Obama will send tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan

[IndianaGreen]

You do realize that the only issue here is the level of war escalation, don't you? Obama put the "cut bait" peace option off the table months ago. A lost opportunity to save American and Afghan lives!

Obama will send tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan

By Patrick Martin
9 November 2009

According to US press reports Sunday, President Barack Obama has decided to send tens of thousands of additional US troops to Afghanistan in an attempt to suppress growing popular resistance to foreign occupation.

The New York Times reported Sunday on its web site that the White House had narrowed its options in Afghanistan to three—all involving troop increases of 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000 respectively. The plans for escalating the war have come in response to the urgent request by General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan.

Citing “administration and military officials,” McClatchy Newspapers reported Saturday night that Obama has already settled on 34,000 troops, but was waiting to announce it until after briefing the other governments participating in the NATO occupation and completing a trip to Asia, now set for November 11-19.

McClatchy identified the new military units to be deployed in Afghanistan as including three Army brigades from the 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and the 10th Mountain Division, at Fort Drum, New York, and a Marine brigade. These forces, comprising 23,000 soldiers, would serve in combat and support roles. Another 7,000 troops would establish a new division headquarters in Kandahar, where the US is to take command of all NATO and allied forces in a Regional Command (South). Another 4,000 military trainers would likely be sent as well. The details could still change, officials told McClatchy, and would not be finalized until a NATO meeting November 23.

Two top military officers indirectly confirmed the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Washington audience Wednesday that the administration would request a supplemental funding bill to meet the cost of the additional troops, with Pentagon officials giving a ballpark estimate of $50 billion. The regular Pentagon appropriations bill, signed by Obama at the end of last month, already allots $130 billion to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

General George Casey, the Army chief of staff, called for sending more troops to Afghanistan in the course of a series of interviews on Sunday morning television talk shows. He was brought on to the programs to respond to questions about the killing of 13 soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas by an Army major apparently upset over an impending deployment to the Afghanistan war.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/nov2009/aftr-n09.shtml

[polichick]

1. Seems this prez takes all the right moves off the table - WTF! nt

[tridim]

2. Gibbs and the WH have denied this.

Hear those war drums?

[IndianaGreen]

3. The only decision pending is the level of violence that Obama will unleash on the Afghan people

This is not a situation in which Obama is vacillating between war and peace. He already chose war!

[Cha]

5. THey don't give a shit..they want blood and

by gawd they're gonna have it.

[polichick]

6. Looks like it's the prez who wants blood - we want peace. nt

[Cha]

8. The president hasn't made a decision yet.

[IndianaGreen]

10. He decided in favor of war! He put the peace option off the table.

Obama is only deciding between the level of savagery he is willing to unleash on Afghanistan.

[ClarkUSA]

11. Funny how you never bring up how he's drawing down troops in Iraq at an unprecedented pace.

So he's put the peace option back on the table! :woohoo:

[Cha]

13. It's all about making

the whine more bitter.

[ClarkUSA]

15. ROFL

:rofl:

[IndianaGreen]

16. And they are being redeployed to Afghanistan

and the Iraq drawdown is not at an unprecedented pace, but at a snail's pace.

[ClarkUSA]

17. Yay! The peace option is on the table in Iraq!!

:woohoo:

[Cha]

4. Keep the mediawhore LIES coming so you

can get all the little bitty whiners raging ON and ON and ON.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Obama is deciding one thing and one thing only: the level of war!

Obama decided months ago that he was going to wage war. The only issue pending is the level of violence that he will unleash on the Afghan people.

[Cha]

9. MEDIAWHORE LIES.

[David__77]

12. I certainly think the progressives need to get clearer on this.

The war against Afghanistan - the occupation of subjugation of that country - is criminal and immmoral. People should be pointed and clear on the matter.

[ClarkUSA]

14. Debunking this mediawhore OP --> "Obama has not announced a plan for Afghanistan" (link)

Read more: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8746127&mesg_id=8746127