Afghan war options: Beating al-Qaida key yardstick

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is considering a range of ideas for changing course in Afghanistan, from pulling back to staying put to sending thousands more troops to fight the insurgency.

A look at the options and their implications for achieving Obama’s stated goal of defeating al-Qaida.

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Afghan war options: Beating al-Qaida key yardstick

None of these options, as presented, are my writings, they are all from the original story. I am doing to opine on the options themselves, what I feel they may or may not accomplish in the Afghanistan campaign, and how these options will impact our troops, our economy and the United States.

GETTING OUT

A full, immediate withdrawal of American forces does not appear to be in the cards, not the least because U.S. allies in NATO share the view that abandoning Afghanistan now would hand a victory to Islamic extremist forces such as the Taliban that are aligned in some respects with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida. Some argue that because the al-Qaida figures who were run out of Afghanistan when U.S. troops invaded after the Sept. 11 attacks are now encamped across the border in Pakistan, there is no point to a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. A related school of thought holds that the very presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan adds to the country’s instability and fuels its insurgency. Obama has taken a different view. Less than two months ago he said, “If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which al-Qaida would plot to kill more Americans. So this is not only a war worth fighting. This is fundamental to the defense of our people.”

OK, on 1st impression, that is a good paragraph over all, but consider this; Barack Obama knows the words, he knows the tune, but will he DO the dance or just talk? Talk is all we have seen from Obama to date. He is correct in this statement, “If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which al-Qaida would plot to kill more Americans. So this is not only a war worth fighting. This is fundamental to the defense of our people.”, but it appears that Obama has been too preoccupied with Michelle, Oprah and their Excellent Adventure into failure by pandering the IOC instead of focusing on the most important matters at hand.

And in ALL fairness, it must be pointed out, if we walk away from Afghanistan, we look like foolish losers. We will have failed to win a decisive victory in a nation that is approximately the same size in land area as is the state of Texas. That is not the most confidence inspiring thing that this nation and our so-called leadership could do.

Also, not that I particularly care one way or the other, but if the USA walks away from the Afghans, Hamid Karzai is a dead man. No maybe in that statement, he is as good as gone.

Karzai was nothing more than the most well educated, and most easily acceptable war lord at our disposal after the initial actions against the Taliban following 9-11. He easily bent to our will, for a while. Then he became all too impressed with his own assumed importance and has blasted the USA for our unacceptable conduct in prosecuting the war. He is demanding things that are getting our troops killed, and our ultimately PC President is only too eager to grant Karzai his wishes.

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McKiernan: Extra forces could stay in Afghanistan 5 years

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Gen. David McKiernan, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, predicted Wednesday that the additional 17,000 U.S. military forces to be sent to Afghanistan will remain there for as long as five years.

“This is not a temporary force uplift,” McKiernan said. “It will need to be sustained for some period of time, for the next three to four to five years.”

McKiernan made his comments a day after President Obama approved the troop increase for Afghanistan.

“I’ll use most of those forces in southern Afghanistan, an area where we do not have sufficient security presence, an area that has deteriorated somewhat,” he said.

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McKiernan: Extra forces could stay in Afghanistan 5 years

Our military leaders are going into this thing talking 5 more years minimum in Afghanistan?? Well, this begs the same questions I asked during the Bush administration concerning Iraq, I addressed this under the Bush administration, I will do no less under Obama.

So, to start off, let me get this straight. We have been in Iraq since March 20, 2003, and we are going to remain there for some time to come. The war in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001 and it is a certainty that we will be there for many years to come as well.

I am NOT linking all of the facts regarding the land area of these nations because they ARE facts and can easily be verified by doing a simple Google search. If the reader doubts my posting, they can look them up on their own. So, here are the facts: Afghanistan covers an area of some 251,825 square miles. Iraq covers an area of 167,400 square miles. The great state of Texas covers 268,601 square miles all to itself.

Is our military incapable of bringing about the FULL pacification of a nation that isn’t as big as the state of Texas? For crying out loud, Iraq and Afghanistan put together aren’t that much bigger than the STATE that I live in. What in the hell is WRONG with our military, it’s leadership, it’s structure and command? I have NO DOUBTS concerning the ability or courage of our troops, those fine men and women will go to the gates of hell and fight Satan himself if ordered to do so, the problem does NOT lie with our troops!

The U.S.A. hasn’t fought an efficient war since WWII. The aftermath of war is breaking us, the rebuilding of defeated nations has cost America dearly. We are still in Germany, Japan all but owns us, we are still in South Korea, we got our asses kicked OUT of Vietnam in 1975, and for what it’s worth, Vietnam covers 127,844 square miles, ALL of Vietnam, North and South together. And we didn’t totally annihilate the place??

Has the leadership of our military lost it’s will to fight and win or is it a matter of them having their hands tied and not being allowed to execute a definite and undisputed WIN? That was my question concerning the war in Iraq under the Bush administration. I felt that Bush was trying to micromanage the war and run it himself, and I have long contended that Bush taking us to Iraq when he did, for the lame reasons he used, and his diverting forces from the war in Afghanistan so he could depose Saddam Hussein, is the very reason we are now seeing the increased violence in Afghanistan and the resurgence of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the region.

We don’t have Bush to blame now, and you know, for the life of me, I didn’t here the hue and cry of the libber left when Obama committed another 17K U.S. troops to Afghanistan yesterday.

Folks, the U.S.A. entered WWII on Dec. 8, 1941 and the surrender of Japan was signed on August 15, 1945. We fought, won and ended a WORLD WAR in just short of 3 years and 9 months. I demand to know WHY in the hell we can’t wage war, win and sign a peace treaty in Iraq and Afghanistan after 7 1/2 years of total fighting time! I want someone in command, like the guy at the very top of the chain to tell me, make me understand what is wrong!

To the victors go the spoils, or so it is written, but the politically correct world in which we live it is apparently wrong to wage war and win any more. As I have said on numerous occasions, and will repeat again, political correctness WILL be the death of this nation.

Barack Obama and the War on Terror

If Obama were to stop some of the Dem/Libber BS with the Porkulous rhetoric, he would match up to many reasonable people in his beliefs concerning the battles in Iraq and Afghanistan, Anti-war lawmakers worry over plan for Afghanistan.

Obama appears to support the efforts in Afghanistan, “After campaigning on the promise to end one war, President Barack Obama is preparing to escalate another” and I personally know that feeling, the criticism, the being called names by the Bush Bots because of my massive disagreement with the actions we took in Iraq. Afghanistan is still a theater that needs to be pursued, but after the initial focus on Afghanistan was lost by our former POTUS, due to his obvious A.D.D. and the need to vindicate himself in *Daddy’s* eyes, Afghanistan is NOT the primary target any longer. Terror organizations have re-evaluated their operations and have diversified their theater of operations.

We are still losing troops in the War on Terror, 2 U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan but Afghanistan IS, well, WAS the War on Terror. Iraq had NO part in that war until George W. Bush made them a part of it. Our own Senate, Congress and Dept. of Defense, as well as the CIA and other Intelligence organizations made reports to the American people verifying the fact that Saddam and Iraq were NOT engaged in terror attacks against the USA and had NO part in the attacks of 9-11, Bush admitted that he took us to Iraq under what can only be called bad information. I have never had so much as one word to say against the efforts in Afghanistan, that WAS the right place, the right people and the right time.

There are many errors being made in this War on Terror, Bush made his fair share, Obama is well on the way to eclipsing Bush in the error department, Obama preparing order to close Gitmo. Those preparations have become orders and I am fully convinced that Obama is making one of the most critical errors of his fledgling presidency.

Obama has made NO secret of the fact that he wishes to engage in open dialog with the enemies of this nation, Biden Says US Willing to Talk to Iran. One thing I feel that must be pointed out, you negotiate from a position of strength, not desperation. Iran is directly responsible for many, if not MOST of the deaths we have suffered in Iraq, over 4,200 U.S. service personnel to date. I have a serious issue in negotiating with the powers that caused those deaths. Unless we are negotiating their unconditional surrender.

The focus of the War on Terror needs to be re-evaluated too I believe, Yemen releases 170 al-Qaida suspects, Yemen is where the U.S.S. Cole was bombed. Yemen is the hotbed of al-Qaida activity at present, organization and planning. Yemen isn’t the only place either, al-Qaida, by many different names, is active all over the world. The men that Yemen released were freed Friday and Saturday after signing pledges not to engage in terrorism. Is there anyone that actually believes that these guys are going to honor that pledge?

When you capture a terrorist, and for some odd reason you decide to release that terrorist after a period of time, you can be nearly 100% assured that he WILL return to his former occupation, terrorism. That is something that Obama just doesn’t seem to understand. I get the feeling that Obama has some childlike TRUST in the word of these people, that he has a belief that they will abide by the words they use to obtain their freedom, or, in the recently witnessed actions in Palestine, where Hamas begged for a truce only because they needed a break to re-arm and re-supply.

There are many difficulties in the War on Terror. We don’t fight an organized army, a uniformed army. An enemy fighter is a combatant one minute, then they hide their rifle and instantly become an innocent civilian, one that has MUCH public relations value to al-Jazeera and other Pro-Arab and terrorist supporting networks if they are killed. That statement is well illustrated in this story, Afghan arrested after Guantanamo release, a case of a former detainee being re-arrested and the frustration is showing, for us as well as the Afghan people.

“We are fed up,” says Ishaq Gailani, a member of President Hamid Karzai’s government. “Bagram is full of these people who are wrongly accused. They arrest everyone — a 15-year-old boy and a 61-year-old man. They arrest them because they run away from their helicopters…I would run away too if I saw them. They don’t know who is the terrorist and who is not.”

I don’t know what the Obama administration is going to actually do, I don’t think even THEY know themselves. I do know this, TALK isn’t going to get the job done. Catch and release is great if you’re fishing but it isn’t a great way to conduct combat operations, you only end up catching the same fish, over and over again.

Once the Obama administration realizes that, perhaps they will figure out a way to prosecute the War on Terror as it MUST be done, and find a way to punish those that keep this WAR going, the Princes of The Religion of Peace, the Islamic terrorists that refuse to accept anything other than submission to them or death to their enemies, these ANIMALS of Islam that refuse to allow this world to live in peace