TeaBags in DC and Afghanistan: McClatchy’s Nancy Youssef

(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Yesterday, 9.12.09, in Washington, we had this: Tea Party Protesters March on Washington extending their purely political use of the tragedy of 9/11. I’ll guess not one at the podium or with the megaphones, nor any in the crowd, even mentioned this: 5 U.S. troops among 50 killed in Afghan violence Sat Sep 12, nor much was said about all the soldiers who’ve died, or are physically and mentally injured from the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. I’ll guess also nothing was mentioned about the monetary, in billions and billions, cost of these still operational theaters of occupation!

A friend at facebook also asked the same I’ve {many have} wondered these past eight years:

is wondering where all those folks who are now expressing outrage about profligate government spending were during the eight years of the Bush Administration?

During the Bush years, the US national debt went from 5.7 trillion to 10.6 trillion. 🙁

I answered with this:

They were Yelling and Screaming that those who ‘Protest’ against their ‘dear leaders’ policies, policies of death and destruction done In Our Names, were not only UnPatriotic but UnAmerican as well as Enemy Sympathizers and every other label of negativity they could muster up!!! They haven’t changed the rhetoric, words nor yelling, they’ve have now embraced {their own definitions} being UnPatriotic, UnAmerican and become the Enemies of the Nation and our Constitution!!

Starting even before their ‘dear leaders, cheney/bush’ left town!!

Afghanistan with McClatchy DC Pentagon correspondent Nancy Youssef.

September 11, 2009

The JOURNAL takes a hard look at the state of affairs in Afghanistan with McClatchy DC Pentagon correspondent Nancy Youssef.

BILL MOYERS: But first, we turn to another big decision bearing down on the President, what to do in Afghanistan. A conflict Americans can no longer put out of mind or out of sight.

Once again, we have been reminded that war is not a video game. The photo of an American marine dying in Afghanistan created a controversy that threw the press into conflict with the Pentagon and the young marine’s family – and it threw those of us in the press into conflict with ourselves.

Snip

As THE ECONOMIST nagazine noted last month, resentment against the Karzai government, NATO forces and westerners in general is growing. “…it seems clear,” the magazine reported, “that the international effort to bring stability to Afghanistan… is failing.”

And yet, consider this open letter to President Obama from some of the very same armchair warriors whose claim of expertise supported President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. They were wrong then – wrong time and again – but their tragic errors haven’t stopped them from demanding that President Obama now escalate the war in Afghanistan.

Once again, their enthusiasm for war is as great as their distance from the actual battlefield.

Their letter lands as European leaders are calling for an international conference to assess the deteriorating situation and the commander of our forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, delivers a review to the White House. It’s a report many believe sets the stage for an even greater expansion of the war.

But recently, the “McClatchy” news service reported that some top pentagon officials fear that without a clear definition of our mission there, further escalation will be in vain.

As a reality check, with me now is one of the reporters on that story, recently returned from Afghanistan.

Nancy Youssef is the Chief Pentagon Correspondent for “McClatchy” news. She covered the war in Iraq for four years, including two as Baghdad Bureau Chief.

Nancy Youssef, welcome to the JOURNAL………….Rest of Transcript Here

I posted this Quagmires: 8yrs. After 9/11 a few days ago with more reports about Afghanistan and Iraq, a discussion aired on the PBS News Hour and another report/discussion from MSNBC.