We must withdraw from Afghanistan, refocus attention (click title to entry - thank you)
November 16, 2009 by Samuel Powers
Adjusting war strategy important to save lives, defeat Taliban
The war in Afghanstan has reached its eight-year mark and progress in the stagnant nation has been grueling.
The Afghan people have remained largely disillusioned since American and NATO troops entered the country and many view the forces as occupiers and invasive.
Establishing a genuine democracy in the country was, and to an extent still is, viewed as one of the central purposes of our military.
But as the years drag on and the tepid support of Afghanstan’s people becomes emphasized, the uncertainty of that outcome increases.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s openly fraudulent reelection this fall is at the brunt of bitter derision and he has been encouraged to clean up his tainted government. These admonishments will likely have no effect, as Karzai himself is at the center of that corruption.
Still, Karzai will serve another five years overseeing the country while also turning a blind eye to its pervasive opium enterprise, of which his brother is a putative leader.
Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent toward the operation in Afghanstan – the price tag and current state of the war have begun to alienate supporters....
The USA military practices LIAR'S POKER, the 'chances' are the people will believe anything they are told.
Defense Secretary Gates: No Good Intelligence On Bin Laden (click here)
Monday, Dec 7, 2009 @10:15am CST
(Washington, DC) -- The U.S. still does not know the location of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.
During an appearance on ABC's "This Week," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said there has been no good intelligence on where the al-Qaeda leader is hiding for "years." He said bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the North Waziristan area of Pakistan, an area where the government of that country has not had a presence "in quite some time." Gates said moving into that area is solely up to the Pakistani military, adding the U.S. will help in any way possible.
He said Pakistan has been very impressive in recent months in their offenses against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
This is Bush and Cheney's idea of 'secure nukes.' Anyone believe 'em? I don't !
US 'comfortable' with Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, says Robert Gates (click here)
Defence secretary reassures Americans that Washington has beefed up security around Islamabad's weapons.
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 6 December 2009 19.08 GMT
The US is "comfortable" with the safety of Pakistan's nuclear weapons, in part thanks to American-sponsored safety mechanisms, the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, said today.
"We've given [the Pakistanis] assistance in improving their security arrangements over the past number of years … Based on the information available to us that gives us the comfort," he told CBS News.
Gates's comments were intended to assuage US concerns about the vulnerability of Pakistan's nuclear stockpile at a time of growing militant violence.
Last week President Barack Obama asserted that "we know that al-Qaida and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them".
Those worries resurfaced after Friday's suicide attack on a mosque near the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, which killed 40 people including six serving officers.
According to a report by the US Congressional Research Service, Pakistan's then president, Pervez Musharraf, moved his country's weapons to six different locations after the 11 September 2001 attacks because of concerns for their safety.
The Bush administration later said it spent $100m in technical and security aid for Pakistan's nuclear programme. Now the warheads and triggers are believed to be stored separately from the missiles designed to deliver them....
