Tag: Afghanistan

Gosh, I know there are a lot of important stories crowding the news right now — after all, Michael Jackson is still dead and all, but it’s amazing that I literally had to go hunt for this story.

It’s also amazing to me how the election of Barack Obama sure shut up the the whole “anti-war crowd”.  (Don’t you love being called “anti-war” because you’re against illegal, unnecessary war?  Right, I’m so anti-war that means I’m a pacifist, right?  It’s like being called “anti-hamburger” when you’re really against hamburger that’s tainted with e-coli.)

Anywya, here’s a story that you would think would be, should be a rather large and important story:   the fact that yesterday, Monday, 7 United States military troops were killed in Obama’s new Vietnam.  

Obama’s now got serious American blood on his hands.

And for what?

General Petraes sorta slipped up and admitted that there’s no more Al Queda in Afghanistan.  But nobody cares about that, either, “the Taliban” is interchangeable with “Al Queda” now, in the minds of the public and the bought-and-paid-for schills who feed us our “news”.

So we’re at war with the Taliban.  And our sons and daughters are being killed.  Great.

New Strategy Is Tested

As U.S. Troops Mount Offensive in Afghanistan

U.S. Marines marked the start of a new offensive in Afghanistan Thursday, as part of the Obama administration’s efforts to stabilize the Afghan-Pakistan border region. A Washington Post reporter embedded in the Helmand province provides an update

From The Washington Post:

Thousands of U.S. Marines descended upon the volatile Helmand River valley in helicopters and armored convoys early Thursday morning, mounting an operation that represents the first large-scale test of the U.S. military’s new counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan.

The strategy is different this time around:

Once Marine units arrive in their designated towns and villages, they have been instructed to build and live in small outposts among the local population. The brigade’s commander, Brig. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson, said his Marines will focus their efforts on protecting civilians from the Taliban, and on restoring Afghan government services, instead of a series of hunt-and-kill missions against the insurgents.

“We’re doing this very differently,” Nicholson said to his senior officers a few hours before the mission began. “We’re going to be with the people. We’re not going to drive to work. We’re going to walk to work.”

I hope they do a better job “protecting civilians” than we’ve done with our drone planes.

A few days ago I interviewed Cindy Sheehan, half as an blogger and half as an interested citizen activist.  Below the fold is the audio of the interview.  I’ve also typed up a brief summary of the interview, or at least what I could write down of her answers while holding a tape recorder in my other hand.  I’ll be posting a picture of both of us that a press photographer took if it makes it into a local newspaper, or if he sends me any pictures.

She talked about her political future, taking action locally, prosecuting Bush, Afghanistan, and more.  I had previously taken questions here and on a few other websites.

President Pretty Mouth likes to stick his tongue in our collective ear about the universality of human dignity, freedom from coercive repression, and justice, but it feels utterly inappropriate.