In Afghanistan, Gates to Talk of Troop Increases

[Bragi]

Source: Ny Times

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Defense secretary Robert M. Gates said here on Thursday that the Pentagon, which plans to send 20,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, was trying to get thousands of the additional combat forces into the country as soon as next spring, a sign of the seriousness of the threat facing the United States against the Taliban.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/world/middleeast/12gates.html?_r=1&hp

---

This is not a "good" war and Obama should not be escalating it and making it "his war".

[High Plains]

1. The Single Unified Capitalist War Party delivers on its promise:

Perpetual war. Cool.

[balantz]

2. I would like them to tell us how many private mercenaries will also be deployed.

I'm thinking they only give us the number of U.S. military troops.

For that matter, how many mercenaries are already there spreading their poison and doing dirty, clandestine operations, completely unchecked by our military?

[Bragi]

3. On posting this item

I am always disappointed at how little attention gets paid to the Afghanistan war on DU. If there's a single issue that could see many of us grimly attending future protests against Obama, then this war is it. Yet few people here seem to want to debate Obama's planned escalation of this war.

My feeling is that antiwar progressives should make known our discomfort at this aspect of Obama's foreign policy right now. A year from now, if Obama escalates the war as (unfortunately) he promises, then he will be too far into this quagmire to get out without significant adverse political consequences.

The time to tell him to rethink this is now.

- B

[balantz]

5. I agree with you. This should be a number one item of aggressive discussion.

Especially considering how things are moving in that direction so much more now.

[Bragi]

6. Agreed...

Everyone supporting Obama seems to want to look the other way as he puts into action his very bad policy of escalating this useless war.

I think everyone who supports Obama will regret this in six months time, when attention refocuses on this war, and when it becomes clear that it is unwinnable and pointless.

Sadly, Obama is taking a Bush foreign policy disaster here, and making it his own, and I'm hearing very little criticism of this.

- B

[balantz]

8. It is not a useless war to the corporate interests of which Obama's agenda follows.

It isn't to look for Bin Laden that we are there. I think it's more for control of politics and resources and to keep the military industry booming.

[balantz]

4. I was wondering about private contractors in Afghanistan and found numbers from 2007.

http://www.tcf.org/list.asp?type=NC&pubid=1721

-snip-

The Defense Department says the U.S. military employs 1,000 security contractors, and the State Department and the government of Afghanistan also hire PSCs. Estimates on the number of private security personnel in Afghanistan exceed 10,000 for registered groups alone. This number is small in absolute terms when compared with the number of PSCs in Iraq, but it comprises a substantial military presence for Afghanistan. If this figure is accurate, private security personnel outnumber the troop contribution of every nation but the United States, and are almost a third the size of the Afghan National Army (estimated at around 35,000).

-snip-

[gratuitous]

7. They need more troops in Afghanistan?

But I thought things were going swimmingly there! Has Ann Coulter been notified?

If they're looking for more troops for Afghanistan, though, there are a whole bunch of newly unemployed Republican officeholders and their staff people running around Washington DC. Should be a snap to fill a good portion of those 20,000 slots. Karl Rove and Newt Gingrich don't seem to be doing anything constructive right now. And Ari Fleischer's Freedom Watch is about to close the doors for good. I'm sure all those good, patriotic Americans would love the opportunity to get over to Afghanistan and fight for freedom. They're probably not too keen for actual combat, but maybe they could ride along on supply convoys?

[digimedia]

9. more info

more info: http://www.70news.com/2008/12/11/breaking-news-us-to-send-more-troops-to-afghanistan/

[Political Heretic]

10. Well in fairness, its what he said he was going to do all along.....

I mean, its not like he's changing tunes or anything.

He's always said we took "our eye off the ball" of the war on terror by getting "distracted" in Iraq, and that Afghanistan was the real "front."

I've never agreed with him on that, and I'm sad that no one questions the entire premise that this so-called "war on terror" even has anything serious to do with security or safety or allows for debate about whether there might be more effective, less costly, less destabilizing ways to be secure in the first place.

But so it goes....

[junior college]

11. NO WAR!

Please Obama don't escalate this thing, end it.

[ohio2007]

12. Three accused of acid attack (on engineering students) shot dead

follow up story to this forgotten incident;

Acid attack on Afghan schoolgirls in Kandahar
Attackers in Afghanistan have sprayed acid in the faces of at least 15 girls near a school in Kandahar, police say.

snip

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2008/11/12/acid-attack-on-afghan-schoolgirls-in-kandahar.html

Three accused of acid attack shot dead in encounter in Andhra

WARANGAL: In a new turn in the case involving acid attack on two engineering girl students, police have shot dead the three accused boys, claiming the police party was attacked by them.
The main suspect Srinivas and accomplice Sanjay and Harikrishna were shot dead when they allegedly attacked the police party which went to recover a motor cycle used by them in the incident at Mavunoor on Friday night, district Superintendent of Police Sajjanar said.

The police action comes in the wake of a huge public outcry over the acid attack in which the faces of the two girls were disfigured and they were in a critical condition.
Two police officials were suspended on Friday for failing to act promptly on a complaint by the father of one of the girls who is battling for life after being subjected to acid attack by a jilted lover in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh.
On Friday, home minister K Jana Reddy was gheraoed by angry activists of women organizations when he visited the private hospital where Swapnika, a final year B Tech student and her friend are undergoing treatment.

Swapnika and Pranitha were injured when Srinivas threw acid while they were going home on a bike last on Wednesday.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Three_accused_of_acid_attack_shot_dead_in_encounter_in_Andhra/articleshow/3831585.cms?TOI_latestnews

video;
http://broadband.indiatimes.com/toishowvideo/3831546.cms

Well junior, jmo but
I don't think those college coeds are are ready to stand alone against the 8th century cave dweller fundies

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2008/12/10/two-women-and-a-small-girl-chopped-into-pieces-in-northern-afghanistan.html

More UK troops sent to Afghanistan
Hundreds of extra British troops have been sent to Afghanistan, it was revealed on Saturday, as Prime Minister Gordon Brown flew in to visit forces on the front line.

Reinforcements, numbering "in the low hundreds", from a Cyprus-based stand-by contingent have been called into action by commanders, a Government source said.

The boost in numbers from 8,100, completed over the last few weeks, is believed to be part of a shift of strategy towards providing a wider geographical security cover ahead of Afghan presidential elections due next autumn.


snip
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3120127.html?menu=

stay in college jr. I doubt anybody will throw acid in your face anytime soon


http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP125642

just saying, a mind is a terrible thing to waste