Dateline Afghanistan ... Send in the Marines

[2muchcoffeeman]

By FISNIK ABRASHI and LARA JAKES, Associated Press Writers Fisnik Abrashi And Lara Jakes, Associated Press Writers – 55 mins ago

KABUL – Thousands of U.S. Marines and hundreds of Afghan troops moved into Taliban-infested villages of southern Afghanistan with armor and helicopters Thursday in the first major operation under President Barack Obama's strategy to stabilize the country.

The offensive in the once-forgotten war was launched shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday local time in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold in the southern part of the country and the world's largest opium poppy producing area.

The goal is to clear insurgents from the hotly contested Helmand River Valley before the nation's Aug. 20 presidential election.

Dubbed Operation Khanjar, or "Strike of the Sword," the military push was described by officials as the largest and fastest-moving of the war's new phase, involving nearly 4,000 of the newly arrived Marines and 650 Afghan forces. British forces last week led similar, but smaller, missions to fight and clear out insurgents in Helmand and neighboring Kandahar provinces.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090702/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan_11

And from our damnation with faint praise file, we have this statement which stands on its own regarding the past administration's "war on terror" and the "hunt for Bin Laden" ...<blockquote>The Pentagon is deploying 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in time for the elections and expects the total number of U.S. forces there to reach 68,000 by year's end. That is double the number of troops in Afghanistan in 2008, but still half of much as are now in Iraq.</blockquote>Now that our troops are actually going to be where the terrorists are, maybe they can find the sumbitch.

 

[User 1019]

Add another 10,000 to that number in early '10, inside sources say.

 

[Boom_70]

Can you say Khe Sahn

 

[JackReacher]

Wonderful.

 

[zagoshe]

TREMENDOUS -- LET'S SPEND BILLIONS AND TRILLIONS MORE AND PUT MORE SOLDIERS IN HARMS WAY IN COUNTRY WHERE

(a) THEY ARE NO THREAT TO ATTACK US
(b) EVEN IF THE PEOPLE ATTACKED US IN 2001, WASN"T THE TIME TO STRIKE IN 2001? (c) THERE IS NO WAY TO DEFINE A VICTORY
(d) THE LOCAL YOCALS DON'T WANT US THERE BECAUSE, WELL, OUR MISSION DOES NOTHING FOR THEM EXCEPT CREATE MORE CHAOS and
(e) THEY'VE ALREADY KICKED ONE MAJOR POWER'S ASS WHEN THEY WERE INVADED....


YES, YES -- I"M SO GLAD WE HAVE A DEMOCRAT IN THE OFFICE NOW, HE'S CHANGED OUR FOREIGN POLICY AND HAS NOT GOTTEN US INVOLVED IN SILLY PISSING CONTESTS AROUND THE WORLD LIKE THOSE EVIL HAWKISH REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS....... :

 

[kingcreole]

TREMENDOUS -- LET'S SPEND BILLIONS AND TRILLIONS MORE AND PUT MORE SOLDIERS IN HARMS WAY IN COUNTRY WHERE

(a) THEY ARE NO THREAT TO ATTACK US
(b) EVEN IF THE PEOPLE ATTACKED US IN 2001, WASN"T THE TIME TO STRIKE IN 2001? (c) THERE IS NO WAY TO DEFINE A VICTORY
(d) THE LOCAL YOCALS DON'T WANT US THERE BECAUSE, WELL, OUR MISSION DOES NOTHING FOR THEM EXCEPT CREATE MORE CHAOS and
(e) THEY'VE ALREADY KICKED ONE MAJOR POWER'S ASS WHEN THEY WERE INVADED....


YES, YES -- I"M SO GLAD WE HAVE A DEMOCRAT IN THE OFFICE NOW, HE'S CHANGED OUR FOREIGN POLICY AND HAS NOT GOTTEN US INVOLVED IN SILLY PISSING CONTESTS AROUND THE WORLD LIKE THOSE EVIL HAWKISH REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS....... :

Your Caps Lock is on.

 

[JackReacher]

TREMENDOUS -- LET'S SPEND BILLIONS AND TRILLIONS MORE AND PUT MORE SOLDIERS IN HARMS WAY IN COUNTRY WHERE

(a) THEY ARE NO THREAT TO ATTACK US
(b) EVEN IF THE PEOPLE ATTACKED US IN 2001, WASN"T THE TIME TO STRIKE IN 2001? (c) THERE IS NO WAY TO DEFINE A VICTORY
(d) THE LOCAL YOCALS DON'T WANT US THERE BECAUSE, WELL, OUR MISSION DOES NOTHING FOR THEM EXCEPT CREATE MORE CHAOS and
(e) THEY'VE ALREADY KICKED ONE MAJOR POWER'S ASS WHEN THEY WERE INVADED....


YES, YES -- I"M SO GLAD WE HAVE A DEMOCRAT IN THE OFFICE NOW, HE'S CHANGED OUR FOREIGN POLICY AND HAS NOT GOTTEN US INVOLVED IN SILLY PISSING CONTESTS AROUND THE WORLD LIKE THOSE EVIL HAWKISH REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS....... :

Your Caps Lock is on.

I don't normally get involved in political pissing matches, but Zag is right.

 

[Ralph Waldo Henderson]

No, he's not.

The danger in Afghanistan is that the Taliban will somehow wrestle back control of the country, or at least a significant portion of it. And we know what happened the last time - they provided safe and free harbor for Bin Laden and company to plan their attacks.

Now obviously Bin Laden, his deputy, Mohammed Omar and company are still free, but they're on the run at least. And there's still a chance you can catch them.

I was ambivalent about Iraq, but not Afghanistan. We need to finish the deal there.

 

[alleyallen]

Is this opposite day? Now suddenly we shouldn't finish the job in Afghanistan when THAT was the place we should have been all along?

 

[zagoshe]

No, he's not.

The danger in Afghanistan is that the Taliban will somehow wrestle back control of the country, or at least a significant portion of it. And we know what happened the last time - they provided safe and free harbor for Bin Laden and company to plan their attacks.

Now obviously Bin Laden, his deputy, Mohammed Omar and company are still free, but they're on the run at least. And there's still a chance you can catch them.

I was ambivalent about Iraq, but not Afghanistan. We need to finish the deal there.

They have been on the run for eight years now - and guess what, we have no chance of accomplishing anything we set out to do because we're not even sure who the heck the enemy is at this point.

It is no different than the disasters we crafted together (under presidents of both parties, by the way) in just about every one of these pissing matches -- under the guise of spreading democracy and keeping our world safe -- we've gotten into over the past 60 years.

And if the Taliban and Bin Laden want to take over Afghanistan, who gives a fork -- they are no more or less of a threat to us than they are now.

And maybe, just maybe if we kept our forking noses out of all these little pissing contests, wacknuts from these groups would have less of a desire to drive their airplanes into our buildings.......

But that will never happen because the war machine and the rhetoric used by politicians while waving flags and declaring some sort of operation designed to "keep freedom and democracy alive and well in the world" is worth far too much money and far too many votes and is a helluva lot more statesmanlike than for a politician to say "if two groups of people want to bomb the heck out of each other, that is their business and as long as they remain in Kazakistan we don't give a fork......"

 

[BTExpress]

Much of that is true.

I know killing terrorists and dismantling terrorist camps on the surface is fine and dandy, but when you get down to it 9/11 does not happen if . . .

--- You don't let them into our country
--- You don't teach them how to fly planes when they are not concerned about landing them.
--- You don't let them board planes with sharp objects.

The Law of Unintended Consequences bites us in the butt almost without fail when we stick our noses into other parts of the world.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

It is no different than the disasters we crafted together (under presidents of both parties, by the way) in just about every one of these pissing matches -- under the guise of spreading democracy and keeping our world safe -- we've gotten into over the past 60 years.

I would posit that the good people of South Korea were glad we got involved in their little "pissing match" some years ago. (Look at their alternative) Now does that mean this country put our noses into some incrediblly stupid places with no value? Of course, but there iis some good to come of it as well.