Gates (and Gen. McChrystal) Say Afghan Civilian Casualties 'Biggest Risks to Success of Strategy'

[bigtree]

APRIL 13, 2010

Gates Says Afghan Civilian Casualties Take Toll on U.S. Efforts

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said civilian casualties in Afghanistan were posing a strategic challenge to U.S. battlefield success there, a sign of the mounting American concern that civilian deaths are leading ordinary Afghans to turn against the coalition and shift their support to the Taliban.

Mr. Gates said U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who commands all coalition forces in Afghanistan, believes that continued Afghan casualties at the hands of American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces imperiled the entire war effort there.

"Gen. McChrystal's view is that the civilian casualty question is a strategic question in Afghanistan," Mr. Gates told reporters traveling aboard a military plane en route to Latin America. "He thinks that is one of the biggest risks to the success of our strategy."

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said civilian casualties in Afghanistan were posing a strategic challenge to U.S. battlefield success.

read: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304604204575182252726071526.html?mod=asia_home


We Just Can't Win in Afghanistan . . .
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8139066

[theoldman]

1. They are absolutely right.

In a situation like in Afghanistan you cannot shoot first and ask questions later. We had the same problem in Vietnam but there you had kids carrying grenades.

[NJmaverick]

2. This is pretty much a given

[bigtree]

4. apparently not a 'given' for some folks there

. . . or for some supporters, either, advocating pushing this unwieldy military machine further on into Kandahar.

[NJmaverick]

13. Interestingly enough, the opposite of what you say is true

since the leaders and the people supporting them are the ones making these statements.

[bigtree]

14. they're making these statements opportunistically

. . . and tragically later than most observers and critics have. Apparently they're not concerned enough about the political consequences of their blunders to halt their military advance into these Afghan communities; still trying to thread the needle in Marjah and expecting to move into Kandahar next.

I don't think they have a clue how to manage their unwieldy military machine without harming those they claim to be protecting. And, there's not concern enough from the military to provide some refuge or provisions for the folks they're driving from their homes in advance of their attack.

The evidence is that whatever concern they express, they haven't yet been able to operate in a way that keeps these folks safe and secure from the harm which is a direct consequence of their own exercise of military force. There's also absolutely no effective protection being provided against the blowback to the residents who remain from the vengeance of the resistance fighters.

This is a disgrace and a travesty. The military leadership and the White House have yet to acknowledge that fact. When they do, I'll acknowledge that they understand the dynamics and consequences surrounding their continued militarism.

[Webster Green]

3. Duh.

Can't go wrong with such brilliant leaders.

Get the fuck out!

[bigtree]

6. well, they've admitted it

. . . now we need some legislators here in the U.S. to hold them accountable for the predicted and inevitable failure of their 'strategy'.

[EFerrari]

8. I know. Secretary Obvious and his sidekick, General Weasel Words.

Get them out now.

[Mari333]

5. what fucking strategy

the only strategy I see is a lot of defense dept bullshit propaganda to keep the coffers of the multinational war corporations flush with money by continuing a never ending war.


these assclowns are so full of shit their eyes are brown

[bigtree]

10. Operation Protection Racket

[mdmc]

7. No shit Sherlocks!

People don't like to be killed by foreigners..

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. Funny thing about civil wars..people prefer their own killers to foreign killers.

Which is a damned good reason to stay out of them.

[frylock]

11. first day on the job?

NFS, jeenyus.

[damntexdem]

12. Which means that the real biggest risk to the success of the strategy is ...

the strategy, in any form that it is likely to be implemented.