Gen. James Jones: 'No Afghanistan withdrawal in 2011' (BBC)

[IndianaGreen]

Source: BBC News

b]'No Afghanistan withdrawal in 2011' (VIDEO at link)

Mark Mardell | 17:56 UK time, Friday, 4 December 2009

The US won't pull out of Afghanistan in 2011.

President Obama's top national security adviser, who has played a key part in designing the new Afghanistan and Pakistan strategy, has been trying to clear up some confusion about the exit strategy.

Gen James Jones told me that "in no manner, shape or form" would the US withdraw from Afghanistan in 2011.

<snip>

While it was a necessary political message to those Americans who are doubtful about this war, sweetening the pill of the troop increase, it has worried many in the region, where some have interpreted it starkly as meaning that America will pull out in a year and a half's time.

Gen Jones was deeply involved in designing the new strategy, attending all 10 meetings between the president and his top advisers at which the strategy was discussed. And he told me that wasn't so.

He said that "with a relentless application of this new force in 2011 we will be successful in reaching our goals...That will allow us to start pulling some of our forces out. So there is no contradiction."

I put it to him that that wasn't the way the speech had been seen in the region. This was his response:

"Its very important that people in Afghanistan hear this very clearly: this is not a withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan in 2011, it is a decision to turn over to the Afghans some of the responsibility where they are ready to accept that responsibility. But in no manner, shape or form is the United States leaving Afghanistan in 2011."

I asked Gen Jones whether the combination of the push in Pakistan and the new strategy from the United States made him more confident about killing or capturing Osama Bin Laden. He said:

"It certainly makes it more optimistic that we can dislodge al-Qaeda, hopefully capture him, he is a very important symbol, but I would be satisfied if we could cause the insurgent safe havens to feel less secure and to have to move. Once you eliminate sanctuary for an insurgency it becomes very difficult for that insurgency to operate. So obviously capturing Bin Laden would be terrific but the important thing is to eliminate those sanctuaries."

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2009/12/no_afghanistan_withdrawal_in_2.html

---

Related story:

Addressing the North Atlantic Council, Nato's highest political body, Clinton said that eventual troop withdrawal was dependent on a gradual transfer of responsibility to Afghan security forces.

"The pace, size, and scope of the drawdown will be predicated on the situation on the ground," she said. "If things are going well, a larger number of forces could be removed from more areas. If not, the size and speed of the drawdown will be adjusted accordingly."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/04/nato-pledges-7000-troops-afghanistan

[Arctic Dave]

1. Not surprised at all anymore. The MIC says jump, Obama says how high.

[ixion]

7. Yep, same as it ever was....

:(

[AlphaCentauri]

2. probably by 2011 there will be military base with 30 000 soldiers n/t

[ipaint]

11. A giant US military base emerges in Afghanistan

A giant US military base emerges in Afghanistan
(AFP) – May 7, 2009
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan (AFP) — In the forbidding Afghan desert, US engineers are carving out a sprawling military camp as part of a dramatic American troop build-up designed to confront Taliban insurgents.

...The camp, which is being built next to a smaller outpost dubbed "Bastion" that has served British troops, will include a vast airfield that eventually will be home to 55 helicopters and other aircraft, said Lieutenant Colonel David Jones.
The airfield, which he called a huge "parking space" for choppers, will be 4,860 feet (1,481 metres) long and is the largest such project in the world in a combat setting, said Jones, who leads a marine squadron in charge of the effort.

They are also expanding another US base in the southern city of Kandahar.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iQsdQAuKzZl3hMgVzG60jVJVgRiQ

[AlphaCentauri]

17. Same in Iraq

adding more military bases around the globe to stay there forever

[IndianaGreen]

24. and the US is building bases in Colombia, even though bin Laden is in Pakistan

The people don't run the government anymore!

[Mz Pip]

3. Who made Jones CIC?

I don't recall him being on the podium giving that speech Tuesday night.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. That's the problem....he is contradicting the Pres.

So, who is in charge...the military? The Pres?
Why does the military need to "clarify" what POTUS says?
Who gave them permission to do so?
Isn't that undermining Obama?

[Dr.Phool]

8. Or maybe the possibility that the President was lying.

"While it was a necessary political message to those Americans who are doubtful about this war, sweetening the pill of the troop increase, it has worried many in the region, where some have interpreted it starkly as meaning that America will pull out in a year and a half's time.

Gen Jones was deeply involved in designing the new strategy, attending all 10 meetings between the president and his top advisers at which the strategy was discussed. And he told me that wasn't so.

He said that "with a relentless application of this new force in 2011 we will be successful in reaching our goals...That will allow us to start pulling some of our forces out. So there is no contradiction."

==================================================================================
Like I said before, there were more disclaimers in that speech, than a Citi Bank credit card application.

These irresponsible wars are going to kill this country.

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. The lying part would be the lack of the words "oil pipeline".

[Mithreal]

26. Sadly yes.

In case anybody missed the video

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x409253

[Ter]

43. A president hasn't been in charge since Kennedy

Reagan tried to be in charge for two months, and that was that. I guess you can say Poppy was in charge. The CIA is in charge. The Shadow Government is 100% real.

[IndianaGreen]

6. Hillary is saying the same thing as Jones

Have considered the possibility that Obama's mention of July 2011 was nothing but a bone thrown at us to buy time for this war?

[Mithreal]

27. Nearly everything about this Presidency will be timed and nuanced

to manipulate the public's support and especially our support. I don't see that as an entirely negative thing.

[IndianaGreen]

30. Obama is Clinton without the sleaze

Four more years of triangulation!

[24601]

32. If he's not speaking for the President, the President is capable of

saying so. Senior WH staff and departmental leaders routinely speak for the boss.

[d_b]

4. Thank you, CIC Jones

Glad I pulled the lever for you last November.

[knightinwhitesatin]

9. Genral Jones under the bus

in 3...2....1

[Lorien]

12. Nah. I'm sure he'll stay right where he is. WE'RE the ones under the bus

along with all the unfortunate military men and women, and the people of the Nations we've invaded.

[mother earth]

15. Well said.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

19. It already happened

see above posts.

[Jefferson23]

10. Wow. this is depressing as hell.

In the mean time Obama says there are limited funds available to help promote job growth.

[Jkid]

13. I bet most of the funding is diverted to those wars he promised to withdrawl.

[mother earth]

16. & the bum, Bernanke spouts about stopping Medicare and

SS because it's unsustainable. What's unsustainable is the pilfering and robbery, they've wiped everything clean, and we reward the criminals with positions of authority, and the outgoing ones get off with not so much as a slap on the hand. Crime pays well in DC.

[24601]

33. The Marines are hiring n/t

[mother earth]

14. Of course when another president gets in it will be delayed

again. Nothing new here, the system works just like the CIA wants.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

18. It only took three days for them to walk that back

I am surprised it didnt happen the day after the speech.

[dreamnightwind]

35. They did

They literally were walking it back already the day after the speech. I watched most of it on C-SPAN3 (iirc). Testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Gates looked right at the camera and said there were no conditions that would alter the much-hyped 2011 begin-withdrawal date. This is the news-byte the MSM ran with. Shortly after that, it was revealed (I think by Mullins?) that, well, in December 2010 the whole process would be re-examined, and the speed of the withdrawal that would begin in July 2011 would be determined by the facts on the ground.

It looks like a very measured withdrawal, only pulling troops when there are established Afghan proxy troops to hand over an area to so that US interests basically still control that particular area when we pull our troops.

And now it looks like this is not the beginning of an actual full withdrawal from Afghanistan, more likely July 2011 is the date at which we will begin, deliberately, to withdraw some of the surge troops we are now introducing. Looks to me that the plan is to have many many US troops there for a long time, and even more contractors.

So Obama's noise about an exit strategy and taking a stand against a protracted war are little more than PR to sell it to the public.

Hopefully I'm too cynical, I don't think so though. The testimony to the Senate was depressing.

[Zhade]

40. You mean... you mean orahma LIED?

Not again!

[ima_sinnic]

20. Gen. Jones is so slick, he can play the "bin Laden" card without smirking or breaking out laughing

do they think we are all inbred hillbillies who actually think "bin Laden" is the reason they are in Afghanistan? And who is this reporter who is even asking about "bin Laden"? Is he playing dumb, or is he really that way? Why can't a reporter ask him about the real reasons--like, how's the pipeline coming along? Have we paid off enough warlords to get it into their areas?

How many more decades is the ghost of Osama bin Laden going to be talked about as if he were a real person who actually continues to exist and whom we "somehow" just cannot seem to "find"?

[Solly Mack]

21. (Duh)

[clixtox]

22. Is this "news" in the USA?

I am in Vietnam so it is difficult to know what is being reported in the USA.

These stories are from the British press, any inkling of this in the US's M$M?

War and the collateral war crimes are, by far, our major export.

Is it any wonder that there "enemies" of the USA willing to resort to terrorism, even suicidal, crazy sh*t, in attempts to fight back?

For you or me there isn't any up-side to our murderous carnage.

The beneficiaries are the criminal Military-Industrial "Complex", those capitalizing on the disasters we create and those exploiting the somewhat justifiable fear of terrorist reprisals on US citizens or assets world wide.

The same institutions that wage and profit from wars create and exacerbate fear while insidiously conniving to abolish the BILL OF RIGHTS, the foundation of our CONSTITUTION.

It is FASCISM, and not too surprisingly Fascists have taken over the USA without 99.9%+ of the people having any clue.

When I was a child we were constantly warned about the sneaky "Commies" who were always in the shadows waiting to take over when the opportunity presented itself. That was some inspired mis-direction propaganda being widely disseminated, while basically the opposite was occurring.

And here we are...

Chains we can believe in!

VietAfPakistan...

[aquart]

23. OUT NOW.

[jgraz]

28. Can't get fooled again

But apparently, we can. :banghead:

[chill_wind]

29. Once again, we have to get the reality of this mess

from the UK press.

[IndianaGreen]

31. As it happened in Iraq, the US press is more interested in selling the war to the public

There is profit in war, at the expense of those that have to fight.

[mike_c]

34. this is exactly what we've been trying to tell the war apologists from the beginning....

If American troops are out of Afghanistan by 2011 I'll eat my hat. Obama's promises are smoke, mirrors, and political double speak.

[totodeinhere]

36. Yes, but some of the Obama fans at DU are blind.

They are so in love with everything Obama that they have lost any possibility of objectivity. I won't call any of them out by name, but you probably know some of the ones I'm talking about.

[Hydra]

37. You notice that the only certainties are in the handouts

Everything else is deliberately vague.

We WILL bail out Wall St. We WILL surge in Afghanistan. We WILL not be having more help for you little people. We WILL be spying on you.

We'll SEE about withdrawl. We'll TALK ABOUT healthcare reform. We'll CONSIDER constitutional issues.

[Zhade]

41. No. THEY ARE LIES.

HE IS LYING TO US. REPEATEDLY.

[NuttyFluffers]

38. who the f#$% are these Generals to tell people what to expect from the CiC?

seriously, we need a Harry S. Truman to fire all these big britches SOBs from their cushy Pentagon posts to finally get some brass that knows how to SHUT ITS MOUTH AND LET THE POTUS TELL THE PEOPLE WHAT"S GOING ON.

unreal. if Obama doesn't make some heads roll about shit like this, bringing these people into line, i'm done. one and done. gutless wonder should sack some of these people to put the fear of gawd back into them.

[fascisthunter]

39. Like I Said before... this Government is run by Bat Shit Crazy People

and the military follows orders, or is it the other way around?

[sendero]

42. Duh..

... when someone says "begin to withdraw" it doesn't take a guru to know what he means. He might pull out 10 troops a year, starting then.

Face it, Obama is going to keep us in Afghanistan until, well, until long after he's out of office.