Clinton and Gates on Afghanistan Plan: It's Not An Exit Strategy
In an interview on "Meet the Press," Sunday, Dec. 6, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates talked to David Gregory about President Obama's plan to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. Clinton insisted the plan is not an "exit strategy" or "drop dead deadline":
HILLARY CLINTON: We're not talking about an exit strategy or a drop dead deadline. What we're talking about is an assessment that in January 2011, we can begin a transition. A transition to hand off -- responsibility to the Afghan forces.
ROBERT GATES: We're not talking about an abrupt withdrawal. We're talking about something that will take place over a period of time. Our commanders think that these additional forces, and one of the reasons for the President's decision to try and accelerate their deployment is-- is the view that this extended surge has the opportunity to make significant gains in terms of reversing the momentum of the Taliban, denying them control of Afghan territory, and degrading their capabilities.
Our military thinks we have a real opportunity to do that. And it's not just in the next 18 months. Because we will have a significant -- we will have 100,000 forces -- troops there. And they are not leaving-- in July of 2011. Some handful or some small number or whatever the conditions permit, we'll begin to withdraw at that time.
Too bad it's not, it should be.
Oh well, still some change left to be vacuumed out of our pockets I guess.
On a video with Hillary or Gates words or statements and we could not tell the difference from the years 2001/2008 and now 2009.. Different horses same track...
The only change which happen at election has been the names on the White House Door...
Think they might have Bush , Cheney and Rumsfeld in the back rooms of the White House still giving orders..
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It certainly seems like the admin is going to play all sides until July 2011. Then Obama will choose whatever course is deemed best for his re-election campaign.
That's how these kinds of statements seemed when the Bush Administration made them, and it's how it seems when Obama's team makes them.
Is when they talk about programs for the benefit of the American citizens...
The bailout send money to Britain to refroze their banks ,
the clunker deal (sold cars and made money for Japan and other foreign car dealers),
the GM bailout gave money to GM to send more of their business and jobs to their overseas plants.
The health bill is more guarantee income money to the health and Drug companies..
The only thing they are concern about In the health bill is to give more people a health policies which will be paid for by the people that now have policies which will increase to pay for it.
Than they will pass the immigrations bill to make the illegal immigrants legal and they will have health insurance.. Then they will be looking for their VOTES...
You can no longer believe a word coming from the lips of Obama and the democrats..
Unless there is a real democratic candidate to run against the democrat now in office , I will not vote for any of these corporate - republican - democrats coming up for re-election...
I am surprise that moveon.org and democratic underground is supporting these frauds...
In over 50 years of being a democrat , I have never been so mad about this democrat party which has turn republican..
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reassessment in 2011; my guess is come 2011 he'll claim that we're making progress in Afghanistan and must stay the course, cowing the dutiful electorate into voting him into office again, aka Bush.
And the supposed "transition" was of course yet another sop to what remains of his gullible base; words only and vague promises that he doesn't intend to keep in order to keep stringing them along.
president?"
though Bush was more straightforward about it.
Are blaming the left , progressives or really anyone which is pis.ed off about their policies and complaining about it..
Emanuel has put the word to any democrat which does not agree with his republican centrists policies that they will receive no funds or support for their re-election bid...
So not only are Emanuel and the republican centrist taking our Political FUNDS , but they are using it against US to elect more republican centrists.
Obama is running his administration just the way I believe Hillary would and that was why I did not vote for her...
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We can afford $30Billion over the next year for 30,000 troops deployed but cannot afford $10Billion over the next year for HealthCare for US Citizens.
Why is it they only talk about cost when it's something that Citizens can actually use or benefit from? Why is stopping religious goatherders worth 3 times the cost of HealthCare?
Get it? They are for those that pay them--corporations.
It has been taken over from the republican rejects from their party..
Spector which votes 95 percent of the time for republican policies , now Emanuel is Funding him and supporting him on the democrat ticket as he has done so many times before , for other republican candidates..
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Bush Strategery, Part II. What a tragic blunder on top of a previous tragic blunder.
Just another TRILLION DOLLARS and 5000-6000 more American lives...Oh well.. just kick that can on down the road... So do I get in the money-printing-press-business today or wait until Monday???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcxKIJTb3Hg
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I'm convinced that the reason Obama's speech was just so much boilerplate, and the reason Clinton, Gates & McMullen have trouble getting their stories straight is ..
The "Afghanistan Surge" is really a cover for the "secret" war the US is waging in Pakistan.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
also, i think the proposed construction of the TAPI pipeline in 2010, and the need for security, also plays a huuuuuge part in obama's escalation of the af-pak war.
I'm thinking Obama was sold on the war because of the threat of Islamic extremists gaining control of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. He's avid (and rightly so) avoid nuclear proliferation. Unlike the warnings Bush & Cheney & KindaSleazy gave about Saddam, Pakistan actually has nuclear bombs.
TAPI and getting opium production back up were obviously the two main considerations under the Bush-Cheney Gang's Rule.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
are the current black-op assassinations (see, killing 1 "terrorist" for every 35 civilians) in pakistan making it less or more likely that the islamic extremists will be able to overthrow the current pakistani govt?
I think all the major interested parties should convene a peace process, where diplomatic solutions can be discussed.
I think the US could very well lead such efforts.
That's what I would like the man I voted for to do.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
It's like I always wonder, why can't we have peace talks before wars, and not always after?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
The BHO administration is squeezing Blackheart and the other private contractors out and putting in more volunteer troops who can be paid much, much less than the contractors. All for YOU, tax payers.
waging in Pakistan on behalf of the US Government?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8V5rxQyAXY
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
BlackWater, JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) and the CIA ..
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Take care of your fellow Americans first.
100,000 troops, more than 100,000 private contractors.
Who knows how many in the black box?
There are still more than that in Iraq.
This type of empire folly will last no more than another ten years, maybe only five and then it, and we go bust.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Lawrence Wilkerson recommends calling together all the nations that have a stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan - and he lists Russia, China, India, Iran, Syria, Turkey and more - and negotiate an international accord, to be enforced militarily if necessary, but agreed upon diplomatically first.
He agrees with you (and me) that the US cannot sustain this kind of military empire building and that sooner or later the parties in the region will decide their common fate. He said the US can get ahead of the curve and lead the diplomatic effort, or exhaust itself militarily - at which time the interested parties will decide the fate of the region without the US.
(Part 2 is most relevant to this conversation)
In Part 1 Wilkerson discusses the political elements of Obama's decisions.
Part 1: "Obama's choice" pure politics
In Part 2 Wilkerson discusses the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the global context.
Part 2: America cannot be the hegemon of Western Asia
Wilkerson also scoffs at the idea that the current troop levels - including the "surge" and all contractors - are anywhere near what would actually be required to quell an insurgency in Afghanistan. That's one of the reasons I think the "surge" is just a figleaf for covert actions in Pakistan.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
know about them. And most of our media is censored.
"Covert" means Obama, Clinton, Gates, McMullen can't talk about it.
Jeremy Scahill has been on CNN, Maddow, and written extensively about the "secret war" in Pakistan.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
.
With Maddow:
Scahill: US military operating inside Pakistan
With Thom Hartmann:
Jeremy Scahill - Afghanistan - Secret War with Pakistan
On CNN:
Is Our Occupation Of Afghanistan Helping Our National Security? Jeremy Scahill
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Yeah, I'm sure Obama was just kiddin around when he said 18 months.
lol
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
I know he ran on Afghanistan, but what annoys me is he anticipates it going on until 2012, just in time for the presidential election where he can strut like he's the man, but not currently at war to queer the election.
That's not a surge or an escalation but a deployment. Until he did this we could legitimately say boosh lost the war in Afghanistan at Tora Bora when they allowed OBL to escape, and like an AD&D six year old got distracted by non-existant WMD's in Iraq.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
This is like putting the ball back into play after the other team already lost.
You know I'm annoyed when I use sports analogies, because I HATE sports analogies
They're like...so anal...ya know? (Eye roll & hair flip).
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
....Anotherreelection! .....UH-HUH!
Say it again, y'all
Cue the Kabuki....
According the Washintong Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
"As of early this month, 65,000 U.S. troops were in Afghanistan and about 124,000 were in Iraq ".
Not counting the Contractors (Mercenaries)
So now will be 100K in AFG?
US no business in the middle of Afghan civil war
Phyllis Bennis: Obama said that there was no military solution, but that's all he's really offering
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=co...
So for 400 AlCIAida (300 Pk + 100 Afg) all this mess?
What this war is about?
Did anyone read the article in the NY Times this morning about the behind the scenes work that went into the President's decision? I suggest that you do.
As for a drop dead date, can anyone make a drop dead decision today about something that will be that far in advance? I know I can't.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Whenever I'm shopping and the cashier asks my expiration date, I answer, "Which, me or my card?"
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
like or loathe the decision to escalate the af-pak war, the NYT article shows just how different he is from bush in the decision making process. obama is described as being involved, inquisitive, and interested. very good qualities to have. i hate that obama is escalating the war, but, i would rather it be the president's decision than that of the veep's.
The problem is they still come to the same decisions.
(Mostly.)
meaning Bush didn't have the same goals as Obama in that Bush didn't make a plan to leave when he did his surge. Obama has made one. The sorts of people he's injecting into the scene is different, too.
He's more polished than Bush. Slicker.
apparently the flowers they were throwing when they welcomed are a bitch to clear when trying to get out of the place. But let's not kid ourselves, Bush had provided quite optimistic exit time tables as a justification of his wars. Let's not forget that OK?
...
That doesn't sound so apathetic.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
It contained net Apathy, as by shortening it, it takes less time to read...
clinton: Why the fuck is everyone screaming about getting out of Afghanistan, when we still have thousands of troops in Japan, Korea, Germany, and all.....
gates: Yea! those countrys don't even have oil!
clinton: leave Afghanistan? leave Iraq?....why, thats just silly, we aint EVER leaving!
Cue the Kabuki....
Not ever leaving is exactly right. The quest to continue American Empire continues. If only more and more people would stop volunteering to serve in a military that is asked to fight for corporations and power.
fighting out to private contractors. We are going to have a totally mercenary military. No draft. No crying over those who get killed, because that possibility was part of their job. We really will be the police of the entire world. All paid for by your tax money. Do you get a say in this? No you don't.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WDly1Oc_P4
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
A former president of the College Republicans chapter of her Alma Matter and a Republican implicated to the gills in Iran-Contra as the Secretaries of State and Defense, respectively, in a Dem administration.
Just thought I should point that out.
Carry on...
"Our military thinks we have a real opportunity to do that" . Since when will a General say it's useless and a waste , we need to give it up and pull out ? This shit is what they live for ! What a ( bad ) F'n joke !
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
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