WAR PIMP ALERT- Afghanistan Could be Lost Within a Year: US Commander McChrystal

[Orwellian_Ghost]

Afghanistan could be lost within a year: US commander
Tue, Sep 22, 2009
AFP


WASHINGTON (AFP) - The top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan has warned President Barack Obama in a confidential report that the war against the Taliban could be lost within a year without more troops.

In a grim assessment of the eight-year conflict obtained by The Washington Post and published Monday, General Stanley McChrystal said a new strategy was needed, and warned that "inadequate resources will likely result in failure.

"Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) -- while Afghan security capacity matures -- risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible," he wrote.

The report was presented to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on August 30 and is being reviewed by the White House, with McChrystal widely expected to make a formal request to increase the 62,000-strong US force.

...

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20090922-169084.html

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_NtgXlrcvXZA/ShAt4AC7p2I/AAAAAAAAeWA/VcIgLOGc67A/s400/CHUCKMAN+-+MCCHRYSTAL+-+OBAMA%27S+CHOICE+-+HORROR+FACE.jpg

"But why then did Obama pick him for Afghanistan? In the wake of horrifying news of unintended civilian casualties, in a war where the US is already intensely unpopular, Obama has picked a leader who can be directly linked to the worst images and incidents of prisoner torture and abuse under Bush."

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/05/mcchrystals-unit-t626.html

[Barack_America]

1. !!!!!11!!1!!!!!1111!

That statement needs more EXCLAMATION! And maybe a side of "Oh Noes!"

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Define lost. For that matter, define 'win'. n/t

[orpupilofnature57]

4. A clear Objective wouldn't need an explanation ,Get out !! thats not subjective

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. Lets frame it that way. "Get out" = "we won!"

Think it will fly?

[orpupilofnature57]

23. Yes Sounds like a Winner to me,

[KharmaTrain]

21. There's No Win...Just Stalemate

The big problem with our Americo-centrist corporate media is they view world politics like some kind of sports competition. Who wins, who loses...little understanding of cultures and history. All stories are slanted with a "what's in it for us" attitude. Nothing defines this more than the coverage of Iran...and how our corporate media was caught flat-footed when an insurrection arose and totally misrepresented what it meant...and may have helped lead to its failure.

Afghanistan is only a country on Western maps. It's a conglomeration of tribes...different ethnic groups and all with different agendas. At best they coexist...but a national Afghanistan entity has never existed and never will. Until we better understand the people we're supposed to be both fighting and protecting, we'll meet the same fate other empires have encountered in the region.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. More troops. More money. More time. Westmoreland lives.

[theoldman]

6. The war in Afghanistan has been lost for years.

Either we bail out now or spend the next 10 to 20 years fighting an insurgency. President Obama has to make a decision and the American public has to decide whether to back him or not. I will bet that we keep on fighting for many years to come.

[Jkid]

7. We already lost Afghanistan.

It's time to America to pack up and leave Afghanistan.

[Lost-in-FL]

8. They broke it... they need to fix it. nt

[sabrina 1]

9. The only way to have fixed it, as it was already broke

before we got there, was NOT to have invaded the country. The war with Russia destroyed it, things were so bad after the US and Russia just walked away after using the country as a chess-board for their war games, that people welcomed the Taliban as they were able to provide some security.

As usual we think we know what's best for everyone and instead of working with the Taliban years ago, together with the International community, providing essentials and in return getting concessions from them when the time was right.

Since when did dropping bombs on a country that had already been 'bombed into the dark ages' solve anything.

We are there for the pipeline, not because of OBL or 9/11, because it is a strategic area as for as building a route to the oil reserves thought to be in the Caspian Sea. Most of what has been done there is building bases all around the area to secure it for the US. And to do that, while screaming about Saddam Hussein, the US has been funding some of the worst dictators, such Karamov in Uzbekistan. Nothing we are told is true. Soldiers are dying, once again, for oil.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

10. Whose "they?"

Think about that statement you made. Say you took your car into a mechanics and he completely broke your car. Would you want the same guy to fix it even if he would do it for free? Now he might be obligated to pay for the next repair but you'd be a fool to use the same incompetent repairman. Now what we are getting at is called reparations.

Now I''m not implying that the war mongers are incompetent they know what they are doing. They are looting the treasury and hauling off resources every step of the way on your dime.

[Bonobo]

11. Oh no! We're going to lose Afghanistan...to the Afghanis!!! nt

[Echo In Light]

19. +1

[rug]

12. And how many lives will be saved?

[Atticus]

13. Is there any doubt that if, say, a bird colonel were to publicly chide or embarrass

General McChrystal, that the junior officer would, at the least, find his career sidetracked? Wouldn't a court martial be a possibility?

Well, isn't McChrystal doing the same thing to his Commander in Chief? All I heard this morning on the TV news shows was how McChrystal was saying, in effect, that if President Obama doesn't send him the additional troops he's ready to request and send them SOON, we will lose in Afghanistan; that the insurgency will have grown too strong and entrenched to defeat.

Instead of being incensed at this breach of military protocol, the GOP hawks are trying to get McCrystal to appear on Capitol Hill to amplify his dire predictions about how his Commander will be screwing up if he doesn't give him what he wants when he wants it.

Harry Truman dealt with a similar problem quite effectively in his day. Check it out, Mr. President.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Well Alexander could not crack that nut

neither could Attila the hun, or the brits who tried three times before this go around, or the Russians who tried twice.

We HAD a window of about six months, on the outside, when that mess just started and only because some of the events on the ground over the last twenty years. That's been gone... for some years now.

Of course meeting the mission objective (stated) at Tora Bora would have meant no Iraq war... so you can draw your own conclusions.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

15. Bump

[blindpig]

16. I've seen this movie...

“Vietnam was the first war ever fought without any censorship. Without censorship, things can get terribly confused in the public mind.”

k&r

[gratuitous]

20. Yeah, and I panned it the first goddam time

McChrystal needs to put some Rogaine on his eyebrows.

The only thing worse than "abandoning" Afghanistan would be to dick around for another two years and then abandon it. I know this will fly in the face of the state religion, but maybe this is a problem that won't yield to a military solution? I'm ready to be burned as a heretic now.

[kentuck]

17. It's already lost.

Just like in Vietnam, when the Generals start asking for more troops, it is a lost cause. They are only looking for a way to cover their own asses. I hope Obama understands this but I doubt that he will.

[SIMPLYB1980]

18. I think that we should increase troop strength.

But I would like to hear a real debate on this not just what this one General has to say.

:hide:

[Orwellian_Ghost]

24. For what purpose?

Who's "we?'

And if you are willing to see others go are you also willing to go?

[SIMPLYB1980]

25. Not even going to play your games Orwell.

Have fun with it.

[Romulox]

22. It's lost. It's been lost. nt