Mobile version

For Your Consideration

by: TheMomCat

Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 13:00:00 PST        
| More


Gen. McChrystal says conditions in Afghanistan war are no longer deteriorating

ISTANBUL -- The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, whose gloomy assessment of the war last summer prompted the White House to boost troop levels, said Thursday that conditions are no longer deteriorating and predicted further improvements this year.

"I am not prepared to say that we have turned the corner," Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal told a group of U.S. reporters during a NATO conference here. "I'm not prepared to say we are winning. I am prepared to say we are very much engaged, and I'm confident we're going to see serious progress this year."

snip

Asked why he thought the situation had improved, McChrystal said he could not point to specific measurements, but rather a general sense that security was better in some areas and that the mood among Afghan leaders was more optimistic.


My favorite quote from the comments

erwinroots wrote:
Isn't "no longer deteriorating" the same as "can't get any worse"?
TheMomCat :: For Your Consideration
Meanwhile back in the Real World

Afghanistan: 4,000 British troops set for biggest battle with Taliban

Afghan Police Kill 7 Mistaken for Insurgents

NATO allies to shuffle Afghan pledges to add training

NATO foresees more fighting in Afghanistan

And we still cannot afford to give every American access to health care or create jobs for the unemployed. But we can fight two illegal wars and let Wall St give huge bonuses to their executives while American home owners walk away from their "underwater" homes.  
Tags: , (All Tags)
Print Friendly View Send As Email

For Your Consideration | 34 comments
Ponies for ending both Wars (4.00 / 8)



"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
I hope China, (4.00 / 3)
[ Parent ]
Saw China ambassador interview on CNN today... (4.00 / 2)
...and actually they sound a little bit miffed with us, and mentioned a "what if China stopped buying US debt scenario"...
[ Parent ]
Pakistan is getting mad instead (4.00 / 1)
..... or at least putting on a show of getting mad "officially."  
[ Parent ]
It's a different kind of "mad," ARC! (0.00 / 0)
Pakistan, is getting "mad?"  They don't like seeing their citizens killed by drones every other day, for some reason.  It should be getting "mad!!!!!!"

Say "YES" to Generation We  Go there, read the Petition and sign, if you agree!   Say "YES" to GENERAL STRIKE
[ Parent ]
McChrystal is saying it can't possibly get any worse (0.00 / 0)
The MSM says things are no longer deteriorating. You need to take PropSpeak 201 to learn how to find the obvious behind the obvious.

We're 500 feet down a shithole and just hit bedrock. Relax. Nature will take its course. In its time.

"Three things cannot be long hidden: the Sun, the Moon and the Truth." Buddha

[ Parent ]
"he could not point to specific measurements"? (4.00 / 4)
Winning what?

Winning friends and influencing people? Making more terrists to justify continuing the sham GWOT and being in Afghanistan in the first place? Winning what, exactly, General?

Times of India, 26 minutes ago...

KANDAHAR: A new and possibly decisive chapter of the Afghan war is unfolding. The US is preparing a major attack on the Taliban, the militants are being squeezed in their Pakistani sanctuaries, and the Afghan government is trying to draw them into peace talks.

Taliban militants are also massing and preparing for the big fight, villagers fleeing the area said on Sunday.
Around 2,000 people have fled their homes in a troubled southern district of Afghanistan ahead of the offensive intended to clear Taliban militants, officials said Sunday.

Thousands of Nato and Afghan troops led by newly-deployed US marines are expected to carry out the operation in the Marjah area of Helmand province, described by military officials as the last bastion of Taliban control.

If the assault goes ahead - possibly within days - it will be the biggest against the insurgents since the war started in 2001. Fearing for their safety, hundreds of war-weary Afghan families have packed their belongings and left the district, taking refuge in safer areas such as the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.

UN: Civilian Death Toll in Afghanistan Last Year Highest Since 2001
January 13, 2010

A U.N. report says the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan last year was higher than in any year since the U.S.-led coalition dislodged the Taliban in 2001 for harboring the al-Qaida terror network. The report says more than 2,400 civilians fell victim to the war-related incidents in 2009.

Chief human-rights officer at the United Nations mission in Kabul, Norah Niland, released the annual findings to reporters in Kabul.

She says non-combatant casualties went up 14 percent in 2009, describing it as the most deadly year for Afghan civilians since the conflict began.


This man should have been recalled (4.00 / 3)
I am a retired officer. The one thing you DO NOT do in uniform is criticize the C-I-C. To do in public in a foreign country is unthinkable. If I had done that, I would have been court martial-ed.

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
Not if Obama was your CinC apparently (4.00 / 2)
and you were doing your best to expand the "overseas contingency operations" and keep China out of there you wouldn't have been. :-/
[ Parent ]
And THAT is a problem (4.00 / 3)
He IS the C-i-C and needs to act the part, Truman did. He cannot permit insubordination and that is what McChrystal committed when he spoke in London

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
Good cop, bad cop... (4.00 / 2)

[ Parent ]
Not a good tactic for Obama (4.00 / 3)
he might have lost respect from the political party "hawks" but would have gained it among the career military. They understand discipline if nothing else.

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
Well, as long as he does (4.00 / 1)
what Robert Gates, William Kristol, neo-conservative foreign policy guru Robert Kagan, and former Bush administration official Dan Senor want him to do, he probably figures he'll be ok.
[ Parent ]
What is even more a problem (4.00 / 2)
it will get him re-elected. So much for "change". THat was about the only thing that Palin got right when she asked how that "hopey, changey thing was goin' for ya". For Obama supporters apparently just fine.

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
As long as he's called "Democrat" (4.00 / 2)
it's all sweetness and light apparently. Ask anybody at orange.
[ Parent ]
Well, not everybody there (4.00 / 3)
just some of the loud "mouths" and OFA members

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
True... (4.00 / 2)

[ Parent ]
He can't get re elected if nobody votes for him (0.00 / 0)
.... and at this rate, with all the purity purges, that OFA org will be nothing but a call center based in Texas makin' robocalls....

Oh, wait. Could be re appointed. Forgot a sec about the Supremes.

[ Parent ]
It should be renamed again (4.00 / 1)

"Operation Kabuki" has a nice ring to it, don't you think?  
[ Parent ]
Or "Abracadabra" (4.00 / 2)


"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
Or even just (4.00 / 2)
Operation Bullshit, would be more reflective of reality.

Obama is doing his goddammdest to create people who hate America that he can say he's keeping you safe from though, I suppose.

[ Parent ]
... (4.00 / 3)

[ Parent ]
Ahh (4.00 / 2)
I see you are taking lessons from J-i-H. ;-)

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
Amazing (4.00 / 2)
that he is appears to be so totally ignorant that what we do in the Middle East creates more animosity and more "terrorists". Like feeding the sharks

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
Amazing (4.00 / 1)
that he is appears to be so totally ignorant that what we do in the Middle East creates more animosity and more "terrorists". Like feeding the sharks

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
You can say that again. (4.00 / 2)
But he's not ignorant. They do it on purpose.

It's not like Afghanis are "real" people or anything, right? And besides, they're in the way of the trans-Afghanistan pipeline right-of-way. :-/

[ Parent ]
I am starting to wonder (4.00 / 1)
about Obama. Is he a "plant"? So far, he is doing everything that he campaigned against. Or at least not advocating for his agenda. he didn't impress me with his record or his campaign, so I am not one of the "disillusioned".

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes.", Wm. Shakespeare, "Macbeth"
[ Parent ]
I think he was willingly bought and paid for (4.00 / 1)
long ago, with the promise that they'd make him president.

He probably figured it would look good on his resume and he'd be set for life.

[ Parent ]
another (4.00 / 6)
comment from there

notabeliever wrote:

After 10 years, they see progress? "I call 2010 the year of maximum effort," Ivo H. Daalder, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, added in a meeting with reporters.

"It is a year we are going to do everything we can so down the road we have to do less. . . ." What the heck have they been doing all this time, other than funneling our tax dollars to the military/industrial complex?



No justice, no peace.
"Not prepared to say 'we've turned the corner'"...? (4.00 / 6)
Holy crap, look how long it takes to get out of a war (or in this case is still taking to get out) after one of the chief bozos in charge declares that "We have turned the Corner" (in Iraq).

May 9, 2007:  'Well, Iraq's looking good,' Cheney responded...I think we've turned the corner..."

Three years and still counting.  

Yeah well (4.00 / 4)
he didn't say WHICH corner.  So he' safe.  


i love the smell of bipartisanship in the morning...
smells like...fucktory. -bubanomics
[ Parent ]
It simply means we've gotten more oil servicing (4.00 / 2)
[ Parent ]
Like the dead bird sketch (4.00 / 1)
He is no more.  He is an ex-bird.  He is no longer deteriorating.  


i love the smell of bipartisanship in the morning...
smells like...fucktory. -bubanomics
So McChrystal has " a general sense" that security is better. (4.00 / 3)
They haven't quite "turned the corner" yet, but he knows they're "very much engaged". And the "mood was better" among Afghan leaders etc.

I guess they have all future conspirators identified, and it's just a matter of time before they're nearly all killed. At least they assume it will be much harder for the remaining terrorists to get tickets to New York.

And so many years from now when this thing finally winds down, we will be rest assured that the Saudi Arabian conspirators of 9/11 have been punished. And it will have been good, because the only geopolitical counterweight to Iran was removed, leaving the United States with a whole, brand spanking new problem for the MIC.


For Your Consideration | 34 comments
Reform Immigration -
March for America
Sunday, March 21
 

March on Washington
Saturday, March 20
 

 

Menu

Make a New Account

Username:

Password:



Forget your username or password?

Contact Us

Seek




Advanced Search

Contribute to Docudharma
 

 
     

 

DharmaDocs
- Mission Statement
- FAQ
- HTML Help
- Dharmapedia
- Series
www.flickr.com

Action
- So, got any plans for this weekend?
by: rossl
- Where have you gone, Albert Einstein?
by: rossl
- For Your Consideration: Attacking Back
by: TheMomCat
- Fighting For The People (Literally)
by: Jack's Smirking Revenge

Powered by: SoapBlox