McChrystal's team fired its second shot across the bow of the Obama administration. According to McClatchy, military officers close to General McChrystal said he is prepared to resign if he isn't given sufficient resources (read troops) to implement a change in direction in Afghanistan:
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."
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2009/09...
I for one accept McChrystal's resignation
and his donation of his pension toward war reparations.
UK: Obama's confused about Afghanistan
President Barack Obama's confusion over Afghanistan
Telegraph View: President Obama must take the opportunity to clarify his war aims in Afghanistan - and dispel the dangerous confusion he has so carelessly created.
Published: 7:57PM BST 21 Sep 2009
Last week, we thought we knew what Barack Obama's Afghanistan strategy was; today, we do not have much of a clue. His out-of-the-blue musings in his Sunday morning TV interviews that "until I'm satisfied we've got the right strategy, I'm not going to be sending some young man or woman over there", indicated an alarming funk at the White House. That it coincided with the leak of his Afghan commander General Stanley McChrystal's assessment, that without significant reinforcements the campaign "will likely result in failure", only adds to the sense of disarray. On the US's most pressing foreign-policy issue, there appears to be a divergence between the political and military leaderships.
Just a few months ago, President Obama was fruitlessly beseeching his Nato allies to show greater commitment to the Afghan mission. Now, it seems, his own commitment is wavering. It is easy to see why. The fraudulent re-election campaign of President Hamid Karzai has helped accentuate public and political resistance to the war in the US. But the President's wobble will lead many in the alliance to conclude that they are right not to pull their weight. It will also embolden the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies, for the President's words will be taken across the region – rightly or wrongly – as a precursor to the scaling-back of America's commitment to the war. This is a potentially disastrous turn of events. Following on from last week's decision to scrap the missile defense shield in eastern Europe, it adds to the impression that Mr Obama is struggling to cope with the complexities of foreign affairs. This week he will address the UN General Assembly and chair a meeting of the Security Council. He must take the opportunity to clarify his war aims in Afghanistan – and dispel the dangerous confusion he has so carelessly created.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/6216245/Pr...
a ridiculous proposal
Can you imagine the American people rallying in mass support of General McC?
"Send more troops! Send more troops! Send more troops!"
This proposal is so ridiculous because the war effort is so incredulous.
What? If we leave Afghanistan, then the "terrorists" will have a safe haven for training and planning attacks on us here on sacred soil. Yeah, whatever. I'm so scared of that, it's not even funny.
aj: You are right.
Are they making the general a Judas goat? Obama will appear to be FORCED to go along with this recommendation, saying it is not HIS fault. Obama will be just following, albeit reluctantly (but really agreeing), what the general is "requesting."
the report from the general states that...
we have spent the last two years killing taliban and riding around in armor-plated troop carriers instead of doing what we should have been doing...protecting the afghan people!
holy jeezus!!! can you say perpetual war?
O Captain, My Captain, rise up and hear the bells!
its 'cos I owe ya, my young friend...
Rockin' the FREE world in Tennessee since 1957!
How many more lives are we
How many more lives are we going to invest in this lie?
"The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that." — Alan Greenspan
Endless undeclared wars.
More preemptive war coming in Iran if the NeoCons get their way.
End the madness.
Where are all the anti-war protests?
The silence is deafening!!!
Resign to a fat salary
from a military contractor, no doubt.
Defend Liberty!
Is there any doubt
that Obama will send more troops to Afghanistan? Real change would involve bringing them home but I already know obama can't provide that.
Since the troops
are having to mirandize any prisoners they take this isn't worth doing. The troops should be brought home, no point in wasting more lives for no reason.