Marines to wind down Afghan combat in 2012

[Turborama]

Source: AP

By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer – 35 mins ago

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan – U.S. Marines will march out of Afghanistan by the thousands next year, winding down combat in the Taliban heartland and testing the U.S. view that Afghan forces are capable of leading the fight against a battered but not yet beaten insurgency in the country's southwestern reaches, American military officers say.

At the same time, U.S. reinforcements will go to eastern Afghanistan in a bid to reverse recent gains by insurgents targeting Kabul, the capital.

Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, said in an Associated Press interview that the number of Marines in Helmand province will drop "markedly" in 2012, and the role of those who stay will shift from countering the insurgency to training and advising Afghan security forces.

The change suggests an early exit from Afghanistan for the Marine Corps even as the prospects for solidifying their recent successes are uncertain.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_re_as/as_afghan_war_strategy

[midnight]

1. I suppose that's because if the senates bill passes they will need them at home

to arrest us....

"The Senate will be voting on a bill S. 1867,that will direct American military resources not at an enemy shooting at our military in a war zone, but at American citizens and other civilians far from any battlefield — even people in the United States itself."http://www.thedailysheeple.com/your-front-yard-is-a-battlefield-senate-to-vote-on-legislation-that-allows-u-s-military-to-detain-citizens-without-charge-or-trial_112011

[bemildred]

2. It's because there is an election coming.

And we have been there ten years and we are losing.

[kestrel91316]

3. Good. We cannot afford to continue warring against that barren rockpile.

[bhikkhu]

4. Good - and I don't even care whether they call it a success or a failure

...and I hope it doesn't get tangled up in election-year politics again.

[Bigmack]

5. The Marines left Vietnam in 1971....

... no glory left to be had in a losing war. Vietnam staggered on and fell in 1975.

I guess Marine brass sees no glory left to be had in this particular losing war, either. I think Vietghanistan will fall quicker... much quicker.

`I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar soaked fingers out of the business of these (Third World) nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a solution of their own. And if unfortunately their revolution must be of the violent type because the `haves' refuse to share with the `have-nots' by any peaceful method, at least what they get will be their own, and not the American style, which they don’t want and above all don’t want crammed down their throats by Americans.' –
Gen. David Shoup, United States Marine Commandant Medal of Honor recipient.... two Purple Hearts...
(I'm proud to say Gen. Shoup was my Commandant during the first part of my time in.)

[glowing]

6. That may just be the marines.. My brother in law is in the army and

he's heading over late winter, early spring. So, I'm not sure how much is winding down or not?

[Harmony Blue]

7. Anytime Marines are disengaged from a conflict in U.S. history it signals a

transition either for better or worse.

[maddezmom]

8. kick

[_eh]

9. 40,000 troops to leave Afghanistan by end of 2012

Source: AP

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Drawdown plans announced by the U.S. and more than a dozen other nations will shrink the foreign military footprint in Afghanistan by 40,000 troops at the close of next year, leaving Afghan forces increasingly on the frontlines of the decade-long war.

The United States is pulling out the most - 33,000 by the end of 2012. That's one-third of 101,000 American troops who were in Afghanistan in June - the peak of U.S. military presence in the war, according to figures provided by the Pentagon.



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHAN_TROOPS_LEAVING?SITE=VACUL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

---

Rockin' good news! (Better news would be getting ALL of them out by the end of next MONTH.)

[UnrepentantLiberal]

10. So our soldiers will be getting killed and maimed in Afghanistan

until the end of 2013 at the earliest? Nice. So glad we have a Democrat in the White House.

[DCBob]

11. If we had a Republican in the WH we would be increasing troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

and probably fighting in a couple of other new places.

"Bomb,bomb,bomb... bomb,bomb Iran!" -- Senator McCain.

[JJW]

12. After 4 yrs of Obama surge we'll get back to Bush trrop levels

Heck of a job there, Mr. War is Peace.