tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post8653081055673892477..comments2024-03-26T05:18:53.709-04:00Comments on Pen and Sword: The McChrystal ProblemJeff Huberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-42486212537463550522009-10-08T01:01:30.006-04:002009-10-08T01:01:30.006-04:00jp; i have been saying the same thing all along, t...jp; i have been saying the same thing all along, the gop took a dive. they knew what was coming. the financial system was broken in 2007. our empire building was well under way. the rethugs wanted no part of this. what ever happens they will blame it on the black democrat. the gop have become the naysayers, and the saboreurs of society.Tao Dao Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16229628652152584292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-19935430896141751132009-10-08T00:25:20.542-04:002009-10-08T00:25:20.542-04:00More from the looney right, this one straight from...More from the looney right, this one straight from the executive suite:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/01-10" rel="nofollow">Rove: Obama Can't Outsource Afghanistan</a><br /><br />They really do seem to believe that nothing bad happened during the Bush years. As they were always so quick to remind us, history began anew on September 11, 2001, so no use thinking or talking about the irrelevant past. Well, it must have ended again at some point, because nothing of consequence seems to have happened before Obama took the oath of office. <br /><br />I still think that the Republican party took a dive with the McCain/Palin ticket. Things couldn't help but be worse in the next decade, thanks in no small part to Bush's "leadership," so why not hang it all around the neck of a one-term Democrat? I wonder who our Republican "saviour" is going to be?<br /><br />Sorry, rhetorical question.jpwhitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17975430453557627368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-10515480216942962512009-10-07T20:17:51.117-04:002009-10-07T20:17:51.117-04:00ANON; great observation [think] Diem Bien Phu. as ...ANON; great observation [think] Diem Bien Phu. as far as we are concerned all of af/pak is a valley, and they hold the high ground. time is on their side. as the saying in the middle east goes. ----the enemy of my enemy is my enemy---Tao Dao Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16229628652152584292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-59707799540740578642009-10-07T20:12:44.764-04:002009-10-07T20:12:44.764-04:00The site of the attack where those 8 Americans sol...The site of the attack where those 8 Americans soldiers were killed was totally indefensible. In a valley covered on two sides by Taliban held high ground.<br /><br />Who put a "base" in a depression needs to be court martialled.<br /><br />Yeah, Lindsey Graham can say "listen to the generals", but not the ones who put US soldiers in harms way with no concern for the terrain. For no operational or strategic goals.<br /><br />There are only war profiteers of various shades.<br /><br />Give them another 10 years........<br /><br />loggie20Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-39691411418706666192009-10-07T19:50:14.581-04:002009-10-07T19:50:14.581-04:00With all the solemnity, and they honor they deserv...With all the solemnity, and they honor they deserved, the eight service men we lost recently, were returned to Dover Air Force Base. <br /><br />For the first time, since we went to war (with anybody) eight years ago, their homecoming was open to the press, and was televised.<br /><br />This White House can read the tea leaves on some things. <br /><br />Most of America is wondering at this point -- how we can afford to continue to throw billions, at the war and corruption in Afghanistan, and we are counting pennies, when it comes to financing health care -- for all our own citizens.<br /><br />Congresswoman Barbara Lee has introduced a bill in the House, which would in effect defund this war. Or, at minimum, refuse to fund any additional troops to deploy to Afghanistan. <br /><br />Nobody has called her "un-American" or "un-Patriotic" that I'm aware of. <br /><br />You may "go to war with the Army that you have" in the military.<br /><br />In politics "you govern the people as they are now,-- not as they were 5-6-7 years or so ago". <br /><br />America is dead broke, and war weary.<br /><br />And, anybody who cannot see the insanity of sending over 100,000 combat troops to hunt down 100 bad guys....needs to have their "militarily strategic head examined." Or eat a balanced meal and ... get some sleep. Finding another career path is also an option. Whichever would be the most beneficial to us all.Elderladyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02268520056042293783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-80992521717433591822009-10-07T17:31:44.674-04:002009-10-07T17:31:44.674-04:00It appears John L. Perry's story has been take...It appears John L. Perry's story has been taken down by Newsmax. Link broken and can't find it on its archives page.Keith Hazelton Anecdotal Economisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09366240863122030488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-17759009784084115262009-10-06T20:35:31.265-04:002009-10-06T20:35:31.265-04:00ANON; When you hear McChrystal [think] Mac Arthur....ANON; When you hear McChrystal [think] Mac Arthur. chrystal is from the rummy mold, it was bad enough that obama kept gates. imo; obama was told to keep gates. now it is decision time. ==same old same oil==or does obama enter the new era?Tao Dao Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16229628652152584292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-25016169948313407772009-10-06T20:26:09.616-04:002009-10-06T20:26:09.616-04:00Reality may be right. But I believe that that fool...Reality may be right. But I believe that that fool McCrystal should be fired. He violated the chain of command, and went public before issuing his statement to the the chain of command. Then makes a speech doing the same again after the pres says thaat he is deliberating on it. <br />He is doing the old end run to save his butt. Kick the princes out to save our troops lives. Our men deserve better.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-54671813565590340632009-10-06T18:51:36.664-04:002009-10-06T18:51:36.664-04:00lets please not forget about the chatter of patreu...lets please not forget about the chatter of patreus running for president. this could all be a set up for 2012. the naysayers and saboteurs are setting themselves up politically for 2010, and 2012. they need more control through chaos in the region. start listening for a [FREE BALOCHISTAN} that will be the match for the fuse of further balkanization in the region.Tao Dao Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16229628652152584292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-83275200516553350362009-10-06T18:24:12.348-04:002009-10-06T18:24:12.348-04:00This headline on Google News front page has me and...This headline on Google News front page has me and my wife startled.<br /><br />President Obama tries to heal rifts over war strategy in Afghanistan<br />Times Online - Tim Reid - 1 hour ago<br />President Obama turned to leading figures in Congress yesterday for advice on his Afghanistan war strategy as concerns grew that he has allowed internal tensions over such a critical decision to spill into public view.<br /><br />These generals have put this critical decision into view by playing politician with their Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy -- they went to the newspapers and "leaked" this stuff repeatedly for weeks if not months now. <br /><br />These generals are incredibly diligent at trying to undermine President Obama's authority over them.<br /><br />These generals must be fired before our president completely loses control of them.Empire and Rebellionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06395672126760848375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-57911703286846630862009-10-06T08:36:43.349-04:002009-10-06T08:36:43.349-04:00I agree with you Jeff, it's amazing.
jo6pacI agree with you Jeff, it's amazing.<br />jo6pacAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-83907949701104117602009-10-05T20:04:07.527-04:002009-10-05T20:04:07.527-04:00Why it would seem that even the bigwigs at the Wol...Why it would seem that even the bigwigs at the Wolfsschanze, are now snarling at Oberstgruppenfuehrer Douglas B. McChrystal. Any military figure patently dumb enough to attempt a another try at setting U.S. policy deserves to be met on an airport tarmac by a President. What's next, a firing for insubordination and a speech to a joint session of Congress? Don't laugh. As soon as the rejection of his plans becomes certain, some Reichstag armed forces sub- committee or other will succeed in featuring him being questioned by Lindsay Graham. Just see if Graham doesn't do a full court Joe Martin for us.Lavrenti Berianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-79683289280757540182009-10-05T19:35:49.308-04:002009-10-05T19:35:49.308-04:00Today's
update on sanity prevailing in our fo...Today's <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091005/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_afghanistan" rel="nofollow"><br />update </a>on sanity prevailing in our foreign policy:<br /><br /><i>President Barack Obama won't walk away from the flagging war in Afghanistan, the White House declared Monday as Obama faced tough decisions — and intense administration debate — over choices that could help define his presidency in his first year as commander in chief.</i><br /><br />The money quote:<br /><br /><i>The fighting Saturday marked the biggest loss of U.S. life in a single Afghan battle in more than a year. It also raised questions about why U.S. troops remained in the remote outposts after McChrystal said he planned to close down isolated strongholds and focus on more heavily populated areas as part of his new strategy to focus on protecting Afghan civilians.</i><br /><br />I don't want to be all cynical and conspiracy-minded, but is it possible that the reason the troops were still stationed there was to generate news like this? The right-wing blood contingent is probably screaming for revenge right now...jpwhitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17975430453557627368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-66580997831959103332009-10-05T11:08:16.112-04:002009-10-05T11:08:16.112-04:00Does it ever occur to the NYT or the War Post that...Does it ever occur to the NYT or the War Post that when a large portion of its every day reporting and editorializing revolves around US wars, potential<br />US wars or previous US wars that maybe something is wrong. The US has been in a constant state of war since WWII. The US war machine currently receives about a trillion dollars a year either directly or indirectly (more than every other country combined with plenty left over) while the US State Department, the diplomatic face of our government gets only about 30 billion. That is roughly the same<br />amount we earned as the leading exporter of arms to the world. US foreign aid only amounts to 23 billion dollars and we give the same amount of money to our top 5 aid recipients (194 million people) as we give to the rest of the world's 6 billion people combined.<br /><br />They fill their pages only with people who feel we have the right amount of war, need more war or need a lot more war, no matter how wrong they<br />have been in the past. They idolize the latest general du jour who then parades and preens around Washington in a monkey suit festooned<br />with a fruit salad on his chest for various heroic feats of bureaucratic combat and power point assaults that would make a south american dictator blush. McCrystal does a drive by review of<br />Afghanistan and suddenly his opinion is the center of gravity for debate because he read a couple of books and learned a few phrases of Pushtu. He is nothing but a flea on the ass of the elephant that is<br />the sad military history of Afghanistan and will be forgotten the moment he leaves.<br /><br />The US is the one violating the NPT, the one who used nuclear weapons, the one who attacks other countries unprovoked, the one who fills the<br />world with weapons. We have wasted trillions of dollars on nuclear weapons we will never use. What is wrong with the NYT and the War Post?Andy Steenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08011416400060361590noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-8576523602629631242009-10-03T16:10:45.569-04:002009-10-03T16:10:45.569-04:00MC Chrystal==Westmoreland. MC chrystal was in char...MC Chrystal==Westmoreland. MC chrystal was in charge of the black/ops in Iraq. lets hope he does not follow Westmoreland and start counting ears, like they did in the Nam. 90% of the money spent in Afghanistan is on the military. this leaves 10% to win hearts and minds. hard to do with drone attacks. They have the same policy of clear-build -and hold. it is impossible to build and hold without the help of the tribal war lords. we are seen as invaders and occupiers. not liberators.Tao Dao Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16229628652152584292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-50609736391762976152009-10-02T19:34:36.364-04:002009-10-02T19:34:36.364-04:00Excellent post, thank you kind sir :)Excellent post, thank you kind sir :)nunyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08833886980442919570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-17107023370946208882009-10-02T06:59:13.547-04:002009-10-02T06:59:13.547-04:00Thanks for the great comments everyone.
JeffThanks for the great comments everyone. <br /><br />JeffJeff Huberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14146644937683409726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-9596862686883880922009-10-02T06:50:36.209-04:002009-10-02T06:50:36.209-04:00"............if it was competent."
Ther..."............if it was competent."<br /><br />There would be 800 F-22 not needed but rather effective, and the mission capabiity would be 85%, the support cost per soldier would be in the low 5 figure dollars (not high six figure, privatized combat services and support is very profitable), the MICC would do this on 1% of GDP (like the Euro zone) not 4.5%, and it would consume that much less because competence includes strategy and efficient solutions, like leave the B 2 at Whiteman.<br /><br />Sadly, competence does not increase profits in a corrupt system. <br /><br />Loggie20Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-14714625751826570922009-10-01T23:39:30.633-04:002009-10-01T23:39:30.633-04:00>The issue with the MICC is not its potency but...>The issue with the MICC is not its potency but its evolution toward expensive, late, trashy glitz.<br /><br />Is this really the problem or actually just lucky. Just imagine what damage that amount of money and ideology would do if it was competent.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-4652077577087405162009-10-01T23:19:51.608-04:002009-10-01T23:19:51.608-04:00Yeah, the "fight them there so we don't h...Yeah, the "fight them there so we don't have to fight them here" line was always BS. Why should foreigners try to occupy America? In another ten years or so they'll <i>own</i> it, lock, stock and barrel.<br /><br />The Iran stuff just keeps getting <a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/09/zbig-brzezinski-obama-administration-should-tell-israel-us-will-attack-israeli-jets-if-they-try-to-a.html" rel="nofollow">weirder</a>:<br /><br /><i>The national security adviser for former President Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, gave an interview to The Daily Beast in which he suggested President Obama should make it clear to Israel that if they attempt to attack Iran's nuclear weapons sites the U.S. Air Force will stop them.<br /><br />"We are not exactly impotent little babies," Brzezinski said. "They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? ... We have to be serious about denying them that right. That means a denial where you aren’t just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a 'Liberty' in reverse."</i><br /><br /> Nice to know we're not "impotent little babies." Hard to tell sometimes with Americans.jpwhitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17975430453557627368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-66967857854712406092009-10-01T22:50:17.577-04:002009-10-01T22:50:17.577-04:00Mc Chrystal needs to resign. He has no plan other...Mc Chrystal needs to resign. He has no plan other than to escape impending doom and put off defeat, somehow, very expensive. <br /><br />He does not appear to agree with the CinC and therefore the course open to him is resignation.<br /><br />Once out of uniform McC can spout all he likes maybe get a regular gig on FOX.<br /><br />The issue with the MICC is not its potency but its evolution toward expensive, late, trashy glitz.<br /><br />Thank your lucky stars that all the US need worry about is kung fu fighters in LA.<br /><br />A first world military to conquer the incompetent pentagon and MICC could be built in a year or two.<br /><br />Not only must Mc Chrystal go but the entire Potomoc crew who could not plan a picnic without a trillion bucks needs to be delegated to the trash heap of history. <br /><br />Loggie20Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12796551.post-41117995619101631052009-10-01T21:45:42.986-04:002009-10-01T21:45:42.986-04:00Incisive, biting, dead-on article Mr. Huber. To br...Incisive, biting, dead-on article Mr. Huber. To bring this home--down to the high school where-we-live- level: my daughter went to the first meeting of the Wounded Warriors Club in her high school. When she arrived she was accosted with "What are you doing here??You are a Democrat, aren't you?" This is on the day I was celebrating because I had worked hard on a project to keep our military out of jail after deployment in a combat zone and we had just been awarded the grant to make it so. The partisanship is gawdawful and we have to find some way to make it stop.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com