Gates considers more U.S. troops for Afghanistan

[OhioChick]

POSTED: 7:29 a.m. EST, January 17, 2007

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday he would consider sending more troops to Afghanistan where U.S. commanders say they expect the Taliban to step up attacks from Pakistani sanctuaries.

Gates, in Afghanistan to ensure commanders have the resources to counter an expected Taliban offensive in the spring, said it was very important the United States and its allies did not let the success achieved in Afghanistan slip away.

Violence in Afghanistan intensified last year to its bloodiest since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

U.S. military commanders said attacks from Pakistan into Afghanistan had surged, several-fold in some areas, and the violence was expected to increase in the spring and summer.

Gates said he had discussed the situation with the commander of Afghanistan's NATO force, General David Richards, and others.

Asked if the commanders had made a case for more troops, he said: "Yes."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/01/17/afghan.gates.reut/index.html

Where are all of these troops going to come from??

[LynnTheDem]

1. Gee...maybe start with NOT pulling US troops OUT of Afghanistan

to go to Iraq?

bUsh takes FUBAR to new previously unknown heights.

[mikeytherat]

2. This should be easy as pie for Gates!

In late December 2006, he was proud to announce that the Army had exceeded it's December recruiting goal by 23% How, exactly, did the Army accomplish this? By lowering December's recruiting goal from 7,000 to 700. So, all Gates should have to do is decide we need 5,000 more troops in Afghanistan, lower the goal to 500, send 600, and blather on and on about how he "sent 20% more troops than requested."

As long as you get to move the goalposts and redefine "victory," you'll never lose a game.

mikey_the_rat

[leesa]

3. I hadn't heard this one before...my God they are shameless.

[coalition_unwilling]

9. While Gates blathers on, he can say "enhance" when he means

"improve" (with homage to J. Heller).

[bobthedrummer]

11. That's part of the modus operandi of fresh eyes Gates and the IRAN/Contra segment

of the BFEE. Those lying fresh eyes looking again at IRAN...
The IRAN Contra Affair 20 Years On
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB210/index.htm
IRAN Contra
http://www.webcom.com/~lpease/collections/conspiracies/irancontra.htm
IRAN Contra
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Iran-Contra

[fed-up]

4. they are already sending them!!! this week from 82nd bat

I know two local boys going to Afghanistan this week from 82nd Airborne and just talked to a mom at a city council meeting last night who's boy was just sent to Bethesda from Afghanistan after being shot.

BRING OUR BOYS HOME NOW!!

[itsmesgd]

5. So does Gates get to have his own surge?

Here a surge, there a surge, everywhere a surge surge.
Crazy president had a war, and we had thousand's die. (for oil and ego)

[brooklynite]

6. Okay, follow my logic...I think I've figured this out.

Bush calls for an increase of troops in Iraq. Because there aren't enough fresh forces, he pulls troops out of Afghanistan to support the Iraq effort. This leads to an increase in attacks by the Taliban, requiring an increase of troops in Afghanistan. Because there aren't enough fresh forces, he pulls troops out of Iraq to support the Afghanistan effort. When the Iraq effort fails, he can blame the need for troops in Afghanistan as the reason for the lack of success in Iraq, but call for a new effort, which will require troops be pulled out of Afghanistan. Then...

[donkeyotay]

7. An extra $6 billion, too. nt

[coalition_unwilling]

8. "Success achieved in Afghanistan"??? - Excuse me, what success?

Oh, you mean the fact that opium production has surpassed pre-Taliban levels (undoubtedly with help from rogue units of CIA and other spook outfits a la Southeast Asia and south central Los Angeles)? Or perhaps by "success" they mean the pipeline deal the big oil consortium concluded to run a pipeline from Kazahkstan through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the port at Lahore?

[bobthedrummer]

10. OhioChick-there have been a lot of reports from that region recently

here is a crosspost for background
"Pakistan nuclear kidnap foiled (BBC)"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2689760

[KansDem]

12. Let me see if I understand this: Send in *more* US troops to *not* grab OBL when they locate him

:crazy:

And this is from the Corporate Media:

.S. Concludes Bin Laden Escaped at Tora Bora Fight
Failure to Send Troops in Pursuit Termed Major Error

By Barton Gellman and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 17, 2002; Page A01

The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge.

Intelligence officials have assembled what they believe to be decisive evidence, from contemporary and subsequent interrogations and intercepted communications, that bin Laden began the battle of Tora Bora inside the cave complex along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border. Though there remains a remote chance that he died there, the intelligence community is persuaded that bin Laden slipped away in the first 10 days of December.

--more--
WP

And...

The US-led war in Afghanistan was going exceedingly well up to that point. The Taliban regime had been pushed from the northern half of the country; the capital of Kabul and much of the rest of Afghanistan would fall within the next few days.

It was a war like no other. In an evolutionary leap powered by Information Age technology, US ground soldiers were mainly employed as observers, liaisons, and spotters for air power - not as direct combatants sent to occupy a foreign land. The success of the US was dazzling, save for the fight for Tora Bora, which may have been this unconventional war's most crucial battle. For the US, Tora Bora wasn't about capturing caverns or destroying fortifications - it was about taking the world's most wanted terrorist "dead or alive."

In retrospect, it becomes clear that the battle's underlying story is of how scant intelligence, poorly chosen allies, and dubious military tactics fumbled a golden opportunity to capture bin Laden as well as many senior Al Qaeda commanders.

Moreover, as the US military conducts new strikes with its Afghan allies in nearby Paktia Province, sends special forces into Southeast and Central Asia - and prepares for a possible military plunge into Iraq - planners will need to learn the lessons of Tora Bora: Know which local leaders to trust. Know when to work with allied forces on the ground. And know when to go it alone. "Maybe the only lesson that is applicable is: whenever you use local forces, they have local agendas," says one senior Western diplomat, now looking at options for invading Iraq. "You had better know what those are so that if it is not a reasonable match - at least it is not a contradiction."

--more--
CSM

Apparently, OBL, who's dependent on a dialysis machine, can slip away from the world's most powerful military and billions of dollars in spy technology? You don't suppose that OBL, a member of the Saudi Royal Family who are business partners with the Bush Family, got away because Bush didn't want him captured?

Hmmmm...makes one ponder.