Bad News on Afghanistan Front
While Barack Obama delays making a decision as to whether to act on General McChrystal’s recommendations for additional troops in Afghanistan, October has become the deadliest month in the history of this campaign. As can be expected, morale among United States and Coalition forces is at an all-time low.
Eight American servicemen were killed in a series of explosions today, making October the deadliest month for US troops in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion.
Officials said that several soldiers were injured in “multiple, complex” bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, just a day after 14 Americans were killed in two separate helicopter crashes in the south and west of the country. An Afghan civilian working with the military was also killed.
The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said that the troops were hit by a series of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), or homemade bombs.
“Eight US service members and an Afghan civilian working with Isaf were killed today in multiple complex IED attacks in southern Afghanistan. Additionally, several service members were wounded in these incidents and were transported to a regional medical facility for treatment,” the coalition said in a statement.
This brings the total for 2009 to 288. Morale continues to drop.
“I’m not much for this war. I’m not sure it’s worth all those lives lost,” said Sergeant Christian Richardson as we walked across corn fields that will soon be ploughed up to plant a spring crop of opium poppy.
A New Yorker who joined the marines after 9/11 and served two tours in Iraq, Richardson, 24, said his men had achieved much. “You can see we are making progress, slowly. But when we leave, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda will surely return.”
With enough effort, resources and time, the marines are confident the population can be won over. But, with the platoon’s influence limited to a small area around their base, many soldiers wonder if the Taliban and Al-Qaeda may simply outlast them, or if the US and Afghan governments have the resolve to send enough troops to win.
Third Platoon, Charlie Company of the 2nd Light Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion, came last July to Khan Neshin, as far south as Nato soldiers have reached in Afghanistan. It was part of a summer offensive by more than 4,500 troops of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which has joined British and other forces trying to turn the war in Helmand.
Once again U.S. troops find themselves engaged in a war with no plan for winning and a lack of commitment by their government. They see the comrades in arms being killed or maimed and wonder why. It’s not much different than it was for those of us serving during the Viet Nam era.
But, some have more pressing issues.
Hat tip: Times Online
[1]
With the exception of Grenada, every military action the United States has been involved in since WWII has had no plan to win: Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan. Even in the Gulf War, we drove Sadaam out of Kwait, but didn’t finish the job when we had Iraq on the run.
For Obama to continue delaying a decision for months is criminal.
[2]
bc-McCain has blasted Obama on this issue again yesterday saying that action needs to be taken now.
Sorta like my house starting on fire. Should I call for help now or hope it goes out by itself in an hour or two?
[3]
Wasn’t McCain the one who said “Barack Obama would make a fine president”?
[4]
I could not agree more that Captain Dipshit is a complete failure as Commander in Chief. His negligence is costing American lives everyday he delays a decision on his general’s request. Either support them or pull them out.
Supporting them, of course, means he will feel the pressure from the political left, and that is very uncomfortable for him. Pulling them out, on the other hand, makes worse a very volatile region of the world, and increases the possibility of fanatical terrorists getting their hands on nukes from Pock-is-stan.
I cannot think of other Presidents, aspiring presidents, or most Americans (including the Clintons, but with the exception of Carter) who would not make the right decision here.
This boy president should be removed from office.
[5]
I wouldn’t care if this idiot plays golf on Sunday, if he would pay attention and do the right thing the other six days of the week.
Better yet, play golf seven days a week, and let the general do the right thing.
[6]
Heck mullet,
We’re safer if Obama stays on the golf course every day of the week.
[7]
O/T–don’t know if you’ve seen this yet, but it gave me a good laugh.
Note–check the margin letters carefully.
It is way too little, too late for Arnold, but still funny.
[8]
Here’s a link for anyone interested in CA-10.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/why_a_harmer_win_would_be_huge.html
I wish I would have known about this sooner. A win seems too much to hope for but if Harmer comes close it could translate to a pickup next year. One to watch.
[9]
The rage the boils up in me when I think about this empty suit, this smoke, this ZERO and his inability to make a decision (although not deciding is a decision in itself…) and the resulting lack of support for our soldiers, the needless deaths and blood on his hands… well if I said what I thought the brownshirts/secret service would be knocking on my door…. but all I can say is that my ex husband, leech relatives, sexually harrassing ex boss, and the two-faced bimbos who back stabbed me in college and separated me from the love of my life for the last 32 years … well none of them are no longer on my s#*tlist.. in fact my piece of s#*tlist now only has one name.
And I have a memory that is long and dish of revenge that I hope will be served before it is cold… ahh.. vengence is mine says the Lord… but there is some of the Lord’s work that I would love to do…
I hope Obama rots in hell and is forever haunted by the faces of the men that died while he sat with is thumb up his ass (oh no wait.. it is palming a basketball and grasping a golf club)
Does this idiot ever work? Zero is an idiot (okay not an idiot but probably just an average IQ), and anyone who thinks the ZERO is a genius is an idiot without the ability to comprehend genius.
[10]
I listened to yesterday’s Limbaugh show this morning while getting ready… I have to go back to the transcript to find what Rush called the ZERO that was so spot on!!!
[11]
Sorry to vent… but this just makes me so angry that I cannot stand it!!!! Livid angry… smashing dishes angry, incensed, hyperventilating, extremely elevated blood pressure, adrenalin rush lifting extreme weight .. ANGRY!!!!
I want liberal ashes with which to salt the earth so that they never grow again…
Now I need a new keyboard… note to Judy…. don’t type mad!!!!
[12]
I’m with you, judyt….but you vent so admirably. I am off to the gym to work off the frustration.
[13]
Obama is betting the 22% of people who self-describe themselves as liberals will continue to give him enough support if he loses Afghanistan. He figures Conservatives and the military don’t like him anyway, so if he drags his feet regarding additional troops, its not really hurting him.
And McCain DID say Obama would make a fine president. With that sort of “insight” it’s good he isn’t president. His would have been a “shared presidency” with the libs.
[14]
During the campaign Obama claimed to have THE PLAN to:
(a) get Bin LAden
(b) resolve the Afghanistan situation
Worse even than his dithering over Afghanistan is Obama’s NEW CLAIM that:
(a) he’s just NOW formulating a plan
(b) it’s more of Bush’s mess he just found about about
(c) the Taliban are our FRIENDS!
He’s played more golf in 9 MONTHS than Bush did in his first 3 YEARS, so I guess his claim that he is “keeping his eye on the ball” is accurate. It’s just the wrong ball!
[15]
judyt
[16]
ip.. have to wait to later to see what I look like….
okay… so I hate to see any US soldier needless lost because of the ZERO… but is it cold harsh comfort for me to say that it would be a small easing of my anger if those that were loss were those who voted for ZERO? (we need to start somewhere?)…. ooohhhh more than harsh..
but to be sure… what I know about the military (secondhand as a spouse) those that supported the zero are sitting at some desk generally making the SNAFU Cluster*&^4 happen… oh well… needless to say.. I heard plenty about the dead weight in the military from my ex…
just my mind wandering this morning… as I try to get my anger with this idiot in check… and my focus back where it belongs..
now can anyone tell me why jokeleaf is coming to mind?
[17]
To be sure I am violating Rush’s copyright limits… but this was his in the opening monologue from yesterday ….
are finally standing up to this little boy, this little man-child president whose primary job, if you will, in life has been leisure. This guy is practiced at leisure more than anything else. So he’s out there ambushing the chamber, he’s nuking doctors, but he has no time for Afghanistan, no time for Afghanistan whatsoever but, boy, I won’t risk your lives until it’s absolutely necessary, if it is necessary we’ll back you to the hilt. He’s golfing; he’s attacking private businesses here at home. NATO has had plenty of time to figure out that McChrystal has the right plan for Afghanistan.
[18]
It is not a violation unless it explicitly says you may not even quote him (I have only ever seen this once). If you quote only partially, and with credit, it is ok. I’ll go look though.
[19]
You can quote minimally it looks like, but not link to his pages, which is similar to the AP. I will write clear channel to get clarification as to how long the quote can be.
[20]
judy and bruce venting
[21]
try again
judy and bruce venting
[22]
We’re safer if Obama stays on the golf course every day of the week. — MI
And safer still if he was doing pick ups as a caddy.
[23]
Look at the history of the Zero…
(1) Zero snorts and smokes his way through elite prep school (he says he wasn’t a great student … aka LAZY) .. Did I mention he played basketball?
(2) Zero snorts and smokes his way through Occidental for 2 yrs (he says he wasn’t a focused student… aka LAZY)
(3) Zero admitted to Columbia (no transcripts … if his grades were stellar dontcha know we would have seen them…. aka LAZY)
(4) Zero kicks around at dead end job with Wall Street research company with no promotions and no one remembers him as outstanding. (aka LAZY)
(5) Zero admitted to Harvard (no transcripts or admission application published if his grades were stellar dontcha know we would have seen them… aka LAZY)
(6) Zero appointed/selected as Harvard Law Review Editor the first year selection was made by student vote rather than strictly on academic merit…(good at BS… not so good at grades….aka LAZY)
(7) Zero is first ever HLR Editor who offered no authorship of any article, legal review, or footnotes (no publishable writing … aka LAZY)
(8) Zero Graduates law school but does not take a job with NYC or DC top law firm where first year associates work 18/20 hour days and 200/300 hour months to meet billable hour requirements and justify their large salaries, where the competition with other associates (1st – 7th yr) is fierce and advancement depends upon providing a consistently high quality, quickly produced product and ability to cultivate client relationships (aka hard work), instead Obama takes a job with laid back Chicago boutique firm (aka LAZY) We haven’t seen a report of his actual clients or billable hours … even Hillary eventually produced the Rose firm records…lol. (aka LAZY)
(9) Zero accepts a literary advance to write on the topic of American race relations and civil rights legislation and litigation. Such a book would have required exhaustive research, meticulous footnotes, analysis, presentation of theories and support data (aka hard work); instead the ZERO decides to write what becomes Dreams of My Father, his memories of growing up without a father. What’s to say, I was here and dad was gone. I saw him once in Kenya. It made me feel empty inside. The End. (aka LAZY)
(10) Zero misses many of the deadlines for his book and shortly after marrying Michelle they go hang out in Bali for several months while he “finishes” his book. (aka undisciplined and LAZY)
(11) Zero seeks counsel of his good friend Bill Ayers to help him polish up his book. (Editor of law review needs a ghost writer?) … (aka LAZY)
(12) Zero takes job as community organizer… aren’t they still waiting for his one big project, a neighborhood park, to be accomplished (aka LAZY)
(13) Zero runs for state delegate… never authors any legislation but is handed it by Democrat boss just before passage… (aka LAZY)
(14) Zero runs for Senator…never authors any significant legislation .. works less than 150 days and starts running for POTUS (aka LAZY)
(15) Zero is still campaigning for POTUS with all his fund raising dinners, press conferences and speeches around the US and world that is when he can fit it into his schedule between basketball, golf, and the Wednesday night melee at the White House.
ZERO is not Bill Clinton. Love Clinton or hate Clinton there are a few things you can say about President Bill Clinton. He is a very quick study. He is a very intelligent man. He had a quick understanding of the issues that came across his desk. This is why President Clinton had intern trouble… he was able to accomplish his work so quickly that he had time on his hands while the rest of his staff was working to keep up. The complaint from the Clinton staff was the problem of keeping POTUS Clinton sufficiently engaged in the afternoons. ZERO isn’t this quick study. He does not have a quick understanding of anything. Take the ZERO off the teleprompter and he can articulate his way out of a wet paper bag.
ZERO is LAZY and this administration is a bunch of amateurs. He is all in for the good times party but appears to be AOL when it comes to the hard work of leading. I am changing his middle name
BARAK AkaLAZY ZERO. Is it racist to call him lazy? Those of us who grew up in the south know exactly what I mean.
[24]
OMG Judy, if any post is worth printing is this one. Great job.
[25]
Quite a comprehensive list of laziness!
[26]
The mullet echoes tony and jan.
Great job!
[27]
Thanks Tony… but it has typos such as AWOL not aol… (lol) and ZERO can NOT articulate his way out of a wet paper bag when off the teleprompter in chief.
Furthermore, listening to Special Report panel discussion this am (what else does a gal have to do at 4:30 am…lol) and I loved this:
On Fox News’s “Special Report” Tuesday, Krauthammer called out the President’s constant negative references to his predecessor saying, “There is something truly disgusting about the way he cannot refrain from attacking Bush when he is being defensive about himself.”
Now when I was a child like most children I had an imaginary friend. Coco was its name. Yes, “its” as Coco did not have a gender. Well to be sure if my clothing was soiled from playing in mud, or cookies missing, or milk spilt or toys misplaced Coco was to blame. Any shortcoming of my youthful life was all a result of my association with Coco. My parents exercised the trick of assigning me with the responsibility for keeping Coco out of trouble. I knew what a terrible little toddler Coco could be, but I accepted this bold grown up assignment to be responsible for keeping Coco out of trouble. In turn I was no longer punished for Coco’s bad actions, but my own failings to right Coco’s wrongs. Coco faded away after age 3 or 4 when I came to realize that the punishments for failing to keep Coco in check were more severe than those my parents told me would be given to Coco. To be sure this is a crucial part of childhood development and maturity when our youthful, inexperienced selves learn to about responsibility and accountability. But then again, I was not raised by some wacko liberal permissive parents in an atmosphere of moral relativism. Unfortunately, sometimes you can raise multiple children under the same general guidelines and end up with different results as the liberal sister still blames imaginary people for the mess in her life.
Now I wonder, exactly how old does one have to be before the are able to recognize the obvious flaw of the lack of emotional maturity in another. This is why ZERO is apt: zero maturity, zero leadership ability, zero responsibility, zero experience.