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POPSUS Afghan Envoy Urges Caution on Troop Increase And whose side, exactly, is he on??? Undermine and put at risk those who are there by lack of support and back-up or go all out and get the job done. Which has, traditionally, been the American way? Every day that the so-called CIC delays, the more imperiled our loved ones become.
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POPSItaly Convicts 23 Americans In CIA Terrorist Kidnapping Case 
One of those convicted, former Milan consular official Sabrina De Sousa, accused Congress of turning a blind eye to the entire matter. "No one has investigated the fact that the U.S. government allegedly conducted a rendition of an individual who now walks free and the operation of which was so bungled," she said, speaking through her lawyer Mark Zaid. Despite the convictions capping the nearly three-year Italian trial, several Italian and American defendants – including the two alleged masterminds of the abduction – were acquitted due to either diplomatic immunity or because classified information was stricken by Italy's highest court. The case has been politically charged from the beginning, with attempts to mislead investigators looking into the cleric's disappearance and derail the judicial proceedings once the trial was under way. But the Italian-American relationship, conditioned on such issues as participation in the Afghan campaign, is unlikely to be hurt by the convic
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POPSKarzai vows to clamp down on corruption Why should he be the only one that has to run a corruption free government. Don't have to dig too deep in our own countries to find plenty. Where there are humans, there is greed. Where there is greed, there is corruption.
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POPS Bush Bad Most important, the American people will quickly lose faith in a war that they conclude their Commander in Chief is ambivalent about fighting. Reports of puzzled commanders and troops in the field are already multiplying as they wonder why they’re risking death by IED if Mr. Obama isn’t sure about the mission. AP, apparently getting it: “Karzai’s election increases pressure on Obama.” It’s getting bad when even the AP wants to know what gives with the “marathon deliberations.” GOP’s Boehner actually gets in the first and only opinion on those deliberations in this AP article … “The White House has no further pretext for delaying the decision on giving Gen. McChrystal the resources he needs” … a highlighting which I can assure you, based on long experience reading between AP’s lines, is not insignificant.
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POPSSorry Ass News For A Sunday Morning Did you ever pick up a newspaper and wished you hadn't? Well that's what happened to me this morning. It wasn't an actual real time Newspaper but in today's world it was a Newsdig but I still wished that I hadn't clicked! First it was a, Health Care {NO} Reform won by the Health Care and insurance Industry. Then the gloom and doom news from Afghanistan. It's enough to make you put on a pair of rose colored glasses or stick your head in the sand. But alas, I can't do that, because then I would become part of the (Sarah Palin - Michele Bachmann et al ) crazy lunatic fringe mob on the right! :eek:
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POPSReal men don't read D.C. pundits Even worse than Krauthammer's column today, though, was David Brooks in the New York Times. Partly it's because Brooks likes to pretend to be open-minded and reasonable, while spouting neocon talking points, and occasionally liberals get pulled in by him. But today was trademark lazy ideological Brooks. As Glenn Greenwald notes, unbelievably he bragged about "doing what journalists are supposed to do" -- which he defined as talking to a handful of anonymous pro-war sources, who uniformly criticized Obama's inaction to date on McCrystal's troop request. That's some brave shit. Not quite David Rohde brave, but hey, he made the calls! If it was unanimous, that means he didn't call retired Marine Matthew Hoh, who resigned from a civilian post in Afghanistan this week because he said we can't win, and our presense is only fueling the insurgency. Hoh told the Washington Post's Karen de Young he's "not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love" and that he believes
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POPSNY Times: Afghan Opium Kingpin On CIA Payroll What have I been sayin' for over a year? Just like in Vietnam the CIA is nose deep in the heroin trade--it's fuckin' OUTRAGEOUS and disgusting. Our people and innocent civilians die foe the obscene profits of Karzai and the Godamned CIA.
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POPSAfghan Pres. Karzai's Brother on CIA Payroll Watch for an overthrow of the Karzai puppet government in total. Even Pres. Karzai (propped up in Congress by Bush in post-9/11 addresses) has become caught between U.S. and Afghan native interests, and increasingly at odds with U.S. military and the White House.
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POPSThe Flip Flop is back Same old Kerry. He was for the war before he was against it. Kind of like our cowardly president votes "present" rather than take a stand.
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POPSAfghanistan: 'No Democracy~Just Islam' and Burn Obama Effigy Afghan university students shout anti-US slogans and hold a banner reading 'No Democracy; We want just Islam!' during a demonstration in Kabul on October 25, 2009. ISLAMIZATION WATCH More than 100,000 foreign troops are battling a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, where violence this year reached its highest level since the austere Islamists were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001. Thick plumes of smoke rose above the crowd as protesters set fire to a large effigy of what they said was U.S. President Barack Obama. "Death to America. Down with Israel," chanted one man at the rally, which was organized mainly by university students. Others threw stones and clashed with police but no casualties were reported. "No to democracy. We just want Islam," said one banner carried by protesters, many of whom shook their fists in the air. Captain Elizabeth Mathias, a media officer for U.S. and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan,
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POPSNATO Agrees - Someone Else Needs To Send More Troops To Afghanistan That counterterrorism strategy is identified with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. In contrast, General McChrystal’s review calls for implementing a full-scale counterinsurgency strategy that focuses on protecting population centers and accelerating the training of Afghan army and police units, both requiring significant numbers of fresh troops. NATO diplomats noted that it was difficult to see how an acceptance of this broad strategy could be viewed as anything but an endorsement of the need to increase both military and civilian contributions. Great! The Little Red Hen has convinced everyone that planting seeds to make bread would be a great idea! Let's see where the Coalition of the Free-Riding takes this. Posted by Tom Maguire on October 23
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POPSThe Other Thing Obama Inherited But rapidly deteriorating conditions and a widely disputed and unresolved election in Afghanistan gave the Obama administration pause and led to the current policy review. “Having announced his Afghanistan strategy last March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete his mission,” (Cheney) said, calling on Obama to fulfill a promise he made in August to armed forces in a speech at the VFW to give them the support and resources need to get the job done. “It’s time for President Obama to make good on his promise,” he said. “The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger.” “Make no mistake, signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries,” he added. “Waffling, while our troops on the ground face an emboldened enemy, endangers them and hurts our cause.”
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POPS Waiting For Godot “The thunderstorm is there and it’s kind of brewing and it’s unstable and the lightning hasn’t struck, and hopefully it won’t,” said Nathaniel C. Fick, a former Marine Corps infantry officer who briefed Mr. Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign and is now the chief executive of the Center for a New American Security, a military research institution in Washington. “I think it can probably be contained and avoided, but people are aware of the volatile brew.” Last week the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., gave voice to the concerns of those in the military when he issued a terse statement criticizing Mr. Obama’s review of Afghan war strategy. “The extremists are sensing weakness and indecision within the U.S. government, which plays into their hands,” said Mr. Tradewell’s statement on behalf of his group, which represents 1.5 million former soldiers. Last August, in a speech to the V.F.W., Mr. Obama defended . . .
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POPSObama raise drone attacks
The obscenity of this policy is seldom mentioned. " the drone attacks have backfired. As he told The New Yorker, "Every one of these dead non-combatants represents an alienated family, a new revenge feud, and more recruits for a militant movement that has grown exponentially even as drone strikes have increased." And because of the C.I.A. program's secrecy, Mayer writes, "there is no visible system of accountability in place, despite the fact that the agency has killed many civilians inside a politically fragile, nuclear-armed country with which the U.S. is not at war." The New Yorker further reports the Obama Administration has also expanded the sphere of authorized drone assaults in Afghanistan. An August Senate Foreign Relations Committee report said the Pentagon's list of approved terrorist targets held 367 names and included some 50 Afghan drug lords "who are suspected of giving money to help finance the Taliban," Mayer reports. She quotes the Senate report as stating, "The
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POPSLast-Man-Mistake-Death Opportunity Knocks
who said in a separate interview from Kabul, “I don’t see how President Obama can make a decision about the committing of our additional forces, or even the further fulfillment of our mission that’s here today, without an adequate government in place.” His interview was broadcast on “Face the Nation.” The signals come as Republican critics already are complaining that the president is taking too long to decide They argue that Mr. Obama has left the impression of indecisiveness that has only emboldened the Taliban, making the task of the 68,000 American troops already there that much harder. Well, sometimes not making a decision is a decision. Not making a choice when you really have no choice is pretty much a forfeit, though. With every last one of our allies looking on, doing the mental calculus on which way to go now that the United States has shown itself to be utterly gutless and unreliable. With no vote of US confidence in any elected outcome whatsoever,
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POPSSeeing the Afghan Forest Not the Trees William Pfaff wrote on September 17, 2001: "Clearly, the United States needs to deal with Mr. bin Laden's terrorist organization, but that is essentially a police and intelligence problem. Long-term United States interests cannot afford a "war" that risks toppling Saudi Arabia and other conservative Islamic regimes into alliance with the radical movements already powerful in Iran, Sudan, Algeria, and influential in Egypt, Pakistan, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. That, though, is the risk." Now, Pakistan threatens to come unglued and the President is being advised to send in 40,000 troops. What he needs to do is read this article below.
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POPSJoe Biden: the worrying rise of Barack Obama’s Mr Wrong The real difficulty with Mr Biden, however, is his judgment. On all the big questions, he has been – to put it politely – on the wrong side of history. The problem is that Mr Obama may now be listening to Mr Biden. Having supposedly already settled on an Afghan strategy in March, he is giving a very public impression of Hamlet as he wrings his hands and conducts endless White House debates – with details leaked to the press – about what to do.
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POPSUS decision after Afghan result This "result" could take a very long time. In the mean time doesn't the need for more troops on the ground place those already there in more danger? Just asking.... In the meantime, the President has signed legislation that will send to Pakistan $7.5B over the next 5 yrs....supposedly to win over the hearts & minds of the Pakistanis. Is that really possible there?
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POPSObama Stands Up to the Military Despite recent months of Pentagon "leaks," and lobbying the White House is not rolling over to military demands. This action is almost unprecedented, taking great courage and political determination. Our military is suppose to be controlled and led by civilian, political leaders; not by generals. If Obama didn't deserve the Nobel Peace Prize award before (and he did); he certainly deserves it now.
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POPSOIL: The Real Purpose for the Afghanistan War and Af-Pak Policy It's not about "terrorism" but an oil pipeline from the Caspian region to Pakistan, thru Afghanistan. The proof is that the invasion was planned before Sept. 11th! This fact should be sufficient to establish Motive, should it not? Now you know why the Taliban and bin Laden got fingered for 9/11, instead of Saudi hijackers, etc. "It's not going to be built until there is a single Afghan government. That's the simple answer." Bush began war in the region in Oct. 2001. May 2002 the BBC reported the immediate result The leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan have agreed to construct a $2bn pipeline to bring gas from Central Asia to the sub-continent . Now look at this map of Military and Oil .
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POPSSearching For Consensus on Afghanistan share the same strategic interests and that the return to power of the Taliban would automatically mean a new sanctuary for al-Qaeda. Is that a myth? Here is Barack Obama on March 27, 2009, announcing his first new strategy for Afghanistan: "And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban - or allows al Qaeda to go unchallenged - that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can." He added: The return in force of al Qaeda terrorists who would accompany the core Taliban leadership would cast Afghanistan under the shadow of perpetual violence. Later in the Post article, the reporters quote a "senior Obama official" comparing Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Eight months ago, if you had asked people which was worse, everybody would have said Pakistan is worse and Afghanistan is in good shape." Afghanistan was in good shape? 2008 was the deadliest year for American troops there. Nobody paying any attention
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POPSObama's War: PBS Special Tonight 9PM HIGHLIGHTS Eight years in -- what is the new approach? The critical importance of connecting with locals Why the push into Helmand province What should we expect to see a year from now Who are the Taliban we're fighting in Afghanistan
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POPSA Simple Observation The war in Afghanistan has become an aimless absurdity. It began with a reason, to find Osama bin Laden. Or so we were told. Since then, he ‘may have’ moved into Pakistan. No one knows for certain. Is it really necessary to continue this seven year long bled letting against a bunch of religious extremists and druglords many of whom have safe haven in Pakistan, only for the occasional victory? Victories that soon are negated by retaliatory actions of many of the same people we are there to ‘bring into the 21st century’. Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s corrupt government skims the very drug trade that funds the indigenous forces NATO forces are fighting against and will therefore never lift a governmental finger to stop it.
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POPS Afghan War Units Begin Two New Efforts The moves underline the military's efforts to remake itself in response to the Afghan war despite the Obama administration's signals that it is far from committed to the current counterinsurgency approach. President Barack Obama met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates Monday as part of the ongoing White House review of Afghanistan policy, which is being re-evaluated in light of the country's flawed presidential elections and the Taliban's recent gains. A senior military official acknowledged that the Afghan Hands initiative, the most important of the new efforts, could be modified or scaled back if the White House decides on a new strategy. "None of this is inflexible or set in stone," the official said. The strategic review comes amid worsening violence across Afghanistan. At least 16 U.S. troops have already been killed in October, matching the entire American death toll for October 2008. Mr. Gates, speaking to an Army gathering on Monday . . .
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