Reagan's Asst. Sec. of Defense: Don't Rush In More Troops


	Reagan's Asst. Sec. of Defense: Don't Rush In More Troops

nedhamson1

10-11-2009 12:03 PM

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tags:

afghanistan follies, war, peace, weight risks

nedhamson1 says:

The push to send more troops in is a lot more about scoring political points and CYA than it is about serving national interests, helping our troops there, or aiding the Afghans.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/9fdad3b4-17c6-4930-a9c5-163e7591d03e/12855FE6-6F72-4A79-82B9-9130D867FA7F/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.afghanistan11oct11,0,4802902.story" href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.afghanistan11oct11,0,4802902.story" style="font-size: 11px;">www.baltimoresun.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.afghanistan11oct11,0,4802902.story"><H1>3 reasons not to rush more troops to Afghanistan</H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.afghanistan11oct11,0,4802902.story">First, many of those who are arguing that the U.S. should send Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal the 40,000 more troops he is requesting are responsible for the situation in Afghanistan deteriorating so much over the past three years.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.afghanistan11oct11,0,4802902.story">By the time all the troops that have been ordered to Afghanistan since Mr. Obama's election get there,  U.S. troop strength will be 68,000, up from about 32,000 about a year ago, and the number of U.S. combat battalions will have risen from eight in October 2008 to 23. Therefore, it is still quite early to assess the impact of these troops on the conflict. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.afghanistan11oct11,0,4802902.story">Third, generals routinely ask for more troops when they take over a command, not simply because they are needed but as a bureaucratic tactic to shift blame in case they are not able to achieve the mission.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/12855FE6-6F72-4A79-82B9-9130D867FA7F/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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