The Thunder Run

News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. (New complete posts come in below)

Dude in the Desert: update - well, we just had about 10-12 “light” explosions outside… not sure what they were…not mortars for sure… maybe RPGs…doesn’t seem like they hit inside the fence, but I don’t know for sure… I am fine, and our camp seems to be fine…another day in tha hood yo. (READ MORE)

A World Away: Wisconsin soldier describes blast that put him on the cover of Time - The LaCrosse Tribune interviewed Master Sgt. Chet Millard about President Obama's plans to send more troops to Afghanistan. Millard recalled missions that would last for weeks, with scant opportunities for rest. "We were constantly being pushed, with very little down time," Millard said Tuesday from his home in Sparta. Reporter Chris Hubbuch of the Tribune also talked to Millard about the blast the resulted in his appearance on the cover of a national news magazine. He was serving with the 951st Engineer Company with the Wisconsin National Guard, when the truck he was riding in hit a roadside bomb. A photographer from Time came to the scene, and Millard ended up on the cover. (READ MORE)

A World of Troubles: The Iraqi money pit- conflicting views - The U.S. built hospital was full of new equipment: x-ray machines, dialysis machines, even CAT scanners, but none of the Iraqis had been properly trained to use them. The expensive, desperately needed machines would eventually be scavenged for basic parts. Complex oil drilling simulators, designed to train Iraqis how to tap their vast reserves, were delivered at a cost of a million dollars each. But the manufacturing company refused to send any advisors to Iraq, so Iraqi never learned how to assemble them. The simulators gathered dust in their shipping boxes for years. In a Nov. 20th article, Timothy Williams of the NYT lays out the cost to the U.S. taxpayer in reconstructing Iraq- $53 billion, so far. (Some claim the total reconstruction figure is closer to $114 billion including U.S., foreign and Iraqi funds, and projects still in progress.) (READ MORE)

Brian Katulis: Obama failed to outline the way forward in Pakistan - One striking thing about the president's speech last night was how little he actually said about Pakistan, especially in comparison to his speech last March outlining the initial strategy. He didn't ignore Pakistan last night -- the country got around 25 mentions, but that's down from more than 40 references in the March speech, which was actually shorter in length compared to last night's speech. But beyond the simple metric of how many mentions Pakistan received, the speech was particularly empty on the substance of what we are doing and planning to do about Pakistan in our policy approach, and actually offered fewer details than were presented in March. President Obama reiterated many of the main points about why Pakistan is important to Afghanistan and the broader region, and then slipped into vague generalities about what the U.S. is actually doing or trying to do with Pakistan... (READ MORE)

Asma Nemati: The view from Kabul - All eyes were focused on the U.S. early this morning in Kabul, when Obama delivered his long-awaited speech spelling out his new Afghanistan strategy. What are people's reactions? A bit contradictory and halfhearted, like the strategy itself. Obama is willing to support Afghanistan and defeat terrorists, yet also set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. And, likewise, Afghans feel the same way. According to many, the influx of 30,000 U.S. troops starting early next year and an additional 5,000 NATO troops is definitely needed to secure some of the volatile parts of Afghanistan, especially the south -- Helmand and Kandahar. In fact, there was no major debate in Afghanistan about the number of troops coming, like there was in the U.S., as long as there is some sort of military help in not only training but also increasing the number of the Afghan security forces - who lack proper facilities for training, get paid a meager salary, and at least half of whom are illiterate. (READ MORE)

al Sahwa: Afghanistan: Enemy Situation - Now that a final decision has been made on the number of additional US troops to be sent to Afghanistan, I want to start focusing on refining our picture of the enemy situation and operational environment across the different Regional Commands (RCs). I plan to post a series of articles in the upcoming weeks that will provide a basic "first look" at each of these areas to help us all better understand the challenges our troops are facing. The intent is to help us better visualize the unique dynamics at play in each RC/province/district - specifically in terms of enemy threat, ANSF capability, local governance capacity, economic drivers, and other key factors. To start things off from a big-picture perspective, check out the two graphics below, both courtesy of the Long War Journal. The first is an overall enemy SITEMP, with a rough estimate of Taliban "control/influence" in each province and district: (READ MORE)

Curmudgeon: An Unlikely Army Chaplain: A trip outside the gate - Recently SPC C and I went outside the gate to meet with a couple of local religious leaders. It's one of the things I enjoy most about being here, and is certainly a very different experience from what I was doing (for the most part) when I was in Iraq. Someday I'll go into much more detail, but for the moment, this will have to suffice. Our Albanian-speaking interpreter piled into our little pickup truck (SPC C really has to squeeze in, it's that small) and we took off for a little town that I'd never been to before. The fields have been harvested, but since the snows haven't definitively arrived yet, many have a lush green carpet of something growing on them. Verdant, rolling hills punctuated with houses and barns -- as well as structures (obviously once houses) destroyed presumably during the war a dozen years ago -- under a sky filled with cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds, made for a very pleasant journey. (READ MORE)

Family Matters Blog: Strategy Impacts Military Families - Along with the rest of the nation, I sat glued to my TV set last night as President Barack Obama unveiled his Afghanistan strategy at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. During his speech, the cameras often would pan to the audience and focus in on the face of a young cadet for a second or two. The cadets looked so intent, and I wondered what they were thinking as Obama announced his decision to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. I wondered what the impact would be on them and on their families, and on those military families already taxed by a sustained war effort. The president’s plan is to flow the additional troops in to Afghanistan in the first half of 2010, and then begin to turn over security responsibility to Afghan security forces and withdraw U.S. forces in July 2011. Forces may involve at least two or three Army brigade combat teams and many soldiers and Marines to train the Afghan security forces. (READ MORE)

Captain Doug Beattie: Those who have never been in Helmand give their view, but the soldiers are silent - It is absolutely clear that the campaign in Afghanistan, and in particular Helmand province, isn't fully understood by the UK population. They are force-fed a diet of soldiers dying in a faraway country for a cause they don't understand or believe in, without clear aims or even proper equipment. In their eagerness to show support for the armed forces, they take out their frustrations on the Government's lack of strategy, they finger-point at the MoD and shout about poor equipment and battle plans. Ultimately, they cry for withdrawal of all British troops. But what effect does this negativity have on the soldier getting ready to go to Afghanistan, and what effect does it have on the soldier living, fighting and working in Helmand on a day-to-day basis? "An unwinnable war," say some. "A price not worth paying," say others. "The military presence is making the whole situation in Afghanistan far worse." (READ MORE)

IraqPundit: Shoe Karma? - They say what goes around comes around. It seems that saying is true, at least in the case of the Iraqi man who threw his shoes at a visiting President Bush last year. I just read that someone yesterday threw his shoes at a visiting Muntathar Zaidi in Paris. And instead of being offended, Zaidi is miffed that his copyright has been violated. The gesture last year was criticized by Iraqi journalists, who said Zaidi, a journalist himself, disrespected the profession by being rude to President Bush. Others said it was a bad move on Zaidi's part because it disrespected the entire culture. I'd be interested to hear how French people reacted to the Iraqi journalist who reportedly threw his shoes at Zaidi. The BBC says "media reports said the attacker was an exiled Iraqi journalist who defended US policy and accused Zaidi of 'working for dictatorship in Iraq.'" (READ MORE)

Knottie's Niche: An Empty Stocking - Everyone told us the “firsts” were the hardest. I disagree… I was still somewhat numb and in an emotional fog for the “firsts”. Now I am fully feeling it all and well its harder in someways. And in others, well easier is not the right word, I guess I am just more prepared for things. Christmas is just a few days away. Last year we did our absolute best to skip it. We had a tiny tree and did the gifts but only because the kids needed us to do that much. This year I am torn. I want to pull out the big tree and the ornaments we have collected over the years and touch the memories. I want to look and hang the ornaments the kids made over the years. I want to remember the Christmas of the past. I want to laugh at the memories through the tears I know will come. I want to let the memories inspire me but at the same time I am terrified they may also drowned me. (I pretend to be a lot stronger than I am sometimes but if I pretend long enough maybe even I will believe it right?) (READ MORE)

Bill Roggio: Suicide bomber strikes outside Pakistani naval headquarters - A Taliban suicide bomber detonated outside the headquarters of the Pakistani Navy in Islamabad, killing one security guard and critically wounding two others, in the latest attack against the military. The teenaged suicide bomber detonated his bomb as he was being searched at a checkpoint at the front gate of the Navy Headquarters. "The bomber was about 17 to 18 years old," Fazeel Asghar, the senior administrative official in Islamabad told Dawn. "He was wearing a suicide jacket. He came to the gate and tried to enter the complex." "Security officials checked him and one navy police constable, Mohammad Ashraf, asked him to take off his coat," Asghar continued. "The bomber then blew himself up and the navy constable died in the blast." The Taliban and allied Pakistani jihadi groups have conducted multiple attacks against military and police headquarters over the past year. (READ MORE)

Dude in the Desert: 2 Dec 09 - well, today started off crappy…went to take a shower and whatnot…no freakin water…it’s crappy cold, rainy weather and now I have to walk an extra 100 feet or so to go to the other latrines…but, I guess it’s just the crap you have to deal with when living the glamorous life of an Airman living the glamorous life of a Soldier…headed over to the barn and got ready to start the day’s chores…first on the list–get a cup o coffee…that helped things get off to a better start…after the coffee I headed back out to this trailer that needed fuel drained from it…this sounds like a pretty easy chore…a little trailer, two wheels, a hitch, and a fuel tank…well, here’s what goes into this whole ordeal…first, need a place to put the fuel–something large enough…well, the tank holds 50 gallons, so we go find a 55 gallon empty barrel…then, we think about it for a second…once it gets full we need to be able to pick it up… (READ MORE)

Mike Francis, The Oregonian: Mr. Obama's war - This is a choice that few Americans would wish to make: deepening an American commitment to a military campaign that even the top commander concedes stands a high risk of failure. It is the starkest possible way for a president to demonstrate that he thinks the case of Afghanistan is important enough to send more U.S. troops to a place where some will be killed. President Barack Obama told the nation Tuesday night that he had settled on a policy that sends 30,000 additional U.S. troops to the country with a primary mission of protecting the population and training Afghan soldiers to take over when the foreign troops leave. They will pour in rather quickly to trouble spots like the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, where Taliban forces are entrenched and coalition forces have been thinly stretched. (READ MORE)

Ramblings from a painter: Presidential Ponderings - There’s a lot of discussion today about President Obama’s speech last night. I gotta throw my two cents’ worth in. I read the transcript and thought it was an excellent speech. It shows a deliberate, thoughtful, and reasoned approach. Obama’s refocusing of the mission, I think, is right on target. Our main concern should be in ending the threat from Al Qaeda and other such extremist groups in the border area. Those are the loonies who attacked the World Trade Center and are the threat to the US and other western nations. Lots of people are wondering why we care about Afghanistan. It has nothing in the way of natural resources, no industry, nothing much to trade with the rest of the world. Which is why it’s so poor, and because it’s so poor, the people (young ones particularly) turn to anything that offers them a smidgeon of hope and purpose. Which is what the extremist groups offer. (READ MORE)

The Sandbox: THE END OF HEARTACHE - My unit came off orders to Iraq recently. This frees us up to go to Afghanistan. Below are a list of reasons, in no particular order, why it would be a good idea for me to spend 12 of the next 15 months of my life backin that blasted land. 1) We made a commitment to the people of Afghanistan when we invaded their country and toppled the Taliban regime. Unless we feel comfortable allowing adulterous women to be stoned to death, or women in general to receive no education, or whatever non-Muslim culture remaining in the country to be savaged and destroyed; unless we feel comfortable going back on a promise we made to a country filled with poverty, devoid of natural resources, mired in hopelessness and ignorance; unless we are comfortable with an idea of ourselves as individuals who are not capable of making promises as a nation -- we must stay for a little while longer and give these people the legitimate shot at development that we offered them when we first put boots on the ground in 2002. (READ MORE)

Sarah: All Those Moments Are Gone - I took a trip three weeks ago to visit my husband's parents. Even though he's deployed, I wanted them to share in the pregnancy excitement and get to feel like grandparents-to-be for a few days. We had a nice visit, and on the way home I started thinking of the letter I could write to my husband about everything we did that week. And then I got busy, and then I didn't feel so well, and then...the urgency passed. And I never wrote the letter. This, to me, is the saddest part of deployment. While we are separated, so many things happen to each of us. So many things that, if we were sitting down to dinner together in the same house, we would talk about animatedly. Little things, big things, all kinds of things. I am a chip casher; I like to relive every moment of my day with my husband. When he's gone, I usually try to do this in a letter. (READ MORE)

Terry Glavin: Spirit Of The West: Dragoons, Highlanders, Westies, Rangers, B.C. Regiment, Scottish - KANDAHAR - With men and women in uniform from every corner of Canada, it's a rare thing to find a sub-unit platoon of soldiers who all hail from the same province, so while I was running between briefings I couldn't resist stopping to take a quick photo of these comrades: they come from different trades, corps and regiments, but they're all British Columbians. They're outriders, a force-protection crew with the National Security Element. They ride shotgun with convoys, making sure people and supplies get where they're supposed to go. I think I got all their names right, at least (if anyone notices a mistake, drop me a note and I'll fix it). (MORE)

Nathan Hodge: High-Tech, Armored Off-Roader Key to Afghan Surge - The new troops headed to Afghanistan are important, sure. But unless those troops can get around the country without getting blown up, this latest surge is going nowhere fast. Which is why the Pentagon is in the middle of a crash program to build and ship to Afghanistan a new generation of bomb-resistant off-road vehicle, equipped with everything from composite armor to “electronic keels.” If all goes to plan, they should have around 1,000 of the high-tech rides in the country by the end of the year. Right after the start of the original surge in Iraq, the Pentagon launched a breakneck effort to send thousands and thousands of hulking Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles to that warzone. The vehicles were credited with saving countless lives. But the rides are too bulky for Afghanistan’s rough terrain and primitive roadways. The suspensions took a beating, and the top-heavy MRAPs were prone to rollover. (READ MORE)

Wired: Danger Room: Afghanistan 3.0: Like It or Not, It’s Nation-Building - In announcing the escalation of the Afghanistan war last night, President Barack Obama made an interesting declaration. “Our troop commitment in Afghanistan cannot be open-ended,” he said. “Because the nation that I am most interested in building is our own.” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is playing the same tune. In testimony today before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he said: “This approach is not open-ended ‘nation-building.’” The administration may excise the phrase “nation-building” from the talking points, but whether or not they choose to employ it, that’s precisely what Afghanistan 3.0 involves. Whether it’s soldiers teaching better planting techniques to Afghan farmers, diplomats and aid consultants advising local leaders or provincial reconstruction teams building roads, bridges and schools, Afghanistan has become a major nation-building effort. (READ MORE)

The Burn Pit: Do we want to win? - Sooner or later, America is going to have to come to a point where we decide whether or not we want to win the war in Afghanistan. We’ve been driving down this road for 8 years now, and passed I don’t know how many crossroads. Apparently we’ve come to another one. Last night, against the backdrop of the future military leaders of America, President Obama laid out his new strategy for fighting this war. What still remains to be seen is whether or not this is a war America is committed to winning. So far, I have yet to see the kind of real discussion that is needed to determine the resolve of this country. War is not a place for half measures. War is unforgiving, uncompromising, and demands resolve in the face of adversity. I’m not here to debate the merits of the Obama plan and whether it will or won’t work. My first introduction to being a veteran speaking to members of Congress dates back to the time period prior to the 2007 Iraq “Surge” and my concerns about the labeling of General Petraeus’ strategy a failure before it had even been given the chance to be implemented. (READ MORE)

Cassandra: The Middle Game - Last night, a weary country nervously awaited the end to our long national nightmare. Our patience, we were told, would be rewarded by the release of a comprehensive, new strategy - the result of several months of careful policy review. That last night's speech marked the second "careful policy review" in under a year is an inconvenient fact many thought best de-emphasized. Our job was to be patient while wiser heads mulled over options we - despite this administration's frequent promises of unprecedented openness, inclusiveness, and transparency - never saw except in the form of carefully timed leaks. These options are, apparently, far too complicated for us to understand. They have changed little in the past few years. The framing of these unseen options has been masterful. The number strategically leaked earlier this week is clearly the one we're intended to keep in mind: 35,000. Forget the 40000 requested by the ISAF Commander. (READ MORE)

Jules Crittenden: Fog Of War - Withdrawal will be based on conditions on the ground … in Washington. That’s the best battlefield assessment I can offer, amid the fog of DC war, after scrutinizing this scrambled transmission via CBS’ Political Hotsheet. White House: July 2011 is Locked In For Afghan Withdrawal. During the Senate Armed Services hearing today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was pressed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. on whether the July 2011 date for beginning to withdrawal troops is “locked in.” Gates seemed to suggest there was some flexibility, that “it was a clear statement of his strong intent” and that “the president always has the freedom to re-evaluate his decisions.” After the hearing Graham said he took that to mean the date is “not locked in” and will depend on conditions on the ground. Let them dicker over whether telling the enemy how long they need to wait is a bad idea, or whether “pull out and that’s final” constitutes a war strategy or a surrender one. (READ MORE)

The Captain's Journal: Obama’s Afghanistan Speech - The speech was ghastly, dreary, dreadful and morose, full of wishful thinking and blame of others for the situation we now face. Obama seemed to be unable to stay focused on Afghanistan, appeared bored with the subject, and even seemed a bit peeved that he had to deliver such a speech. The first part of the speech rehashed information that most people alive today already know, and then proceeded to place the blame on Operation Iraqi Freedom for the low troop levels in Afghanistan. That Generals McNeill and McKiernan requested more troops for the campaign in Afghanistan is true, but at least McKiernan’s desires were made known during Obama’s tenure. Even this doesn’t fully explain how the situation in Iraq related to Afghanistan. During much of the time from 2004 (around the time of Operation al Fajr) to 2007, thousands of religiously motivated foreign fighters (AQ) flowed into Iraq per year to fight the U.S. forces. (READ MORE)


News from the Front:
Iraq:
Iraqi Army Soldiers Graduate Iraqi Army Bomb Disposal School Courses - The bomb disposal school at the Besmaya training center graduated 49 Iraqi army engineer officers from its officer leadership course and 12 Iraqi army students from the bomb disposal school training course on Nov. 26. The nine week leadership course included an overview of bomb disposal training as part of more than 240 hours of classroom training. (READ MORE)

Coalition Forces work with Iraqi Government to prosecute Detainees for Terrorism - Task Force 134 recently presented its 300th terrorism case for 2009 to the Central Criminal Court of Iraq. Of the 309 cases presented to the CCC-I so far, 122 defendants have been convicted. The remaining defendants will be pursued for other crimes against the Iraqi people or eventually released in a safe and orderly manner according to the Security Agreement between the United States and the Government of Iraq. (READ MORE)

Iraqi Police pursue ad Duluiyah suicide-bomb facilitator, arrest 4 - Iraqi Police arrested four individuals today during a joint security operation conducted to find and arrest a suspected suicide-bomb facilitator in a rural area located north of Baghdad. The 3rd General Directorate Salah ad Din Police Unit and U.S. advisors searched two buildings for a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq member facilitating suicide bombings in the region. (READ MORE)

4 suspected terrorists arrested, 1 killed, as Iraqi Police pursue AQI - Iraqi Police arrested four suspected members of the al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) terrorist group today during a joint security operation conducted in the outskirts of As Sadiyah, northwest of Baghdad. Intelligence led Iraqi Police and U.S. advisors to a building in northern As Sadiyah, where an alleged AQI member is known to reside and is suspected of being in direct contact with AQI leadership. (READ MORE)

Iraqi Police continue AQI sweeps, arrests - Iraqi Police (IP) arrested 11 suspected members of the al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) terrorist group during two joint operations yesterday in northern Iraq. Near Sadiyah, northeast of Baghdad, IP and U.S. advisors searched several buildings for an alleged AQI member believed to have ties to senior leadership. (READ MORE)

Border Police hone enforcement skills - As U.S. forces work toward a responsible withdraw from Iraq, the importance of lessons passed to their Iraqi partners has never been greater. One such effort, the “Train-the-Trainer” (TT) program instituted by Border Transition Team - Scimitar, has vastly increased the technical and tactical competence of Iraq's 3rd Battalion, 11th Brigade, Department of Border Enforcement (DBE) officers. (READ MORE)

Marine Corps Logistics Command (Fwd) Opens Retrograde Lot Aboard Al Asad - After several months of long convoys from Al Asad Air Base to Camp Al Taqaddum, Iraq, the Marines stationed aboard Al Asad now have the opportunity to turn in their gear to a convenient location on the base. Marine Corps Logistics Command (Forward) opened a retrograde lot aboard Al Asad, Dec. 1. (READ MORE)

Tennessee ANG's Troop G Keeps Northern Iraq Aviation 'moving' - Four, 10–ton MRAP's hum in the dark. As motors idle, Soldiers with headlamps crawl in and around each metal beast, conducting oft-performed pre-combat checks and inspections. Moments later, approximately 20 Tennessee Army National Guard Soldiers of Troop G, 1st Battalion, 230th Air Cavalry Squadron, Task Force Wings, gather around their convoy commander for safety and mission briefs. (READ MORE)

A Marsh Arab 'Mudhif' Rises on COB Adder - Local architecture plays an important role in understanding the culture of the marsh Arabs of Southern Iraq and no structure captures the lifestyle and traditions of the region more than the 'mudhif.' First constructed in the marshes of what is now southern Iraq over 5,000 years ago, the mudhif is a unique local meeting place assembled entirely of reeds, straw and other natural materials. (READ MORE)



Afghanistan:
IJC Operational Update, Dec. 3: - An Afghan-international security force detained several suspected militants in Wardak province while pursuing a Taliban sub-commander today. The joint security force targeted a compound near the village of Jamad Kheyl in the Sayed Abad district after intelligence sources indicated militant activity. The joint force searched the compound without incident and detained the suspected militants. (READ MORE)

Taliban Compound Struck; Militants Detained in Kandahar; ISAF Casualty - International forces conducted an air strike against a Taliban commander in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan yesterday. The Taliban commander was the target of the precision strike in Kunar province's Dara Noor district, which occurred in an open area away from civilian compounds or infrastructure. Assessment of the strike continues. (READ MORE)

Reconstruction in Zabul Province; Casualty Update - The ISAF Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), mid-way through its nine-month tour, has completed nearly 40 projects this year. Operational for several years, the Zabul PRT assists the Afghan government with improving stability through governance, reconstruction and development. The Zabul PRT is a diverse organization with joint, interagency and international components. (READ MORE)

Some Allies Wary of New Troop Pledges - As political and military leaders across the globe pondered President Obama’s announcement of his Afghan strategy, European allies offered a mixed response on Wednesday, with some of the biggest contributors to the NATO coalition withholding promises of immediate troop reinforcements. As political and military leaders across the globe pondered President Obama’s announcement of his Afghan strategy, European allies offered a mixed response on Wednesday, with some of the biggest contributors to the NATO coalition withholding promises of immediate troop reinforcements. (READ MORE)

Obama Team Defends Policy on Afghanistan - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the nation’s top military officer on Wednesday laid out a muscular defense of President Obama’s decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, but they made clear that his plan to begin withdrawing those forces by July 2011 was flexible. At two hearings on Capitol Hill, where they faced deep skepticism about different parts of Mr. Obama’s war plan from both parties... (READ MORE)

Obama's Afghanistan Strategy Has a Familiar Look - In crafting his new Afghanistan policy, President Obama borrowed liberally from an unlikely source: the playbook of George W. Bush. Obama was an outspoken critic of former President Bush's decision to increase troop strength in Iraq in early 2007, a point nearly four years after the US-led invasion when the country was in the midst of a sectarian war. (READ MORE)

Time Limit on Surge Draws Fire - A day after President Barack Obama laid out his plan to send at least 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, his promise to begin withdrawing them as soon as July 2011 had become as divisive as the surge. Republican critics said setting a firm date for starting a troop withdrawal encourages the enemy to simply wait out the US efforts, and many officials in Afghanistan agreed, calling the timeline unrealistic. (READ MORE)

Obama to Let Pentagon Deploy Even More Troops, But Numbers Remain Murky - President Obama has authorized Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to deploy several thousand additional troops, as needed, beyond the 30,000 that Obama on Tuesday said he would send to Afghanistan, according to a Pentagon official. Gates can increase the number by 10 percent, or 3,000 troops, without additional White House approval or announcement, the official said... (READ MORE)

New US Afghan Strategy Raises Questions - In announcing a new Afghan strategy, President Obama hopes to eventually bring to a close a low-level conflict that has been going on for eight years. The shift in strategy is largely due to changes in those intervening years in all of the countries involved in one way or another in the Afghan conflict and its fallout. There is hope, but also skepticism about US plans in Afghanistan and the region. (READ MORE)

Lawmakers Scrutinize New Afghan Strategy - Lawmakers from both parties searched for weaknesses Wednesday in President Obama's newly announced Afghan strategy, focusing on what many said was a contradiction between his promise to begin removing US troops in 18 months and his caveat that departures will depend on "conditions on the ground." Few joined with Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) in categorically rejecting Obama's description of vital US interests in Afghanistan and Pakistan, his deployment of 30,000 additional troops and his plan for eventual withdrawal from both countries. (READ MORE)

Democrats Question Huge Cost of Obama Surge as McCain Pours Scorn - The new war strategy of a Nobel Peace Prize winner came under fire from both left and right yesterday as President Obama’s three most senior lieutenants endured marathon sessions on Capitol Hill to start selling the strategy to voters, Congress and the world. Their toughest challenge was not to explain why a 30,000-troop surge was necessary in Afghanistan, but how Mr Obama could know when it would end. (READ MORE)

Afghanistan Timetable Raises Questions - President Obama's timetable for rapidly expanding and then shrinking US force levels in Afghanistan, a central feature of his new war strategy, raised questions from critics and supporters alike Wednesday, and left top administration officials struggling to explain the plan. The war plan presented by the president Tuesday night, which fixes the beginning of troop reductions in July 2011 but does not set an end, was the subject of widespread confusion... (READ MORE)

Gates Explains July 2011 Milestone at Senate Hearing - Setting July 2011 for the beginning of a US drawdown in Afghanistan was intended for two primary audiences: the Afghan government in Kabul and war-weary Americans, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee about the new strategy for Afghanistan, Gates said the 18-month deadline signals the need for Kabul to claim greater responsibility and shows the American public the war isn’t open-ended. (READ MORE)

Petraeus: Afghan ‘Surge’ to Target Terrorist Leaders - Tens of thousands of additional US forces slated for deployment to Afghanistan will be employed to target and eliminate terrorist leaders and assist the Afghan government to better safeguard and provide a brighter future for its people, the commander of US Central Command said today. President Barack Obama last night announced the deployment of 30,000 extra US forces to Afghanistan over the next several months, which would bring the total US troop strength there to about 100,000. (READ MORE)

McChrystal: Surge Marks Turning Point in Conflict - President Barack Obama’s decision to send 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan signifies a dramatic turning point for the US and coalition mission there, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal told his staff in Kabul today. McChrystal, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, cited British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s November 1942 speech following the allied forces’ victory over Axis troops at the Second Battle of El Alamein. (READ MORE)

Clinton Expects Significant Afghan Troop Pledges from NATO - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress Wednesday the Obama administration expects significant commitments of additional troops for Afghanistan from NATO allies to supplement the surge of US forces. Clinton flies to Brussels Thursday for key meetings on Afghanistan at NATO headquarters. (READ MORE)

Some Allies Wary of New Troop Pledges - As political and military leaders across the globe pondered President Obama’s announcement of his Afghan strategy, European allies offered a mixed response on Wednesday, with some of the biggest contributors to the NATO coalition withholding promises of immediate troop reinforcements. The NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said he believed other members of the alliance would contribute 5,000 soldiers - and possibly more... (READ MORE)

Afghanistan and Pakistan Rattled by Plan for Drawdown - President Obama’s timetable for American forces in Afghanistan rattled nerves in that country and in Pakistan on Wednesday, as American diplomats worked to convince the two countries at the center of the president’s war strategy that the United States would not cut and run. In Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, said the announcement that American troops could begin leaving in 18 months served as a kind of shock therapy, but caused anxiety. (READ MORE)

Afghan Reaction Mixed Toward New US Strategy - US President Barack Obama has announced his new strategy for Afghanistan, which has military and civilian goals. Mr. Obama spoke directly to the people of Afghanistan as he outlined his new strategy for their country. "I want the Afghan people to understand - America seeks an end to this era of war and suffering. We have no interest in occupying your country," he said. (READ MORE)

Pakistanis Voice Concerns About Obama's New Afghanistan Plan - President Obama's new strategy for combating Islamist insurgents in Afghanistan fell on skeptical ears Wednesday in next-door Pakistan, a much larger, nuclear-armed state that Obama said was "at the core" of the plan and had even more at stake than Afghanistan. Analysts and residents on both sides of the 1,600-mile border expressed concerns about Obama's plan to send 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan... (READ MORE)

What Mr. Obama Changed - Now that President Obama has unveiled a strategy for Afghanistan whose bottom line - 30,000 more troops - looks a lot like the one Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal proposed three months ago, an obvious question arises: Did the president's prolonged deliberations produce any significant change in Gen. McChrystal's plans? Vice President Biden and some of the president's aides describe the revision as massive. (READ MORE)

This Will Not End Well - A traveler asks a farmer how to get to a particular village. The farmer replies, "If I were you, I wouldn't start from here." Barack Obama, who asked to be president, nevertheless deserves sympathy for having to start where America is in Afghanistan. But after 11 months of graceless disparagements of the 43rd president, the 44th acts as though he is the first president whose predecessor bequeathed a problematic world. (READ MORE)

A Wartime President - When it comes to President Barack Obama's long-awaited decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, there are three main points to consider: the decision itself, the manner in which he made it, and the way in which he sold it. He could not, in the end, have decided on a very different course of action. Having replaced the previous commander in Afghanistan with one of the outstanding soldiers of this generation, how could he deny Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for some 40,000 troops? (READ MORE)

Obama's Folly - Which is the greater folly: To fancy that war offers an easy solution to vexing problems, or, knowing otherwise, to opt for war anyway? In the wake of 9/11, American statecraft emphasized the first approach: President George W. Bush embarked on a "global war" to eliminate violent jihadism. President Obama now seems intent on pursuing the second approach: Through military escalation in Afghanistan, he seeks to "finish the job" that Bush began there, then all but abandoned. (READ MORE)

Despite Some Questions, Obama's Afghan Policy is Sound - The questions that remain unanswered after the president's West Point address: Will the troops have the time and resources needed to win? "Win" is a word that Obama avoided. He cited his long-standing goal of "disrupting, dismantling and defeating Al Qaeda and its extremist allies," but he spoke merely of his desire to "break the Taliban's momentum" rather than defeat it altogether. (READ MORE)

Obama Can Win in Afghanistan - President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night deserves to be cheered. Over the objections of his vice president and despite opposition from his political base, the president is sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan to fight terrorists. But praise for Mr. Obama's decision needs to be qualified. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, had said he could use as many as 40,000 troops... (READ MORE)

The New York Times has produced a map that highlights the Taliban's reach in Afghanistan. The data for the map was provided by The Long War Journal. The Taliban have a pervasive influence in large swaths of the country; half of Afghanistan is either contested by the Taliban or under Taliban control. The map highlights the challenges the US and NATO face as they prepare to 'surge' more forces into the country to wrest control from the Taliban, reestablish security and governance, and transition security to the beleaguered Afghan government.

Spc. Michael P. Garton & Spc. Rolando R. Flores


Spc. Michael P. Garton, a gunner with the Personal Security Detachment, with the 36th Sustainment Brigade out of Temple, Texas, and a Texarkana, Texas, native, relaxes on a Humvee and shares a laugh with Spc. Rolando R. Flores, a gunner with the PSD and a San Antonio native, during a break in preparations for a mission Nov. 23 in the maintenance yard at Contingency Operating Location Adder, Iraq.

Photo Courtesy U.S. Army

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. (New complete posts come in below)

Badger 6: "The poets down here don't write nothing at all" - This blog has been harder to do than I thought it would be. Sorry about that. On the bright side though I have finally started on a book about Iraq. (MORE)

Jim Snyder: Fool's Errand?!?!? - Democratic war tax proponent Obey calls expected troop surge a 'fool's errand' - The chief architect of a bill to increase taxes to pay for the Afghanistan war said he didn't believe adding troops would yield much benefit. "The problem is you can have the best policy in the world but if you don't have the tools to implement it it isn't worth a bean bag,"Rep. David Obey (D-Wisc.), the House Appropriations Committee chairman, told CNN on Sunday. Well, he probably does believe that, because he has failed to correctly address the mission parameters. Adding more troops will increase the probability of more dead tangos, always a good thing. We shouldn't worry about the internal workings of the Afghan government. We're there to kill islamist extremists. If that is not what you want as an outcome, then yes, he's right, in his own twisted little mind. (READ MORE)

Steve Schippert: Counterinsurgency incoherence - In war, and particularly in an Afghanistan counterinsurgency effort, there are always three sides to the coin: the good, the bad and the ugly. This is especially true in President Obama's new Afghanistan strategy, finally announced to the American public Tuesday from a West Point backdrop. The prescribed influx of much-needed American warriors onto the battlefield is clearly and rightly the good. And the good can withstand the bad, a Taliban enemy in the absence of reliable partners in the Afghan and Pakistani governments. But the glimmering light of the good will surely be eclipsed by the ugly, an incoherence of strategy beneath the surface sheen of a surge. The devil is always in the details. Sending additional troops, whether decided upon from intellectual deliberation or from political calculation, is the right call. The details of their usage, the never-ending questions of "exit strategy" and the general unwillingness to commit to victory is wholly unacceptable. (READ MORE)

3rd Time, New Country: Rookie Move - I have two quick updates for the blog. The first happened on Monday on our trip to NDS. As usual, I was driving the lead HMMV with Dennis as the right seat. We left early morning and arrived to NDS without incident. We didn't do much mentoring as it was the first workday after Eid. Most of the Afghans greeted each other, had hugs and handshakes, then spent the rest of the time drinking chai and discussing Eid. My rookie mistake happened when we got ready to leave. I started the HMMV and let it warm up while I was putting on my gear. I climbed in the seat, then saw what I thought was white smoke coming up between my legs. Needless to say, I didn't spend alot of time looking at the color or trying to figure out what it was. I thought "FIRE" so I immediately shut off the truck and bailed out the door. I hadn't closed the door yet. I turned around and looked back into the truck and didn't see anymore smoke. What it really was, was my rookie move. (READ MORE)

P.J. Tobia: Obama Rearranges Deck Chairs On The Titanic - As everybody in the world who owns a TV set knows, President Obama went public with his strategy for Afghanistan last night. For Afghanistan watchers (and the readers of this blog) there were very few surprises in that speech. We’ve known for at least a week that there would be a significant up-tick in coalition forces here, but really, this plan has probably been in the works for over a year. Last summer, I wrote this essay, outlining how the US would eventually make it’s way out of Afghanistan. In it, I said that there would be a surge in the short-term, with a heavy emphasis on training Afghan security forces, followed by a withdrawal before the next US presidential election. I’d like to thank the President for vindicating my line of thinking. But after listening to the President’s speech, I’m still not sure what he thinks Afghanistan will look like by the time US forces withdraw in 2011. (READ MORE)

Bouhammer: This Afghanistan timetable is CRAZY!! - There is no way, NO WAY this is going to happen. In about 5 minutes I will be on a Blogger’s Roundtable talking with Mr. David S. Sedney, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, and Brig. Gen. John W. Nicholson, Jr. Director, Pakistan-Afghanistan Coordination Cell, Joint Staff. I am going to ask some hard questions about the timeline that the President just outlined. Why does he think that a mere 1 year after he surges in 30,000 additional forces, that he can start withdrawing forces. How is that much progress going to happen in 12 months. In Jan, 2007 MG Durbin stated that he wanted Task Force Phoenix to start mentoring and training the Afghan Police and wanted them up to the level of the Afghan Army (which we had been embedded with for the last 5 years). We said then that MG Durbin was on crack to think we could turn around the ANP that fast. Well I am starting to think that again now of the President. (READ MORE)

Afghanistan My Last Tour: Frustrating FOO - Perhaps last night’s downpour of rain or the continual drizzle this morning should have been an indicator for today’s mission. But a little bit of rain wasn’t going to deter us from fulfilling our mission. Our plan today was to turn in a HMMVW, get an M-240 machine gun inspected, and clear the FOO account. My focus was on clearing the FOO (Field Ordering Official) or special project funds so I can go on leave and meet up with my wife in Germany. Every month I have to account for $15,000 worth of expenditures. If I don’t spend all the money, it takes even longer to clear the account and return the money. Most of my ETT teammates and I wore our rain gear today. I was really surprised that it rained most of the night and was still sprinkling in the morning. It was going to be a wet day for the gunners in the turrets. The seals in the turret hatches are virtually worthless and the rainwater seeped in and soaked my driver’s seat along with the interior. (READ MORE)

Peter Bergen: How President Obama decided on the Afghanistan strategy - Three senior administration officials outlined on Tuesday some of the concepts and processes that went into President Obama’s new plan for Afghanistan. Between September 13 and November 23 the president chaired 10 meetings of his national security team to deliberate over the new strategy. The president agreed with the ground commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal’s assessment from the summer that the key goal of the strategy was to reverse the momentum of the Taliban in the next 12 months. He selected from the menu of troop deployment options the one that got American boots on the ground in the most rapid manner. There are six objectives those forces will try to accomplish: (READ MORE)

Embedded in Afghanistan…: The White House - Our typical mission was to conduct “Leader’s Engagements” with the populace. Basically, that meant we’d go into the villages and talk to the people, typically the head man. The idea was to get the ANA out there mingling with the populace and basically showing themselves to be present and competent. Gathering information about security developments in the area and what projects the villagers would like to see done was a secondary part of those missions. We may have considered the actual information gathered to have been the most important part of the mission, and not of ancillary importance, if we’d been able to get relevant information about the security (enemy disposition, whereabouts, etc.) more often, or ever for that matter. Given the peoples’ reluctance to tell us anything about the enemy we’d usually just talk about happenings in the area in a general way, unless we had something specific we wanted to talk to them about. (READ MORE)

Sgt Danger: My Thoughts on War - So far, I’ve pretty much avoided writing about anything beyond my personal experiences in Afghanistan. But now, with the President’s upcoming* announcement of a revised strategy for Afghanistan, I feel like I need to share some of my thoughts on the big picture issues. I’ve wrestled through a half dozen rough drafts, writing some 4,000 words. I’ve been all over the place: - the events of a long eight years of fighting in Afghanistan, - NATO’s inability to implement an all out counter-insurgency (COIN) strategy, - the practical implications of deploying thousands of new troops to already crowded bases, - the impact of an Army strained by years of fighting across two theaters, - the powerful forces that profit from either the status quo or an escalation. After all this, I started over to make two simple points. 1. THE COST OF WAR: War is a wicked thing. It is sometimes justified and necessary, it is sometimes petty and fruitless… but it is always terrible. (READ MORE)

In the NARMY now: Updates! - Once again I find myself apologizing for the sporadic posts. It's just that boring out here, that there isn't much to report. I will take this opportunity to update some of my previous posts. More or less answer the questions my Mom asks when I call home. Dave and Brian - Brian's funeral was last Saturday. There was quite a bit of local news coverage in the Scranton area. Using google you can find articles and newscasts if you wish to read more. He was buried next to his Mother who coincidentally died in auto accident at the same age as Brian, 37. Dave has been in Bethesda since the Sunday after the accident. His parents have been there since then as well. A few days ago he was finally taken off life support and is now breathing on his own. Family reports he has attempted to squeeze their hands. While these are good signs, he is still unconscious and the neurologist cautions not to get too excited as full recovery from his type of brain injury will take a miracle. (READ MORE)

IraqPundit: Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan - I can't help but wonder what President Obama is thinking today. He's about to announce a surge for Afghanistan. This is the same man who predicted incorrectly that the surge would not succeed in Iraq. Could he be thinking of what he said about Iraq? Maybe he hopes his audience doesn't remember what he said when he was running for president. You know, that Iraqis are to be abandoned even in case of genocide. Now he can acknowledge that there are good things going on here. Violence is down, people are going about their everyday lives in an energetic Baghdad. And oil analysts say Iraq is on its way to joining the world's major oil producers. Of course I don't know Afghanistan, but Obama can tell his audience with confidence the surge will work because it worked in Iraq. Sure people might criticize Obama for the decision to speed up sending more troops to Afghanistan. (READ MORE)

Kudzu: Does the Left Feel this Way? - “Enemy camp?” What does bringing up Paul Wolfowitz have to do with this? The United States Military Academy is the one of the nation’s best colleges and regularly sends future officers of the United States Army on Rhodes Scholarships. Its a premier security and international relations think tank that offers opinions of all kinds. Its not an Obama 2008 campaign rally or an ACORN members meeting, there was never going to be a warm reception. The students at West Point have a long 4 years in their chosen college while Obama’s wild and crazy Ivy League was only challenging in the paper cut realm. The men and women at West Point wrote that blank check to Uncle Sam between four to one year ago and did it regardless of who the Commander in Chief was. Enemy camp? If the left likes to think Rush Limbaugh speaks for “the right”, then Chris Matthews and the regime at MSNBC speaks for the left… do this include the Obama administration? (READ MORE)

Jamie McIntyre: The Speech - President Barack Obama’s address outlining his strategy for success in Afghanistan had all the flavor of a halftime speech in which the coach exhorts his team to do just enough to win, but no more. “I refuse to set goals that go beyond our responsibility, our means, or our interests,” intoned the President last night. Those are not words that inspire. The president conveyed his ambivalence about the mission and the prospects for success, especially when he declared his intent to begin pulling U.S. troops out in July 2011, regardless of where things stand. “It must be clear that Afghans will have to take responsibility for their security and that America has no interest in fighting an endless war in Afghanistan.” Again the message that come through is that America is leaving in 18 months. That may be a realistic goal. But telegraphing it so clearly sends the wrong message… to our troops, our partners, and our enemies. (READ MORE)

Bill Roggio: Suicide bomber kills Pakistani politician - The Taliban ended its lull in attacks in Pakistan with a suicide attack against a member of the provincial assembly in the Northwest Frontier Province. A Taliban suicide bomber, said to be in his early 20s, killed Dr. Shamsher Ali Khan, a member of the provincial assembly, as he was greeting friends and constituents outside his home in Swat. Khan's brother was also killed in the attack. The attack took place less than a mile from Imam Dehri, the home of Swat Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah, who ran a mosque and an illegal FM radio station there before the Pakistani military operation was launched in the spring. The military claimed that more than 2,000 Taliban fighters were killed and 8,000 more were captured during the Swat operation. Khan was a member of the Awami National Party, the ruling, secular Pashtun party in the Northwest Frontier Province which supports dialogue to resolve the Taliban problem. (READ MORE)

Richard Lowry: Recording History - a Belated Update - I thought you all might enjoy a short unedited excerpt for the fifth anniversary. On December 5, 2004, Dan Wittnam’s Small Craft Company went out again on a sweep along the Euphrates River, east of Ramadi with engineers from Colonel Patton’s 44th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. After a productive day of clearing caches, the boats turned west to return to Camp Blue Diamond. And again, the enemy had set up a large ambush to attack the Marines as they returned to their base. They were only seven or eight kilometers from Blue Diamond when the insurgents attacked with RPGs and heavy machine guns. An RPG whizzed across the water and hit the side of Staff Sergeant Iversen’s boat. It pierced the hull and severed the port fuel line, killing his port engine. The starboard engine took a round in its block. The engine sputtered and coughed and Iversen’s boat slowed to a crawl. Now, they were sitting ducks in the hot zone. (READ MORE)

Sgt Blogger: "Shadow of the Sword" - This is a true account of Marine Sergeant Jeremiah Workman and his amazing heroism which awarded him the coveted Navy Cross along with a lifetime of guilt for the ones he could not save. In this chilling account of a real American Hero; Sgt. Workman illustrates all of the exhausting and relentless elements of combat in Iraq. Through the hail of gunfire of the Mujahideen, he describes his relentless effort to save the lives of his fellow Marines at the bloody battle of Fallujah. In his compelling story, Workman vividly paints the images of overwhelming odds and the strain of inexorable combat. But there is the one battle that he carries with him, deep in the shadows of his mind. For the war does not stay in Iraq, it is with him back at home, he relives every chilling detail over and over again asking the question… “Why did I not Die?” (READ MORE)

USA and USMC Counterinsurgency Center Blog: COIN THE SURGE AND THE MONOPOLY OF VIOLENCE IN AFGHANISTAN - Most likely by the time you read this blog, President Obama will have announced that he is sending another 30,000 plus soldiers to the fight in Afghanistan. He has taken a long time to deliberate on this, but this soldier thinks he has taken the correct approach (we’ll see if the decision is right in time…). He had a lot of contradictory advice on the way, but one bit of advice that I thought bared some examination was that of Ambassador Eikenberry in Kabul. Ambassador Eikenberry is quoted as saying that “additional troops would be unwise because of the corruption and ineffectiveness of the Afghan government.” Ambassador Eikenberry, who was the US commander in Afghanistan from 2005 – 2007 has never shrunk from criticizing the Afghan Government and rightly so. But, is the ineffectiveness of the Afghan Government reason enough to prevent additional troops from being sent to Afghanistan? (READ MORE)

David Hambling: UK Launches Its Own Shaky ‘Surge’ Into Afghanistan - The British surge into Afghanistan may not be as large as the American one — 500 British forces, compared to 30,000 U.S. troops. But the political opposition to the war in the UK is even more formidable than in America, and even this modest increase could only be achieved after several conditions were met. In particular, British troops have to be better equipped and better supported than they have been for the past several years. In Afghanistan, there have been many warnings that the lack of sufficient helicopters means that troops have to travel by road. This makes them vulnerable to roadside bombs and other hazards. A new force of RAF Merlin helicopters was deployed to Afghanistan earlier this month after a £42m ($70m) upgrade program. The number of armored vehicles has also been ramped up significantly. Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup, cheap of defense staff stated that the number of Mastiff vehicles had doubled since August: (READ MORE)

Noah Shachtman: Pentagon Hopes 30,000-Troop ‘Counterpunch’ Can Buy Time for Afghanistan’s Homegrown Forces - President Obama doesn’t want to do long-term nation-building in Afghanistan. He said so in his speech tonight, announcing 30,000 new U.S. troops for the warzone there. A full-tilt counterinsurgency doesn’t appear to be his goal; Obama never mentioned the word or alluded to the approach in his talk at West Point. Al Qaeda’s leadership remains largely bottled up in Pakistan. So what are all those fresh troops going to do in Afghanistan? And how much can they really expect to accomplish in 18 months, when Obama expects those forces to begin to come home? Top Defense Department officials say the new troops are meant to throw the Taliban off-balance for a year and a half, while the local army and police get their acts together. “Buy space and time for the growth of the Afghan forces,” Brig. Gen. John “Mick” Nicholson, director of the Pentagon’s Afghan/Pakistan Coordination, tells a conference call with bloggers and reporters. (READ MORE)

Nathan Hodge: How to Get Troops to Afghanistan in a Hurry - President Barack Obama is set to announce a troop surge to Afghanistan tonight — and if the latest reports are correct, the president’s plan will call for a rapid, six-month buildup. And that asks the question: How does the U.S. military expect to get an additional 34,000 or so additional troops to Afghanistan in such short order? This is not Iraq, where the United States had the benefit of a massive staging area just over the border in Kuwait. As Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in the region recently put it, the lack of infrastructure in Afghanistan presents “major challenges.” Some of the groundwork for additional forces, however, has already been laid. Late this summer, I reported from Bagram Airfield, the main logistics hub for northern and eastern Afghanistan. A tremendous construction boom was already underway: The U.S. military has poured around $220 million into upgrading the place, building new dormitories, supply points and roads. (READ MORE)

Dena Yllescas: It's been a year - A year has passed. Yet it seems like yesterday that my world came crashing down and I had to make the hardest decision of my life. It’s still so hard to believe he is gone. It’s been a year and yet still so surreal. So much has happened in a year. A year ago, I never would have pictured my life where it is today. With the help of my wonderful family and friends, and the hugs and kisses from my beautiful girls, I have managed to put one foot in front of the other and try to make the best out of a horrible situation. Over the past year, there were days that I wanted to lay in bed, put the covers over my head, and never wake up. But how would that help the situation any? How would that make me a better mom? And Rob would NOT want that. This is my reality. This is my life now. Nothing I do will change that. So, for my sake and the sake of my daughters, I need to make life as normal and happy as possible for us. Our life will never be the “old normal” so we’re making a “new normal”. (READ MORE)

Manatee's Military Moms: Families will remain steadfast in support of their loved ones - What does it mean? The troop surge? For folks with a loved one serving in the military, it’s just another day at the office. Well, of course there is the broader picture…the world’s reaction…and what does that mean for political relations with Pakistan, Yemen, Britain, the world? Everyone seems to be second-guessing and putting in their two cents and opining their heads off… But we know that every day is fraught with hazards and hardships for our loved ones. They serve in the cold; on rough seas; in the heat. There are too many dangers to list, but we know what they are. For families, they are the crippling thoughts that we push from our heads every day to focus on the most important mission of all: support. We will stand tall. Our troops serve with honor as they have done since the birth of our nation; we will put our heart and soul into supporting them, loving them, and one day, welcoming them home. (READ MORE)

Jules Crittenden: Obama’s War - About that speech, I heard it refered to by one Obama fan as “steadfast.” Once you get past the stealth Bush-bash, the excuse-making, the subtle apologies, and the overall half-heartedness, I guess. There was the steadfast decision to nickel and dime the commander in the field, and the steadfast timetable. I’d hate to be a grunt in some remote outpost, wondering where the other 10,000 guys are when I need them, or a commander in Bagram checking my watch. To paraphrase another go-lite advocate, you don’t go to war with the army you want, you go to war with the army your president and his political advisors send you with. You don’t, contrary to widespread public opinion, get to choose your wars. They choose you. You just get to choose what you’re going to do with them. With this surge, Afghanistan is in disputably Obama’s war now, to win or lose. (READ MORE)

The Armorer: Meanwhile, in Iraq, Mass in the language of Jesus - The press finding Iraq to be boring these days I thought this story would be of interest. It's the kind of story that the MSM would have little interest in trying to find time or space for, especially since there's no blood or policy failures involved - which makes it perfect for this place, where we like to tell the tale not told. Lieutenant Colonel Melanie Meiers was, until her call-up to active duty, my state representative, and a fellow defense contractor working at Fort Leavenworth. She's a Democrat, but as she's a semi-rural Kansas Democrat, that would make her a rabid Republican in someplace like Massachusetts... A brief glimpse into Christianity in Iraq: "Prior to the 2003 start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, an estimated 1.2 million Christians lived in Iraq. For several reasons that number today is thought to be down around 600,000." (READ MORE)

ROFASix: Obama's "Limited" Surge Strategy - Last night, we heard the new strategy for the Afghanistan War from President Obama. Some old soldiers watching, could not figure out whether this “limited surge concept” was bi-polar or schizophrenic. Only after learning that schizophrenia "commonly manifests as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking with significant social or occupational dysfunction," we figured that was the right term to describe the “limited” surge strategy. OK, so Obama inherited this war. As of last night, that excuse ends. Now, he owns it. Undoubtedly, he finds this war inconvenient. It could derail his quest "remake" America and sucks money from the tax coffers needed to pay for the "new America." That is why we are hearing whispers in the media and Congress about imposing a "war tax." Those in power do not want to endanger their agenda and that sucking sound at the treasury does exactly that. (READ MORE)

Some Soldier's Mom: PTSD: A Different Perspective, Part I - PTSD looks to be the diagnosis of the decade. Seems everyone has it, or wants to claim it. In the 80s the diagnosis was ADHD... In the 90s, was it narcissism? And now, PTSD: apparently you can get it soon after watching a movie, or years after some bad act. It's all the rage in the news, and a convenient excuse for bad behavior. Even if someone has never personally experienced the trauma, it seems like they only have to hear about someone else's trauma, and POOF — they have PTSD! Worse still are those who point to combat stress as proof that service members are the victims of some nefarious plot. If you believe the media and some politicians, every bad act by someone who happens to be a veteran is the result of some neglect or refusal to identify and treat this condition. The unfortunate truth is that there are those who will not seek help and, with rare exception, no one can force them to seek or receive it. (READ MORE)

The Belmont Club: The other aspect of Afghanistan - Aviation author Bill Sweetman describes the first available photographs of a stealth UAV operating out of Afghanistan in his blog in Ares. Sweetman says it may be a high altitude, long endurance UAV. “The jet has long, slender outer wings, spanning as much as 80 feet, mated to a stouter, deeper centerbody with a pointed nose. One important detail: the overwing fairings are not B-2-like inlets, but cover some kind of equipment – satcoms on one side, perhaps, and a sensor on the other.” In an earlier post, Sweetman speculated that the “Beast of Kandahar” may have related to a secret requirement for a platform that would fly at 70-80,000 feet using classified engines produced for a deleted program. But the key problem is what such a vehicle would be doing in Afghanistan. Perhaps the biggest mystery, though, is what the birds were doing in Kandahar. Why use a stealth aircraft against an adversary that doesn’t have radar? (READ MORE)



News from the Front:
Iraq:
All-female Medical Evacuation Crew Makes History - Four soldiers serving here with the New Hampshire National Guard earned a special distinction last week when they became their company’s first all-female medical evacuation crew. In the three days before Thanksgiving, Capt. Trish Barker, Chief Warrant Officer Andrea Galatian, Staff Sgt. Misty Seward and Sgt. Debra Lukan, of the Army’s 3-238th Medevac, C Company, comprised one of the on-alert crews for Task Force Keystone. Officials aren’t sure how rare the all-female medevac crew is, but it is a rarity the company is proud of. (READ MORE)

Building a Foundation Through Partnership - As U.S. forces move closer and closer to an Iraq in which there are no American forces to provide assistance, the importance of the lessons they pass on to their Iraqi partners has never been greater. One such effort, the train-the-trainer program instituted by Border Transition Team Scimitar, has vastly increased the technical and tactical competence of Iraq's 3rd Battalion, 11th Brigade, Department of Border Enforcement officers. (READ MORE)

Micro-grants Boost Purchasing Power for Iraqis - In a small village northwest of Baghdad, the American troops of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division conducted a foot patrol focused on finding the owner of a generator. The Soldiers were here to give the man paperwork for a micro-grant that could assist him in the general upkeep of the generator and for purchasing fuel, thus powering the generator and a good portion of the community, said Sgt. Charlie De Nune, of Tacoma, Wash. (READ MORE)

Iraqi Police arrest 11 suspected AQI members in northern Iraq - Iraqi Police arrested 11 suspected members of the al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) terrorist group today during two joint security operations conducted in northern Iraq. Near As Sadiyah, northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi Police and U.S. advisors searched several buildings for an alleged AQI member believed to have ties to senior leadership. (READ MORE)

Civilians wounded by grenade during Eid - Twenty-six people were wounded Monday in a grenade attack on an Eid al Adha celebration in Hawijah. Twenty-two of the wounded were treated in the Hawijah hospital and four evacuated to Kirkuk due to the seriousness of the injuries. Iraqi Army soldiers have two suspects in custody wanted in connection with the attack. (READ MORE)

Iraqi Police nab 15 alleged AQI suspects - Iraqi Police and U.S. advisors apprehended 15 alleged al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) suspects during recent operations, military officials report. IP arrested four suspected AQI cell members yesterday in two joint security operations near Baghdad and Kirkuk, military officials said. (READ MORE)

Airman carries wartime flag family heirloom - Staff Sgt. Heriberto Gonzalez, 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron, possesses an American flag that was carried by both his father and grandfather during wartime. "Gonzo," as he is referred to by his flight line coworkers, is on his eighth deployment since joining the Air Force. An avionics craftsman by trade, he volunteered to deploy to Iraq to provide security for local and third-country nationals working on this base. (READ MORE)


Afghanistan:
A Disappointing Speech in Support of the Right Policy - President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan was disappointing. Yes, the policy is right: more troops, a counter-insurgency strategy, a stronger alliance with Pakistan. But the personal commitment of the president to pursue the war against the Taliban and al Qaeda until they are defeated was not there. Obama did not take ownership of the war. It’s still the war in Afghanistan, not Obama’s War. (READ MORE)

ISAF Commander's Statement Regarding U.S. President's Announcement - The statement of General Stanley McChrystal, Commander NATO International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan regarding the address by The President of the United States: "The Afghanistan-Pakistan review led by the President has provided me with a clear military mission and the resources to accomplish our task. The clarity, commitment and resolve outlined in the President’s address are critical steps toward bringing security to Afghanistan and eliminating terrorist safe havens that threaten regional and global security. (READ MORE)

Will Russia’s Afghan Fate Be America’s? - For anyone with memories of the Soviet army’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, there was a special irony in one element of President Obama’s diplomatic efforts ahead of his West Point speech on Tuesday night: His telephone call to the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev. (READ MORE)

At Army Bases, Warriors Are Ready to Step Up - At military installations that will be supplying the additional troops to go to Afghanistan, there was an air of inevitability on Tuesday about President Obama’s speech tonight. While there was little of the second-guessing that has characterized discussions around the country and in Congress about the buildup of a war that has dragged on for eight years, interviews with soldiers and their families revealed that many were grasping for a clarity of mission and an objective that can be achieved. (READ MORE)

U.S. troops skeptical of Afghan soldiers' abilities - When nearly 60 tribal leaders gathered in a Taliban stronghold here recently to discuss mounting security challenges, U.S. military commanders and staff listened attentively, but there were no representatives from Afghan security forces. "What government do we have?" asked Mohammed Nabi, a malik, or tribal leader, from the Kandahar region who acknowledged he was a Taliban sympathizer. "The only faces I see here are men from another country wearing uniforms like the Russians. We are left to fend for ourselves, protect ourselves, and there is no one here from Kabul who cares." (READ MORE)

A wounded West Point graduate returns on a big night - In 2007, Dan Berschinski graduated from West Point. He headed off to Fort Lewis, Wa. , where, in July of this year, he led an infantry platoon to Afghanistan. On Tuesday night, 1st Lt. Berschinski, returned to West Point, now a double amputee with a keen sense of the perils of this war, and a strong desire to hear his commander in chief give a long awaited policy speech that outlines the way forward. (READ MORE)

Obama on Afghanistan: 'Our security is at stake'- Declaring "our security is at stake," President Barack Obama ordered an additional 30,000 U.S. troops into the long war in Afghanistan Tuesday night, nearly tripling the force he inherited as commander in chief. He promised an impatient public he would begin bringing units home in 18 months. The buildup to about 100,000 troops will begin almost immediately -- the first Marines will be in place by Christmas -- and will cost $30 billion for the first year alone. (READ MORE)

Endgame or escalation? Or both? - With echoes of George W. Bush's post-Sept. 11, 2001 call to arms, President Barack Obama worked diligently Tuesday night to make his wartime address sound like an endgame rather than what it was — a striking escalation of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. Even as U.S. voters grow impatient with the eight years of war and Democrats fret about their prospects in next year's elections, Obama made the hard decision to increase the U.S. force in Afghanistan to 100,000 — nearly three times as many as when he took office. (READ MORE)

Bomb kills anti-Taliban lawmaker in Pakistan - Pakistan's Supreme Court said Tuesday it will soon begin examining an expired amnesty covering the president and key allies. The decision launches a process that could unseat the U.S.-allied leader just as the Obama administration needs stability in Islamabad to help crack down on the Taliban. Highlighting the dangers, a suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban lawmaker in the Swat Valley — the latest in a series of bombings as the army presses offensives in militant strongholds close to the Afghan border. (READ MORE)

'Our security is at stake': Obama orders 30K more troops to Afghanistan - Declaring "our security is at stake," President Barack Obama ordered an additional 30,000 U.S. troops into the long war in Afghanistan Tuesday night, nearly tripling the force he inherited as commander in chief. He promised an impatient public he would begin bringing units home in 18 months. Utahns had mixed reactions to Obama's speech. (READ MORE)

Gates says first U.S. troops in Afghanistan in weeks - The first new U.S. troops should reach Afghanistan in two to three weeks, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday as a leading senator questioned President Barack Obama's plan for a speedy but limited surge to turn the tide against the Taliban. Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mike Mullen, chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before a Senate committee to build support for Obama's plan to send 30,000 more U.S. troops into the conflict -- but to start bringing them home after 18 months. (READ MORE)

Japan welcomes new U.S. Afghan policy, yet denies more aid - Japan welcomes a new U.S. strategy on Afghanistan announced by President Barack Obama, the top government spokesman said Wednesday, but added that it has no intention of increasing aid despite a growing view that Washington may demand Tokyo to do more. "The government welcomes" the new policy of sending an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan and starting to withdraw forces in July 2011, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano said in a press conference held immediately after Obama's televised speech. (READ MORE)

Australia has no plans to add more Afghan troops - Australia`s defense minister has voiced his support for President Barack Obama`s decision to send more US troops to Afghanistan, but says Australia has no plans to do the same. Defense Minister John Faulkner said Wednesday that Obama`s commitment of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan will be helpful in achieving success there. But Faulkner said Australia is not planning to add to its 1,500 troops already in Afghanistan. (READ MORE)

Obama urges Karzai's government to take more responsibility for security in Afghanistan - U.S. President Barack Obama, in a call with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai on Monday night, urged Afghans to take more responsibility on their country's security, said the White House on Tuesday. "President Obama underscored the need for more rapid development of the Afghan National Security Forces so that Afghans themselves can assume greater responsibility over the security of their country," said a White House statement. (READ MORE)

IJC Operational Update, Dec. 2: International forces conducted an air strike against a Taliban commander in a remote area of eastern Afghanistan yesterday. The Taliban commander was the target of the precision strike in Kunar province's Dara Noor District, which occurred in an open area away from civilian compounds or infrastructure. Assessment of the strike continues. (READ MORE)

Good evening. To the United States Corps of Cadets, to the men and women of our armed services, and to my fellow Americans, I want to speak to you tonight about our effort in Afghanistan, the nature of our commitment there, the scope of our interests, and the strategy that my administration will pursue to bring this war to a successful conclusions.

It’s an extraordinary honor for me to do so here at West Point, where so many men and women have prepared to stand up for our security and to represent what is finest about our country.
To address these important issues, it’s important to recall why America and our allies were compelled to fight a war in Afghanistan in the first place.

We did not ask for this fight. On September 11, 2001, 19 men hijacked four airplanes and used them to murder nearly 3,000 people. They struck at our military and economic nerve centers. They took the lives of innocent men, women, and children without regard to their faith or race or station.

Were it not for the heroic actions of passengers on board one of those flights, they could have also struck at one of the great symbols of our democracy in Washington and killed many more.
As we know, these men belonged to Al Qaeda, a group of extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam, one of the world’s great religions, to justify the slaughter of innocents. Al Qaeda’s base of operations was in Afghanistan, where they were harbored by the Taliban, a ruthless, repressive and radical movement that seized control of that country after it was ravaged by years of Soviet occupation and civil war and after the attention of America and our friends had turned elsewhere.

Just days after 9/11, Congress authorized the use of force against Al Qaeda and those who harbored them, an authorization that continues to this day. The vote in the Senate was 98-0; the vote in the House was 420-1.

For the first time in its history, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization invoked Article 5, the commitment that says an attack on one member nation is an attack on all. And the United Nations Security Council endorsed the use of all necessary steps to respond to the 9/11 attacks. America, our allies, and the world were acting as one to destroy Al Qaeda’s terrorist network and to protect our common security.

Under the banner of this domestic unity and international legitimacy — and only after the Taliban refused to turn over Osama bin Laden — we sent our troops into Afghanistan.

Within a matter of months, Al Qaeda was scattered and many of its operatives were killed. The Taliban was driven from power and pushed back on its heels. A place that had known decades of fear now had reason to hope.

At a conference convened by the U.N., a provisional government was established under President Hamid Karzai. And an International Security Assistance Force was established to help bring a lasting peace to a war-torn country.

Then, in early 2003, the decision was made to wage a second war in Iraq. The wrenching debate over the Iraq war is well-known and need not be repeated here. It’s enough to say that, for the next six years, the Iraq war drew the dominant share of our troops, our resources, our diplomacy, and our national attention, and that the decision to go into Iraq caused substantial rifts between America and much of the world.

Today, after extraordinary costs, we are bringing the Iraq war to a responsible end. We will remove our combat brigades from Iraq by the end of next summer and all of our troops by the end of 2011. That we are doing so is a testament to the character of the men and women in uniform.

Thanks to their courage, grit and perseverance, we have given Iraqis a chance to shape their future, and we are successfully leaving Iraq to its people.

But while we have achieved hard-earned milestones in Iraq, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated. After escaping across the border into Pakistan in 2001 and 2002, Al Qaiea’s leadership established a safe haven there. Although a legitimate government was elected by the Afghan people, it’s been hampered by corruption, the drug trade, an under-developed economy, and insufficient security forces.

Over the last several years, the Taliban has maintained common cause with Al Qaeda, as they both seek an overthrow of the Afghan government. Gradually, the Taliban has begun to control additional swaths of territory in Afghanistan, while engaging in increasingly brazen and devastating acts of terrorism against the Pakistani people.

Now, throughout this period, our troop levels in Afghanistan remained a fraction of what they were in Iraq. When I took office, we had just over 32,000 Americans serving in Afghanistan compared to 160,000 in Iraq at the peak of the war.

Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive. And that’s why, shortly after taking office, I approved a longstanding request for more troops.

After consultations with our allies, I then announced a strategy recognizing the fundamental connection between our war effort in Afghanistan and the extremist safe havens in Pakistan. I set a goal that was narrowly defined as disrupting, dismantling, and defeating Al Qaeda and its extremist allies, and pledged to better coordinate our military and civilian efforts.

Since then, we’ve made progress on some important objectives. High-ranking Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed, and we’ve stepped up the pressure on Al Qaeda worldwide.
In Pakistan, that nation’s army has gone on its largest offensive in years. In Afghanistan, we and our allies prevented the Taliban from stopping a presidential election, and although it was marred by fraud, that election produced a government that is consistent with Afghanistan’s laws and constitution.

Yet huge challenges remain: Afghanistan is not lost, but for several years, it has moved backwards. There’s no imminent threat of the government being overthrown, but the Taliban has gained momentum. Al Qaeda has not reemerged in Afghanistan in the same numbers as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border. And our forces lack the full support they need to effectively train and partner with Afghan security forces and better secure the population.

Our new commander in Afghanistan, General McChrystal, has reported that the security situation is more serious than he anticipated. In short, the status quo is not sustainable.

As cadets, you volunteered for service during this time of danger. Some of you have fought in Afghanistan. Some of you will deploy there. As your commander-in-chief, I owe you a mission that is clearly defined and worthy of your service.

And that’s why, after the Afghan voting was completed, I insisted on a thorough review of our strategy.

Now, let me be clear: There has never been an option before me that called for troop deployments before 2010, so there has been no delay or denial of resources necessary for the conduct of the war during this review period. Instead, the review has allowed me to ask the hard questions and to explore all the different options, along with my national security team, our military, and civilian leadership in Afghanistan, and our key partners.

And given the stakes involved, I owed the American people and our troops no less.
This review is now complete. And as commander-in-chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.

After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home. These are the resources that we need to seize the initiative, while building the Afghan capacity that can allow for a responsible transition of our forces out of Afghanistan.

I do not make this decision lightly. I opposed the war in Iraq precisely because I believe that we must exercise restraint in the use of military force and always consider the long-term consequences of our actions.

We have been at war now for eight years, at enormous cost in lives and resources. Years of debate over Iraq and terrorism have left our unity on national security issues in tatters and created a highly polarized and partisan backdrop for this effort. And having just experienced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people are understandably focused on rebuilding our economy and putting people to work here at home.

Most of all, I know that this decision asks even more of you, a military that, along with your families, has already borne the heaviest of all burdens.

As president, I have signed a letter of condolence to the family of each American who gives their life in these wars. I have read the letters from the parents and spouses of those who deployed. I’ve visited our courageous wounded warriors at Walter Reed. I’ve traveled to Dover to meet the flag-draped caskets of 18 Americans returning home to their final resting place.

I see firsthand the terrible wages of war. If I did not think that the security of the United States and the safety of the American people were at stake in Afghanistan, I would gladly order every single one of our troops home tomorrow.

So, no, I do not make this decision lightly. I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the epicenter of violent extremism practiced by Al Qadda. It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak.

This is no idle danger, no hypothetical threat. In the last few months alone, we have apprehended extremists within our borders who were sent here from the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan to commit new acts of terror. And this danger will only grow if the region slides backwards and Al Qaeda can operate with impunity.

We must keep the pressure on Al Qaeda. And to do that, we must increase the stability and capacity of our partners in the region.

Of course, this burden is not ours alone to bear. This is not just America’s war. Since 9/11, Al Qaeda’s safe havens have been the source of attacks against London and Amman and Bali. The people and governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan are endangered. And the stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that Al Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them.

These facts compel us to act along with our friends and allies. Our overarching goal remains the same: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future.

To meet that goal, we will pursue the following objectives within Afghanistan. We must deny Al Qaida a safe haven. We must reverse the Taliban’s momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government. And we must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan’s security forces and government, so that they can take lead responsibility for Afghanistan’s future.

We will meet these objectives in three ways. First, we will pursue a military strategy that will break the Taliban’s momentum and increase Afghanistan’s capacity over the next 18 months.
The 30,000 additional troops that I’m announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010, the fastest possible pace, so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers. They’ll increase our ability to train competent Afghan security forces and to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight. And they will help create the conditions for the United States to transfer responsibility to the Afghans.

Because this is an international effort, I’ve asked that our commitment be joined by contributions from our allies. Some have already provided additional troops, and we’re confident that there will be further contributions in the days and weeks ahead.

Our friends have fought and bled and died alongside us in Afghanistan. And now we must come together to end this war successfully. For what’s at stake is not simply a test of NATO’s credibility; what’s at stake is the security of our allies and the common security of the world.
Now, taken together, these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011. Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground.

We’ll continue to advise and assist Afghanistan’s security forces to ensure that they can succeed over the long haul. But it will be clear to the Afghan government — and, more importantly, to the Afghan people — that they will ultimately be responsible for their own country.
Second, we will work with our partners, the United Nations, and the Afghan people to pursue a more effective civilian strategy so that the government can take advantage of improved security. This effort must be based on performance. The days of providing a blank check are over.
President Karzai’s inauguration speech sent the right message about moving in a new direction. And going forward, we will be clear about what we expect from those who receive our assistance.

We’ll support Afghan ministries, governors, and local leaders that combat corruption and deliver for the people. We expect those who are ineffective or corrupt to be held accountable. And we will also focus our assistance in areas such as agriculture that can make an immediate impact in the lives of the Afghan people.

Now, the people of Afghanistan have endured violence for decades. They’ve been confronted with occupation by the Soviet Union, and then by foreign Al Qaida fighters who used Afghan land for their own purposes.

So tonight, I want the Afghan people to understand: America seeks an end to this era of war and suffering. We have no interest in occupying your country. We will support efforts by the Afghan government to open the door to those Taliban who abandon violence and respect the human rights of their fellow citizens. And we will seek a partnership with Afghanistan grounded in mutual respect, to isolate those who destroy, to strengthen those who build, to hasten the day when our troops will leave, and to forge a lasting friendship in which America is your partner and never your patron.

Third, we will act with the full recognition that our success in Afghanistan is inextricably linked to our partnership with Pakistan. We’re in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country. But this same cancer has also taken root in the border region of Pakistan. And that’s why we need a strategy that works on both sides of the border.

In the past, there have been those in Pakistan who’ve argued that the struggle against extremism is not their fight and that Pakistan is better off doing little or seeking accommodation with those who use violence.

But in recent years, as innocents have been killed from Karachi to Islamabad, it has become clear that it is the Pakistani people who are the most endangered by extremism. Public opinion has turned. The Pakistani army has waged an offensive in Swat and South Waziristan, and there is no doubt that the United States and Pakistan share a common enemy.

In the past, we too often defined our relationship with Pakistan narrowly. And those days are over.

Moving forward, we are committed to a partnership with Pakistan that is built on a foundation of mutual interest, mutual respect, and mutual trust. We will strengthen Pakistan’s capacity to target those groups that threaten our countries and have made it clear that we cannot tolerate a safe haven for terrorists whose location is known and whose intentions are clear.
America is also providing substantial resources to support Pakistan’s democracy and development. We are the largest international supporter for those Pakistanis displaced by the fighting. And going forward, the Pakistan people must know: America will remain a strong supporter of Pakistan’s security and prosperity long after the guns have fallen silent so that the great potential of its people can be unleashed.

These are the three core elements of our strategy: a military effort to create the conditions for a transition; a civilian surge that reinforces positive action; and an effective partnership with Pakistan.

And I recognize there are a range of concerns about our approach. So let me briefly address a few of the more prominent arguments that I’ve heard and which I take very seriously.
First, there are those who suggest that Afghanistan is another Vietnam. They argue that it cannot be stabilized and we’re better off cutting our losses and rapidly withdrawing. I believe this argument depends on a false reading of history.

Unlike Vietnam, we are joined by a broad coalition of 43 nations that recognizes the legitimacy of our action. Unlike Vietnam, we are not facing a broad-based popular insurgency. And most importantly, unlike Vietnam, the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan and remain a target for those same extremists who are plotting along its border.

To abandon this area now and to rely only on efforts against Al Qaeda from a distance would significantly hamper our ability to keep the pressure on Al Qaeda and create an unacceptable risk of additional attacks on our homeland and our allies.

Second, there are those who acknowledge that we can’t leave Afghanistan in its current state, but suggest that we go forward with the troops that we already have, but this would simply maintain a status quo in which we muddle through and permit a slow deterioration of conditions there. It would ultimately prove more costly and prolong our stay in Afghanistan, because we would never be able to generate the conditions needed to train Afghan security forces and give them the space to take over.

Finally, there are those who oppose identifying a timeframe for our transition to Afghan responsibility. Indeed, some call for a more dramatic and open-ended escalation of our war effort, one that would commit us to a nation-building project of up to a decade. I reject this course because it sets goals that are beyond what can be achieved at a reasonable cost and what we need to achieve to secure our interests.

Furthermore, the absence of a timeframe for transition would deny us any sense of urgency in working with the Afghan government. It must be clear that Afghans will have to take responsibility for their security and that America has no interest in fighting an endless war in Afghanistan.

As president, I refuse to set goals that go beyond our responsibility, our means, or our interests. And I must weigh all of the challenges that our nation faces. I don’t have the luxury of committing to just one.

Indeed, I’m mindful of the words of President Eisenhower, who, in discussing our national security, said, “Each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs.”

Over the past several years, we have lost that balance. We failed to appreciate the connection between our national security and our economy. In the wake of an economic crisis, too many of our neighbors and friends are out of work and struggle to pay the bills. Too many Americans are worried about the future facing our children.

Meanwhile, competition within the global economy has grown more fierce, so we can’t simply afford to ignore the price of these wars.

All told, by the time I took office, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan approached a trillion dollars. And going forward, I am committed to addressing these costs openly and honestly. Our new approach in Afghanistan is likely to cost us roughly $30 billion for the military this year, and I’ll work closely with Congress to address these costs as we work to bring down our deficit.

But as we end the war in Iraq and transition to Afghan responsibility, we must rebuild our strength here at home. Our prosperity provides a foundation for our power. It pays for our military; it underwrites our diplomacy; it taps the potential of our people and allows investment in new industry; and it will allow us to compete in this century as successfully as we did in the last.
That’s why our troop commitment in Afghanistan cannot be open- ended: because the nation that I’m most interested in building is our own.

Now, let me be clear. None of this will be easy. The struggle against violent extremism will not be finished quickly, and it extends well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan. It will be an enduring test of our free society and our leadership in the world. And unlike the great power conflicts and clear lines of division that defined the 20th century, our effort will involve disorderly regions, failed states, diffuse enemies.

So as a result, America will have to show our strength in the way that we end wars and prevent conflict, not just how we wage wars. We’ll have to be nimble and precise in our use of military power. Where Al Qaeda and its allies attempt to establish a foothold — whether in Somalia or Yemen or elsewhere — they must be confronted by growing pressure and strong partnerships.
And we can’t count on military might alone. We have to invest in our homeland security, because we can’t capture or kill every violent extremist abroad. We have to improve and better coordinate our intelligence so that we stay one step ahead of shadowy networks.

We will have to take away the tools of mass destruction. And that’s why I’ve made it a central pillar of my foreign policy to secure loose nuclear materials from terrorists, to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and to pursue the goal of a world without them, because every nation must understand that true security will never come from an endless race for ever more destructive weapons. True security will come for those who reject them.

We’ll have to use diplomacy, because no one nation can meet the challenges of an interconnected world acting alone. I’ve spent this year renewing our alliances and forging new partnerships. And we have forged a new beginning between America and the Muslim world, one that recognizes our mutual interest in breaking a cycle of conflict and that promises a future in which those who kill innocents are isolated by those who stand up for peace and prosperity and human dignity.
And, finally, we must draw on the strength of our values, for the challenges that we face may have changed, but the things that we believe in must not. That’s why we must promote our values by living them at home, which is why I’ve prohibited torture and will close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.

And we must make it clear to every man, woman and child around the world who lives under the dark cloud of tyranny that America will speak out on behalf of their human rights and tend for the light of freedom and justice and opportunity and respect for the dignity of all peoples. That is who we are; that is the source, the moral source of America’s authority.

Since the days of Franklin Roosevelt and the service and sacrifice of our grandparents and great-grandparents, our country has borne a special burden in global affairs. We have spilled American blood in many countries on multiple continents. We have spent our revenue to help others rebuild from rubble and develop their own economies. We have joined with others to develop an architecture of institutions — from the United Nations to NATO to the World Bank — that provide for the common security and prosperity of human beings.

We have not always been thanked for these efforts, and we have at times made mistakes. But more than any other nation, the United States of America has underwritten global security for over six decades, a time that, for all its problems, has seen walls come down, and markets open, and billions lifted from poverty, unparalleled scientific progress, and advancing frontiers of human liberty.

For unlike the great powers of old, we have not sought world domination. Our union was founded in resistance to oppression. We do not seek to occupy other nations. We will not claim another nation’s resources or target other peoples because their faith or ethnicity is different from ours.

What we have fought for, what we continue to fight for is a better future for our children and grandchildren. And we believe that their lives will be better if other peoples’ children and grandchildren can live in freedom and access opportunity.

As a country, we’re not as young — and perhaps not as innocent — as we were when Roosevelt was president. Yet we are still heirs to a noble struggle for freedom. And now we must summon all of our might and moral suasion to meet the challenges of a new age.

In the end, our security and leadership does not come solely from the strength of our arms. It derives from our people, from the workers and businesses who will rebuild our economy; from the entrepreneurs and researchers who will pioneer new industries; from the teachers that will educate our children and the service of those who work in our communities at home; from the diplomats and Peace Corps volunteers who spread hope abroad; and from the men and women in uniform who are part of an unbroken line of sacrifice that has made government of the people, by the people, and for the people a reality on this Earth.

This vast and diverse citizenry will not always agree on every issue, nor should we. But I also know that we as a country cannot sustain our leadership nor navigate the momentous challenges of our time if we allow ourselves to be split asunder by the same rancor and cynicism and partisanship that has in recent times poisoned our national discourse.

It’s easy to forget that, when this war began, we were united, bound together by the fresh memory of a horrific attack and by the determination to defend our homeland and the values we hold dear. I refuse to accept the notion that we cannot summon that unity again. I believe…

I believe with every fiber of my being that we, as Americans, can still come together behind a common purpose, for our values are not simply words written into parchment. They are a creed that calls us together and that has carried us through the darkest of storms as one nation, as one people.

America, we are passing through a time of great trial. And the message that we send in the midst of these storms must be clear: that our cause is just, our resolve unwavering. We will go forward with the confidence that right makes might and with the commitment to forge an America that is safer, a world that is more secure, and a future that represents not the deepest of fears but the highest of hopes.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.



~~~~
Word Count:
Victory = 0
Withdraw = 1 [withdrawing]
Me = 3 [includes 1 my]
America = 31
Vietnam = 4
Al Qaeda = 19
Enemy = 1
Taliban = 12
Honor = 1
Support = 7

News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. (New complete posts come in below)

The Burn Pit: Of SEALS and Terrorists… - “They are not police officers nor should they be political pawns.” After reading the articles on the Navy Seals abusing a terrorist that they had captured I had to write this article. Are these killers wearing a military uniform-NO. Do they subscribe to the Geneva and Hague conventions-NO. Do they treat captured combatants humanely-NO. Do they look to the welfare of captured combatants, looking after their safety and any needed medical treatments-NO. The fact is that they slaughter people who are taken captive and drag their bodies through the streets and hang their burned bodies from a bridge. They have murdered people while videoing the act and mutilated both military and noncombatants. They target schools, hospitals, place of worship and kill people who are teachers, those offering support and a safe place to gather. They murder the police and leaders of their nation and do not care about how many are killed in the collateral damage they inflect. (READ MORE)

Adrian MacNair: Who Really “Supports The Troops”? - The whole detainee affair, which I’ve largely ignored until now because as far as I’m concerned Canada has done more than it’s fair share of diligence, has spilled over into a partisan fighting match between the Liberals and Conservatives. It wouldn’t make much difference to me, except that the two have now taken to smear attacks on each other involving our military. The Liberals accuse the Conservatives of using the troops as “props” in the blame game. The Prime Minister’s Office issued an email to the press slamming the Liberals for playing politics with the troops: “In another Liberal blunder, Michael Ignatieff has issued a statement denouncing the Prime Minister for supporting the men and women of Canada’s Armed Forces.” But that isn’t really accurate, is it? The Liberals haven’t been denouncing the Prime Minister for supporting the troops, a ridiculous statement to make, but for downplaying the detainee issue. (READ MORE)

Blackfive: On Afghanistan Victory - I've been saying for the last two months (sometimes with the media so it's documented) that President Obama will deploy more troops to Afghanistan. After all, he made it his fight, picked McChrystal to run it, and appeared to be working to find a solution. Due to General Jones insistence, he will send less than General McChrystal has requested (there are reports that the request was 80k) - the news reports that the request was for 40k more. Most likely it will be tens of thousands of US troops and thousands of NATO troops (reports coming in that the UK will send one more battalion than scheduled). With regards to NATO and COIN, more work needs to be done. We have heard about the good work of the Canadians, the Brits, the Lithuanians, the Poles and even the French (yes, the French - I had a good friend who worked with them tell me he could use hundreds more like the men he worked with). And we need more of them. (READ MORE)

Noah Shachtman: Army Researchers Warn Against Tribal War in Afghanistan - The Obama administration is ready to reveal its new strategy for Afghanistan. And speculation is running high that this new approach can and should use local, often tribal, militias to help combat the Taliban. But the U.S. Army’s own specialists in Afghanistan’s culture and society are warning that relying on the tribes there may be a waste of time. “Most of Afghanistan has not been ‘tribal’ in the last few centuries,” notes a recent report from the Army’s Human Terrain System at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. “In fact, many scholars are reluctant to use the word ‘tribe’ at all for describing groups in Afghanistan.” As part of the ‘Surge’ in 2007, the American military famously worked with Iraq’s tribes to combat Sunni insurgents. Now, the hope is that U.S. forces can pull off the same trick in Afghanistan. American officers have begun to support local militias that have sprung up to fight the Taliban. (READ MORE)

David Axe on Jason Reich: The “Biggest Headache”: In Afghanistan, Helicopters Represent NATO’s Biggest Strength, Greatest Weakness - Everyone knew election day was going to be hot. In the weeks before Afghanistan’s August 20 presidential election — only the second for the country’s current government — the terror group Al Qaeda and the extremist Taliban insurgent group had vowed to ratchet up their attacks on the Afghan people, the government and the U.S.-led NATO military coalition. The dushman – that’s Dari for “bad guys” — made good on their promises. Violence spiked all over the country, especially in outlying provinces where NATO’s presence is thinnest. The bitter fighting on election day was a window into the eight-year-old Afghanistan war. Among the biggest lessons underscored by the election violence is the vital importance of helicopters to NATO’s far-flung operations. (READ MORE)

The Torch: "It’s a crass political game being waged by two parties" - Further in particular to this post, but also more broadly this one, the start and conclusion of a post by Raphael Alexander: Who Really “Supports The Troops”? - The whole detainee affair, which I’ve largely ignored until now because as far as I’m concerned Canada has done more than it’s fair share of diligence, has spilled over into a partisan fighting match between the Liberals and Conservatives. It wouldn’t make much difference to me, except that the two have now taken to smear attacks on each other involving our military...In this current imbroglio, you can be sure that nobody really has the troops at heart here. It’s a crass political game being waged by two parties who should instead be united in the defeat of a common enemy. The Taliban must be enjoying this from their caves, waiting out our self-destruction as western army after western army retreats in their own self-inflicted defeat. (READ MORE)

Bruce R: The most important piece on the Afghan army you'll ever read - The same day I ding his blog, Dave Anderson at Newshoggers points me to something absolutely brilliant. I cannot recommend this piece, by USMC Col (retd.) Haynes on how to fix Afghan army mentoring, highly enough. It's a brilliant recap of everything the good mentors have been saying in public and in private about the ANA. Everything he says, pro and con, could have been said about the Afghans I worked with in a different corps in a different part of the country. It's pieces like this that keep my hope alive for this mission: for we really are learning how to do this right, bit by precious bit. I sincerely hope that when people are looking at operationalizing the President's undoubtedly fine words to come tomorrow night about building up Afghan military capacity, in order that the West can leave, they think of this piece. (READ MORE)

Nathan Hamm: Always On The Brink - This week has seen the production of a lot of straight-up BS on Central Asia. Christian has posts going after things reported about Tajikistan and Uzbekistan that don’t pass the whiff test. In both cases, stereotypes of Central Asia as a mysterious land of danger offer the tiny gloss of plausibility needed to get downright ridiculous stories to press. (That’s probably overly fair to LWJ, which has never seen a “Some dude joined Al Qaeda and WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE” story it won’t print.) Over at GlobalPost, Turkmenistan gets added to the “potentially super scary and really dangerous” list with a story questioning whether or not the country’s seeming stability is a myth. Two, maybe three diplomats offer a few scare-quotes throughout, there’s a mention that people don’t have jobs, the government’s not-so-mild dislike for activists and the independent-minded religious, and stuck in there too is a mention of last year’s bizarre shoot-out in Ashgabat. Oh, also, there are tons of cops. (READ MORE)

Sailani: McChrystal method - As outsiders we are for the most part unable to penetrate the complex layers of power and society in Afghanistan. Our reality is filtered through our various interlocutors, translators, advisors, officials, tribal leaders, etc. and it often feels like I am stumbling around in the dark feeling the walls and trying to move forwards. Assuming that this is a general handicap of Western interventionists in the country, and not a weakness particular to myself, it presents the single largest obstacle to having a positive impact and undermining the long-term drivers of the insurgency. Using a similar logic, COIN doctrine recognizes that the counterinsurgent requires effective local partnerships in order to operate effectively and to eventually take over the fight entirely as a tipping point towards sustainable stability (I hesitate to speak of “victory”) is reached. (READ MORE)

Bill Roggio: Pakistani military says Khyber operation successful - A Pakistani military commander said the current operation in the Khyber tribal agency has succeeded in clearing the Taliban from a vital area. Brigadier Fayyaz, the commandant of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps, told journalists that the operation in the Bara region in Khyber has been successful in driving out the Lashkar-e-Islam and other allied terrorists, and that most of the region has been cleared. Sixty-one Lashkar-e-Islam fighters were killed and 87 fighters as well as Uzbeks and Afghans, have been detained, Fayyaz told the media. Enemy bases, bunkers, and vehicles have been destroyed in the six-day long operation. Fayyaz also claimed the the military found evidence that India was providing weapons to the Lashkar-e-Islam. The Lashkar-e-Islam is commanded by Mangal Bagh Afridi, who has established a Taliban-like state in regions of Khyber. (READ MORE)

The Kitchen Dispatch: Obama's Tuesday Evening: What It Will Mean - President Obama is preparing to give a speech to the nation about his plans to send more troops into Afghanistan. No doubt, many of us will be watching. Those who will not will be the ones who disagree with him altogether. Nothing he says, and nothing the milbloggers (from BabaTim to BlackFive) have been continuously saying will sway them from their isolationist opinion. Certainly, I realize that a commitment will mean more deployments for my husband. But I always knew this is how we'd be spending the next decade or two of our lives. Helping those with medical needs be it soldiers or locals was always a given of a lifetime's work. Personally, I think building hospitals in the towns (not on the FOB's), and providing clinical services is a great way to make inroads with the local populations. Providing medical training --be it nurses or for doctors to care for their injured or sick is the right thing to do. (READ MORE)

IraqPundit: Are the Baathists Coming? - There are a couple of different ways to interpret the latest news out of Iraq. There is the panicked the fight will be between Sunnis and Shiites. There is the Saudis are fighting the Iranians on Iraqi turf. And there is Iraqis are practicing democracy and sorting out their problems through the electoral process. The vice president who has vetoed the election law says he will announce his membership in the Iraqi National Movement coalition. That group, which includes Ayad Allawi and Saleh Mutlak, will gladly welcome Tareq Al Hashimi. Al Hashimi and Osama Al Nujaifi of the National Assembly of Iraqis will announce their joining the INA right after the Eid holiday, which ends tomorrow. On the surface, it looks like the Baathists are working hard to return to power via the ballot box. Ayad Allawi is an ex-Baathist. Al Mutlak doesn't even hide his Baathist past, and the Baathists (not the INA) just launched a Saddam TV channel. (READ MORE)

Dan Cnossen: From Alice - As many of you know, our mom had to fly back home to Kansas on Sunday. It will be tough adjusting to life without her here. She will never accept the credit, but she worked so hard and did so much for the both of us over these past months. Dan couldn't have made all the amazing progress he's made, and I just couldn't have functioned without here here. Dan can handle all the recovery stuff - we've seen him fly off the charts in that area. I can handle the hospital stuff. But our mom definitely didn't pass on her cooking/cleaning/organizing genes to her children, so wish us luck! All hell is really gonna break loose now! Before she left, she wrote a message that she wanted me to share with everyone. I'll try and write more about what's going on with Dan this week (it's a very exciting week for us!) within the next few days. Things just got real busy around here without Alice to pick up the slack! But I promise to update soon. (READ MORE)

The Canada-Afghanistan Blog: The Cavalry - Obama will "address the nation" on Tuesday night to announce at least 30,000 more soldiers for Afghanistan. So finally, finally, we'll get to see what happens when the Americans focus the brunt of their attention and resources on Afghanistan. The people who say nation-building there has failed don't know what they're talking about: until recently, we've barely tried. In the big picture, Canadian soldiers and the rest of ISAF have essentially been holding down the fort, particularly in Kandahar. This is mostly due to the fact that the Yanks decided to run off to Iraq, but also because the other NATO and UN countries participating in this mission have been either unwilling or incapable of deploying the number of soldiers necessary to do this job right. It's been a frustrating few years, but better late than never to correct course. (READ MORE)

Army Household6: Update on SGT Daddy - Several of the events of the last week revolved around SGT Daddy.. Thursday was not only Thanksgiving – but it was also SGT Daddy’s birthday! I was a little worried that he wasn’t going to receive his present on time… but he got it the day before! WHEW! It was a special day for another reason.. you see SGT Daddy received a coin from Dr. Joseph Westphal, Under Secretary of the Army – and Major General Scapriotti, Commander of the Combined Joint Task Force 82- Afghanistan. Here are some pics– (MORE)

Thomas Ruttig: Afghan militias: the sorcerer’s apprentice’s genies - The case of Abdul Razeq's police-unit-cum-militia (see here) should send a stark warning to those envisaging a new version of ‘community-based' defense forces. It is not clear yet how this exactly will look like but it seems to be sure that it will come. A few titles, names and concepts swirl around in Kabul and the provinces again. The lynchpin for a new militia system seems to be the new ‘Independent Directorate for the Protection of Public Spaces and Highways by Tribal Support' led by former Minister for Tribal and Border Affairs and former deputy speaker of the Wolesi Jirga, Aref Nurzai. It was established by presidential decree already in April, opened an office and hired staff in summer and -- before the elections that can change things like this -- recruited twenty provincial directors (for provinces along the major highways), some of whom have started activities already identifying possible members of ‘community forces'. (READ MORE)

Katherine Tiedemann: Daily brief - In what is being hailed as "the boldest strategic move of his presidency," U.S. President Barack Obama is set to announce an increase of between 30,000 and 35,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan tomorrow at 8:00pm EST at West Point military academy, along with a preliminary time frame for winding down U.S. involvement in the country. Obama is likely to talk about a plan for handing over authority to Kabul, including some broad benchmarks for the Afghan government, though the White House appears poised to reject top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request to double the size of the Afghan security forces over the next few years. Shortly after Obama's much-anticipated speech, coming after some three months of deliberations, as many as 9,000 Marines will begin final preparations to deploy to the insurgency-riddled southern Afghan province of Helmand, reportedly the first place Obama will look for results. (READ MORE)

Afghanistan My Last Tour: Will he make it? - This morning we all sat in the office in anticipation wondering if our teammate would be able to board the helo from FOB Shank. Due to the large turnover Replacement in Place/Transfer of Accountability (RIP/TOA) taken place, helo flights are at a premium. In layman’s terms when your replacement arrives, you get to go home. Anyways, if he didn’t make this flight, we were prepared for a several hour drive to retrieve him. Yesterday we were busy prepping the MRAPs for this voyage. Around 0940 hrs I heard the thumping of chopper blades and scurried up a ladder leaning on the Hesco barriers to see our teammate get off the helicopter. So instead of a road trip, we went to ANA land to do some mentoring. Well this was a good plan, but most of the ANA leadership was still enjoying an extended Eid Al Adha holiday. It’s rather ironic, because right before the holiday, the Brigade commander stood in front of all his troops and expressed concern about everyone taking off. (READ MORE)

Katherine Tiedemann: Daily brief: Obama orders fast troop deployment to Afghanistan - After more than three months of deliberations, U.S. President Barack Obama has reportedly issued the orders to send some 34,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan and is preparing to address the nation tonight at 8:00pm EST from West Point. Eight U.S. allies have agreed to send some 5,000 additional troops as well, including 500 just announced yesterday from the U.K. to bring the British total in Afghanistan, including special forces, to sround 10,000. Obama has spent the last day and a half informing top military officials and world leaders about his decision, including heads of government in France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China, India, Denmark, and Poland. Obama also reportedly spent an hour this morning in a videoconference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussing the expected troop increase, and also placed a call to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. A briefing for dozens of lawmakers is scheduled for this afternoon. (READ MORE)


News from the Front:
Iraq:
Iraq resumes full crude oil exports via Turkey: NOC - Iraq resumed full crude oil exports through its northern pipeline to Turkey on Monday after reported sabotage of the link halted flows last week, an official at the state-run North Oil Company said. In the Turkish port of Ceyhan, meanwhile, one ship was now loading at the pipeline's terminus and three others were waiting, said a Turkish shipping agent who declined to be identified. (READ MORE)

Iraqi Police arrest AQI IED-cell members near Baghdad, Kirkuk - Iraqi Police arrested four suspected members of IED-cells belonging to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) today during two joint security operations near Baghdad and Kirkuk. During a joint security operation conducted in Karmah, west of Baghdad, Iraqi Police arrested an alleged associate of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device cell believed to be responsible for attacks targeting government buildings and civilians in Baghdad. (READ MORE)

Officials Investigate Concrete Wall Collapse - Some soldiers at a base in Basra, Iraq, awoke, Nov. 28, to find that concrete barriers had tipped over during the night and had come to rest upon containerized housing units. "No one was injured," said Lt. Col. Steve Hanson, the mayor of Contingency Operating Base Basra. The incident is under investigation. (READ MORE)

Oil Companies Look to the Future in Iraq - More than six and a half years after the United States-led invasion here that many believed was about oil, the major oil companies are finally gaining access to Iraq’s petroleum reserves. But they are doing so at far less advantageous terms than they once envisioned. The companies seem to have calculated that it is worth their while to accept deals with limited profit opportunities now, in order to cash in on more lucrative development deals in the future, oil industry analysts say. (READ MORE)

Program Aims to Improve Iraqi Women’s Lives - As Iraq rebuilds its economy, many Iraqi women are looking to be recognized as working equals, according to a U.S. military officer posted in Iraq. "As far as a glass ceiling, that idea is very much a Western process. That doesn't exist here yet due to the cultural differences of Iraq and their religion,” Army Maj. Elba D'asaro, Multinational Forces-Iraq Chief of Women's Initiatives Program, told bloggers during a DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable Nov. 25. (READ MORE)


Afghanistan:
Remains of U.S. Paratrooper Found in Afghanistan - The remains of a U.S. paratrooper reported missing since early this month in western Afghanistan were recovered yesterday, military officials said. The body of Army Sgt. Brandon Islip was recovered from the Bala Murgahab River in Badghis province after a local Afghan resident provided information on his whereabouts, officials said. Islip, a paratrooper with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, went missing with another paratrooper Nov. 4 after being swept away by a fast-moving current while on an airdrop re-supply mission in western Afghanistan. (READ MORE)

US Opts for Limited Surge - President Barack Obama has ordered a revamped war plan for Afghanistan that appears to endorse the military strategy of his top generals but will set limits on US involvement in terms of duration, manpower and money, White House officials said Monday. After a three-month review, the president delivers a televised prime-time address at the US Military Academy at West Point, NY, Tuesday to publicly define his plan for the war. (READ MORE)

Barack Obama to Order 34,000 Troops to Afghanistan - President Obama will today announce the deployment of an extra 34,000 American troops to Afghanistan, according to sources briefed since the President issued new orders to his top military commanders. The precise figure, reported last night by the Washington Post, was close to previous estimates and enough to bring the total US troop strength in Afghanistan to more than 100,000. (READ MORE)

Obama Launches Afghanistan War Strategy Ahead of National Address - President Barack Obama has initiated a new US strategy for Afghanistan ahead of a Tuesday night speech to the nation on the future of US efforts in the strife-torn nation. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says President Obama informed his national security team of his strategy decision for Afghanistan late Sunday, and issued orders for its implementation. (READ MORE)

A Test for the Blocks Needed to Rebuild a Nation - The revised strategy for Afghanistan that President Obama will announce Tuesday is expected to focus new resources on training Afghan security forces and shoring up the central government, an approach certain to revive a debate about the possibilities and the limits of nation-building. From Somalia, Cambodia, East Timor and the Balkans in the 1990s to Iraq today, world powers have at best a mixed record when it comes to establishing functional, stable governments in countries devastated by war. (READ MORE)

Obama Issues Order for More Troops in Afghanistan - President Obama issued orders to send about 30,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan as he prepared to address the nation Tuesday night to explain what may be one of the most defining decisions of his presidency. Mr. Obama conveyed his decision to military leaders late Sunday afternoon during a meeting in the Oval Office and then spent Monday phoning foreign counterparts, including the leaders of Britain, France and Russia. (READ MORE)

34,000 Troops Will be Sent to Afghanistan - President Obama will outline Tuesday his intention to send an additional 34,000 US troops to Afghanistan, according to US officials and diplomatic sources briefed Monday as Obama began informing allies of his plan. The new deployments, along with 22,000 troops he authorized early this year, would bring the total US force in Afghanistan to more than 100,000, more than half of which will have been sent to the war zone by Obama. (READ MORE)

Obama Plans to Send 30,000 to 35,000 More Troops to Afghanistan - President Obama plans to send 30,000 to 35,000 additional soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan, US officials said Monday, the largest single US deployment since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The additional troops, Obama's second major escalation of the conflict this year, will bring the number of US forces in Afghanistan to about 100,000. (READ MORE)

Obama Set to Sell Afghan War Strategy - President Obama gave the orders to begin his new strategy for victory in Afghanistan and spent Monday preparing to sell that plan to the American people in a prime-time address, even as members of his own party emerged as the most persistent skeptics about the wisdom of sinking more money and lives into the 8-year-old conflict. (READ MORE)

Paying for War - If President Obama proposes a troop increase for Afghanistan, one of the first objections raised will be that of cost. Liberal Democrats not usually known as deficit hawks have been decrying any escalation of the war as unaffordable. Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.) recently claimed that the Afghan war would cost as much over the next decade as the House's health-care bill - about $900 billion - and proposed paying for it with an income tax surcharge. (READ MORE)

John Kerry's Tora Bora Campaign - President Obama unveils his new Afghanistan strategy today, and in the nick of time Senator John Kerry has arrived with a report claiming that none of this would be necessary if former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had only deployed more troops eight years ago. Yes, he really said more troops. In a 43-page report issued yesterday by his Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Kerry says bin Laden and deputy Ayman Zawahiri were poised for capture at the Tora Bora cave complex in late 2001. (READ MORE)

Clear, Hold and Duct Tape - The administration seems to have spent the past few months trying to pare back the COIN strategy and adjust it to real world constraints. As it has done so, there has been less talk in the informed policy community about paving the way for a new, transformed Afghanistan. There has been more talk of finding cheap ways to arrange the current pieces of Afghanistan into a contraption that will stay together and allow us to go home. (READ MORE)

What the US Can Achieve in Afghanistan, Despite Karzai - Although the White House thoroughly examined the Afghan government before choosing the strategy that it will unveil tonight, the composition of that government -- and hence its character -- remains highly uncertain. We know the reelection of Hamid Karzai has left Afghanistan with five more years of a president who lacks leadership attributes essential for the job. (READ MORE)

A Tragic Mistake - “I hate war,” said Dwight Eisenhower, “as only a soldier who has lived it can, as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.” He also said, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.” I suppose we’ll never learn. (READ MORE)

Air strike kills 30 Taliban in Khost, say police - About 30 Taliban insurgents were killed in a NATO-led air strike in eastern Afghanistan after they attacked an Afghan police post, a police official and the alliance said. Afghan border police commander Sayed Nabi Mullahkhil said a police checkpoint in eastern Khost province was attacked by militants overnight. The privately owned Tolo TV station said 26 insurgents were killed, including one fighter from Chechnya. (READ MORE)

UN wants $7.1b for humanitarian work - The United Nations asked Monday for $7.1 billion to pay for its humanitarian work around the world next year, with Sudan and its troubled Darfur region most in need and Afghanistan rising to second. The money will go toward providing 48 million people in 25 countries with urgent aid such as tents, water and medicines, said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who urged countries not to cut back on humanitarian donations as they struggle with economic turmoil at home. (READ MORE)

US seeks overhaul of Bagram prison - A US military review has called for overhauling the notorious American-run Bagram prison in Afghanistan because American officials are concerned that abuses and militant recruiting within local prisons are helping strengthen the Taliban, The New York Times reported on Monday. Citing unnamed officials, the newspaper said that Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has sent a confidential message to all of the military service chiefs asking them to redouble their efforts to alert troops to the importance of treating detainees properly. (READ MORE)

12 inmates escape from prison - Afghan Police said that the inmates broke out of the prison in Farah province by digging a tunnel from their cell to the outside. Police said 12 prisoners have escaped from a prison in western Afghanistan. Officials captured a 13th prisoner as he tried to escape, Voice of America reported. In the northern province of Takhar, police say gunmen attacked and killed the provincial head of the Red Crescent organization. (READ MORE)

Brown commits 500 more UK troops to Afghanistan - The UK’s military commitment in Afghanistan is set to rise above the 10,000 mark, Gordon Brown announced last night. The Prime Minister confirmed that all the conditions had been met to allow an extra 500 troops to be deployed next month — taking the regular level to 9,500. (READ MORE)

Rudd sending more Aussies to Afghanistan - Kevin Rudd has thrown his support behind US President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan strategy but the prime minister reaffirmed his position that Australia would not boost troop numbers in the war-torn country. The two leaders met in the White House Oval Office on Monday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to discuss a "wide range of issues" from Afghanistan to the upcoming United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. (READ MORE)

Pakistani Christian on the Run, Disguised after Taliban Death Threat- A young Christian man is in hiding in Pakistan from Taliban militants who seek to kill him for "blasphemy" because he defended his faith. In February Jehanzaib Asher, 22, was working in a barbershop his family jointly owns with his cousin in Wana, South Waziristan - a Taliban stronghold in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan's northwest - when the Islamic militants showed up to try to convert him to Islam. (READ MORE)

News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. (New complete posts come in below)

Sour Swinger: Photos From Mission Part 3 - You’ll probably wondering why its been one month since my last posting. Well, my computer took a pretty hard crash while I was on the road. I was in a slight state of panic as the remaining photos to post were not backed up. For my computer to get in the shop, repaired, and return to this blog….took a month. So for a second time, lets see if I can wrap everything up over the next week or two. This is the third set of pictures from my platoon conducting missions. I picked 3 to show below. Click here to see the entire set. There’s about 60 pics total. (MORE)

3rd Time, New Country: Happy Thanksgiving from Kabul - First, I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving from Kabul Afghanistan. Our team took the day off from mentoring. Actually, we are taking a long weekend off from mentoring at NMH. Not only did we have an American Holiday, the Afghans are having one too. This weekend is another EID. The EID will end on Sunday, so it will be back to mentoring on Monday. Of course, we have lots of admin to catch up on over the weekend. So, let me recap the past week. Last Thursday, was the President Karzi’s inauguration. We didn’t mentor on that day. In fact, our security posture was increased, so we spent the day on NKC. Everytime we were outside a hardened structure, we had to be in full battle rattle. That makes for a long day. There are many people here who don’t leave our little FOB. I don’t know how they do it. I get off the FOB at least 6 days a week for mentoring. (READ MORE)

Bouhammer: Another example that Afghanistan is not Iraq - I have said those worlds on this blog more times than I can remember. Anyone that I know who has been to both has said the same exact thing and told me I was dead on with that statement. Now it seems yet another soldier with experience in both reinforces the idea yet again. “Before deploying here we were given training on language, culture, everything. I thought that since I was an Iraq combat veteran, I didn’t need any of that stuff. I was wrong. Both countries may be Muslim but this is a totally different place,” says Sgt. Michael McCann, returning from a patrol in the east-central province of Logar. Another example is the terrain: “The sheer terrain of Afghanistan is much more challenging: the mountains, the altitudes, severity of weather, the distances. That wears on an army,” says Maj. Joseph Matthews, a battalion operations officer in the 10th Mountain Division. (READ MORE)

Afghanistan My Last Tour: Move over Pony Express - I’m not sure when Benjamin Franklin created the US Postal Service, he envisioned US mail being transported by armored HMMVWs and protected by machine guns. But that is one of the methods used to transport mail to the awaiting soldiers in remote combat outposts and camps throughout Afghanistan. Today’s mission was to retrieve the mail and take care of some additional administrative business. For me, it was an optimal opportunity to get my chipped tooth filled. Before we departed on our mission, the Captain wanted to present SSgt Richard Brown a certificate of appreciation for his hard work and mentoring these past 6 months. SSgt Brown is returning home to the United States and if his flights go as planned, he will be home in time to comfort his wife while she gives birth to their baby. (Hold on a few days Mrs. Brown, your husband will be there shortly). (READ MORE)

Katherine Tiedemann: Daily brief - On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks that left more than 160 dead in Mumbai last November, Pakistani prosecutors have indicted seven men, including the alleged mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, in criminal court with plotting and helping carry out the. The men -- accused members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba extremist group purportedly behind the attacks, which targeted hotels, a train station, and an Orthodox Jewish center -- have all pleaded not guilty. Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital, remains vulnerable a year after the 26/11 attacks, though some improvements have been made, with inadequate training and resources for Indian police topping the list of concerns. No senior members of the police force were reprimanded or fired in the wake of the attacks, and nearly all the political officials who quit in the aftermath are back on the job or have been promoted. And the infrastructure of Laskhar-e-Taiba is still more or less intact. (READ MORE)

al Sahwa: Lashkar e Tayyiba: Mumbai and Global Ambitions? - As usual, this month’s edition of the West Point CTC Sentinel is packed full of excellent and timely articles. In particular, their headline piece detailing the background and recent activities of the Pakistan-based Lashkar e Tayyiba (LeT) is well worth a read. Also, the WSJ has a great summary of the group here. This Thanksgiving (Nov 26th) marked the one-year anniversary of LeT’s horrific attack against multiple targets across Mumbai – significant not only because of the attack’s high casualty rate but also because it was LeT’s first attempt to propel themselves onto the global stage by focusing on a “Western” target set. For a riveting account of the attacks, check out HBO’s recent documentary “Terror in Mumbai,” which overlays video of the attacks at multiple sites with real-time voice intercepts gathered by Indian intelligence. (READ MORE)

The Canada-Afghanistan Blog: Torture - Sorry folks. Tough time of year for me, with the end of term only a week away. Light blogging for now. Of course, the tough time of year had to come during a period where I wake up every day to see that Afghanistan is the lead story of every Canadian media outlet: there used to be TORTURE in Afghan prisons! One Globe and Mail editorial bemoaned the fact that Afghan jails weren't up to "Western professional corrections standards". As Chris Selley noted, are you serious? Western standards?! Are you aware of what's gone on in that country over the past thirty years? If I was an Afghan criminal in 2006, I'd rather ship off to a jail in sub-Saharan Africa. Torture in Afghan jails shouldn't be excused, but to be surprised that it still occurs in prison cells unobserved by international monitors is to be embarrassingly naive and ignorant. (READ MORE)

Doc H: Rolling Thunder - The MRAP is an awesome vehicle for getting around the battlespace. It can protect you from almost anything the enemy can use against you. But it is first and foremost a weapon. Like any weapon or inantimate object, it makes no distinction who or what incurs its wrath. Most MRAPs are very heavy, weighing between 12 and 20 tons. When the the driver looses control it can be a disaster. The MRAP pictured above had a rollover about 2 weeks ago. From secondhand reports the vehicle was going fast and the dust from the road obscured visiblity. The vehicle hit an uneven spot and rolled completely over (They are top heavy). Thankfully and only due to Divine intervention, there were no serious injuries. The passengers dutifully strapped themselves in as instructed. Luckily the gunner was thrown clear since the crushed turret as seen above would not have been a healthy place to be situated. (READ MORE)

Free Range International: The Cost of Risk Aversion - Just in time to put a damper on your holiday spending comes this helpful article from the White House I mean McClatchy news service designed to prepare Americans for the impending raid on our hard earned money. Questions arise over how to pay for Afghanistan war is the name of the article and as one would suspects it helpfully points out that many of our previous Presidents raised taxes to pay for sending our Armed Forces onto the field of battle. My first thought upon reading this garbage was it reminded me of the main stream media’s attempt to provide us “depth and context” to former President Clinton’ life long history of predatory sexual abuse by dragging Thomas Jefferson and JFK through the mud. The second thing I thought was that our current efforts in Afghanistan are not remotely on the scale of our Civil War or World War II. The third thing I thought was that LBJ was an abject failure as was his short lived 10% surtax for Vietnam. (READ MORE)

In Iraq Now (at 56): Life Here Seems to be on Hold, but Life Goes on Back Home - Last month the last of the six Gussman brothers died. My father, George, was the fourth of six sons born to two Jewish emigres from Odessa, Russia. My grandfather died in 1932 just over 20 years before I was born. I have very few memories of seeing my father's three older brothers: Abraham, Emmanuel and Ralph, but I occasionally saw the youngest of the six, my uncle Harold, and most often saw the fifth brother, Lewis. In our family, everyone referred to him as Uncle Louie. He was the most successful of the five brothers, following Grandpa into the produce business and building a highly regarded business of his own. Louie always drove Cadillacs and often drove too fast. My father liked to tell the story of Louie being one of the first to get a new Cadillac after the auto plants started making cars again after World War 2. Louie wrecked the car not too long after. (READ MORE)

Hope Radio: And people ask me why I do this - This blog post was written over the last two days...first I was waiting to hear back, then I actually was able to have an interview with SSgt Jon from 1st Cav, a Bradley commander, and now I am waiting again. For what I will leave until the end of the post. Tuesday 9ish pm - I'm online now, waiting on an IM from my contact in Al Istiqlal. He will give me sizes and address(es) and any other information for this latest campaign. He spent some time getting to know me and I think, as most in a leadership position there. he just wants to make sure he can trust who he is working with and so as not to let his troops down with unexecuted promises. I have to laugh a little at this because actually this SSgt is pretty friendly. I remember in 2007, it took Burke a month to step up and trust me with an address. It was prefaced with a very strong admonishment, still burned in my head. "DON'T MAKE A LIAR OUT OF ME!" (READ MORE)

Sgt Danger: Fulfilling Our Obligations - In just a few short months, life in Afghanistan has provided me with some astounding experiences. It’s not a path that I would have volunteered for.* If it were up to me, I’d still be at home delivering pizzas, finishing college, and raising my family. But last night, on my knees, I thanked God for taking me on a path that I wouldn’t have chosen. The United States Army is an "All-Volunteer Force." None of us were conscripted in; we all chose to enlist. But, along with almost everyone here, I was ordered to deploy to Afghanistan. As soldiers, we don’t choose our wars, we fulfill our obligations. (READ MORE)

In Iraq Now (at 56): Ups and Downs - Last week I mentioned that I have been sending friend messages to my high school classmates on Facebook. After 38 years away from Stoneham, I am missing my childhood home in a way I never thought I would. I suppose getting homesick in Iraq is about as surprising as getting thirsty in a desert. Today I got a brief message from one of my high school classmates thanking me for getting in touch and asking me to Google his son. His son was killed in action in Baghdad in 2006. I read the many messages from his friends and family on the memorial web site. Seems clear from the messages he was a good soldier and a good man also. He was 22. Before I went through the pre-deployment processing and training for this trip, I made three visits to Brooke Army Medical Center, which everyone refers to as BAMC--pronounced BAM-See. BAMC is the treatment and rehabilitation center for those who lose limbs. I was in San Antonio for four days, had some free time and thought I ought to go and see what this war really costs. (READ MORE)

In the NARMY now: Rough Week - I had been asleep for about an hour last Thursday when one of my guys woke me up and said he heard a rumor that one of our vehicles was in an accident. While I assumed it was minor, I got in uniform and went into work to see what was going on. The office was eerily empty. The only person in the office, our dispatcher, sat in silence. He didn't have to say anything, I knew it wasn't good. I told him if any calls came for this base, Camp Buehring, I would handle them until everyone got back from the accident, so they could concentrate on what was going on there. I then called my supervisor to let him know I was holding things down here. He then gave me the news I was denying. While traveling to Camp Virginia for a routine patrol, a car passing a convoy on the wrong side of the road, came through a blind hill and struck their vehicle head on. MA2 Brian Patton had been killed and MA2 Dave Morgan was in the fight of his life. (READ MORE)

IraqPundit: Dismal Holidays - According to the NYT, Iraq is a dismal place. To mark the religious holiday, the newspaper ran a story about the misery of some residents of Baghdad and how proud they are because their dead were mujadeheen. Get it? The fight isn't over; Iraqis are still killing each other and will continue to do so because that's what they do best. To the NYT, there is nothing good about Iraq. Nobody was happy during the holiday. Nothing good has happened. It has always been bad here, and it will continue to be bad. Actually, a senior administration official said Washington was hopeful a tentative deal on Iraq's election law would allow a national vote to be held and for a new parliament to be elected and seated by March 15, when the term of the current assembly expires. But why report on that when misery is so much more effective when your argument is to write off an entire country of 25 million people. (READ MORE)

IRONBDE: 1BSTB Thanksgiving Day - I’m PFC Shawnte Lonnette. Today was a really exciting day for the DFAC. It’s Thanksgiving for the soldiers here in Korea and all I can say is that it is a blessing. Everyone was coming up to us thanking us for our service and telling us how great the meal was. I felt really honored to be cooking today just as any day but it felt extra special today. A lot of my battle buddies came in and were down and out because they’d rather be home with their family but I had to remind them that they were with their new extended family and to be thankful for that. Just knowing that there were once soldiers that fought in Iraq or Afghanistan on several holidays and some never made it back to their families made me appreciate being here in Korea with all my newfound friends. Well we’re still on standby to know if we won the DFAC competition, hopefully we did. (READ MORE)

The Kitchen Dispatch: Update: Halt The Packages and a Thank You - To all our supporters: So many people have accessed the wellspring of their hearts to send good wishes, prayers and packages to the men and women of the 759th Forward Surgical Team. Together, they've worked with heart to save the lives of troops, and also the local citizens. From soldiers wounded in battle, to children critically burned, the world is blessed to have the professionals of the FST. On a personal note: Yes, this is a very weird way of jumping into middle age. But anyone who has known either The Hubs or Myself, accepts that we've always shoved convention into the scrap heap. When a lot of others are buying time shares or fancy cars, we've shucked it all for combat boots and used cars. Being that this was not only our first deployment, but our first year in the US Army, I quickly ascertained what an important role their families play. It's no secret --they serve too. (READ MORE)

JD Johannes: Thanksgiving in Tikrit, Iraq (Photo Essay) - Over the Tigris river, through the desert and through a rough neighborhood where people occasionally throw RKG-3 anti-tank grenades at US military vehicles......we drove. Not to Grandma's house--but one of Saddam's old palaces for Thanksgiving Dinner at the old FOB Dagger. A Soldier from the 4th BDE, 1st Infantry Div. walks down Bridge Street in Tikrit, Iraq on Thanksgiving day. Soldiers occasionally dismount and walk along the rode to prevent an RKG-3 attack. Throwing an RKG-3 when Soldiers are dismounted would be really stupid. No one did, another reason to give thanks. US and Iraqi Soldiers ate Thanksgiving dinner together. The food was Army rations heated up and served from plastic tubs. (READ MORE)

The Life: Thankful in Iraq - This Thanksgiving, there is so much to be thankful for. I would like to begin by thanking each of you that read this for your interest in our cause. We are also blessed by the support of family, friends, and the American people as we struggle to bring the tenets of democracy to a nation of people so long oppressed. Sectarianism and political violence, though still present, are losing popular support. The leadership in today's military does an outstanding job in supporting the common soldier's welfare and well-being. Even halfway across the world, most soldiers have some opportunity today to celebrate Thanksgiving in some way. Thanksgiving falls this year at the same time as the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, or "Festival of Sacrifice," which commemorates Ibrahim's (Abraham of the Old Testament) willingness to sacrifice Ismael. (READ MORE)

Bill Roggio: US airstrikes kill 26 Haqqani Network fighters in eastern Afghanistan - US attack aircraft helped Afghan border police repel an attack last night on their outpost in the east. The Haqqani Network and attached al Qaeda forces from the Shadow Army Army, or Lashkar al Zil, targeted the Afghan Border Police during a night raid. "A group of armed rebels stormed a center of Border Police in Tanai district Saturday night and police with the support of international forces' aircrafts retaliated killing 26 insurgents," Shir Ahmad Kuchi, the commander of the Afghan Border Police in Khost, told Xinhua. The airstrike killed 26 Haqqani Network and allied fighters, including a Chechen, according to a local Afghan television station. The International Security Assistance Force confirmed the strike but did not provide information on enemy deaths. (READ MORE)

Lt Nixon: Another Day, Another Crummy Iraq/A-stan Movie - Not sure what it is about Hollywood, but when it comes to war movies about Iraq and Afghanistan, they seem to crank out more duds than a Chinese fireworks factory. This latest installment is called "Brothers" and is a remake of a Danish film from 2005 about the stereotypical Marine that comes back home and goes bonkers. Pretty dull and contrived stuff. Here's what Blackfive has to say: “More likely, I think, is the possibility that this is just another Big Hollywood movie that stereotypes soldiers or Marines as angry (because the military is where people go when they can't get into prison!), humorless men (which is why they don't go to college!) who scream a lot, beat up on family members, hate hippies (because they hate their own latent homosexuality!), throw dishes for no good reason at all, and beat up on women and little brothers.” It's not that all of the good coming home movies were "pro-war", but rather the characters in them seemed a lot less phony in movies like The Best Years of Our Lives and Born on the 4th of July. (READ MORE)

Dude in the Desert: 30 Nov 09 - a giant BOOM woke me up around 0400-0500 this morning … scared the shit outta me…all I know is it was some kind of weapon sent our way… it must have been pretty close to our camp because it was very loud and it even shook the cans I live in…as far as I know, no injuries, no damage…work today was just another day…worked on three different things–a generator…separated the engine/generator part from the trailer it was attached to…we are gonna turn in the trailer as junk, and send the generator/engine section to the big rebuild garage on the other side of the base…then we went over to the chow hall and got thier forklift (Bobcat) running … there seems to be an air leak in the fuel system so it sucks up air every once in a while and causes it to run really bad, or shut down all together…just gotta open the filter bleed port and pump the fuel line up, and she starts right back up, runs good as new… (READ MORE)

LTC John: Thankful doesn't begin to describe it - This time of the year is (hopefully) spent giving thanks for all that we have, all that we owe to those that came before us in this most marvelous and unique nation of the Earth. I am no exception! I am grateful that I was able to provide some small service to the land my fathers (literally, in my father's case) protected and made sure I enjoyed the same liberties they had. And I came home pretty much unscathed, from war...twice. I have a family that I was able to come home to - a wife and children that make everything worth while. My home is definitely where my heart is. I have a good job providing an important service to those who build, design, invent, create, and distribute all the marvels of modern life in this still prosperous land. My coworkers and supervisors are intelligent and interesting people who are easy to work with. "Thankful" isn't strong enough a term, for me. (READ MORE)

Lt Col P: Thanksgiving AAR - Hope everyone had a zesty Thanksgiving, at home or far way. Here are a few thoughts on the Giving of Thanks, from the sublime to the ridiculous. On a serious note, I can't say that I've ever been more grateful for what I have, and for what I've been given. The day after Thanksgiving, I went out on the force protection det to man the cordon around a refugee camp where volunteers from Eggers pass out blankets and clothes and little things for the kids. Lots of folks have it rough at home, I know, but we live like kings compared to these poor folks. We did what we could for them (and we made damn sure that the fuckos didn't interfere), but they need so much more. Our economy will recover (if it's allowed to by the professional tinkerers); theirs has a ways to go. If you can, dig deep and give a little, because a little goes a long way here. (READ MORE)

Sarah: My Deployment Husband - Every year, I have to say goodbye to both my husbands. My husband made friends with a single soldier in his language class when we first moved to this duty station. Originally he was just my husband's friend, but over the years I've come to see him as my friend too. While my husband is deployed, I call him my "deployment husband." He does all the things for me that my husband would normally do: lug boxes up and down the stairs when I'm pregnant, check the air in my tires, mow the grass, etc. And in return I would cook or bake for him and try to give him dating advice, though I haven't been on a date in ten years and things have changed A LOT since I was lookin' for love. But every few weeks we'd get together and have dinner or see a movie. My husband called them our Mia Wallace dates, after the platonic date John Travolta and Uma Thurman go on in Pulp Fiction. (And no, I didn't get any foot rubs, though my pregnant legs would've appreciated it!) (READ MORE)

Guard Wife: Greener Grass and All That Jazz - Why is it that even when you are sure of your decisions and that you chose wisely, that the grass STILL looks greener in someone else's yard? The latest example of this for us? Our decision that my husband not come home for R & R. It was something we talked about and something that I left open ended for him. If he needed to come home or wanted to come home, it was not like I would not be excited. However, I told my husband before he deployed that he should not feel like he must come home for me. I would be okay. And, so would the kids. To me, goodbye is entirely more gut wrenching than the waiting. Add in that we are in the final stages of an international adoption and it was wholly possible that he would come home and I would be in Africa or that he would meet his new daughter and then leave in 15 days. Neither of those options seemed attractive, so we deferred. (READ MORE)

There's sand in my: Home Sweet Home - Home sweet home, well almost! It took a total of 43 hours of travel from Kandahar to Lemoore, CA. Three days after arriving in Lemoore, I picked up the new Explorer and drove 34 hours to Wisconsin to see my honey! The picture on the top left is the first meal we had at the Sundara spa in the Wisconsin Dells, fantastic, even though we really had no idea what we were eating! haha. The menu was written in "fancy words" and I'm from Kentucky! The picture on the top right is of me and Shayna having a glass of red wine, I had my Hugh Heffner robe on. The bottom left picture is of me and Shayna visiting some of her family, it is our official first picture of us after me seeing her for the first time in 8 months, great day! Shayna is doing fantastic with her external fixation devices off of her legs, she is now swimming around 2.5 miles 4 times a week, awesome. (READ MORE)

BRYAN WILLIAM JONES: Train like You Fight: “Experts in the Application of Violence” - The 3rd Special Forces Group was at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, preparing for a deployment to an undisclosed location. With its fine dust, low- and high-altitude desert, unrestricted airspace and relative isolation, NTC can simulate both Iraq and Afghanistan. The Center was founded back in 1980, with the goal of providing opposing force training initially consisting of troops emulating armored Soviet-style forces. In recent years the “enemy” has evolved to focus the training on low-intensity and counter-insurgency operations. One major described his Special Operations Forces soldiers as “experts in the application of violence.” But he also noted that “the role of the SOF soldier is to train, engage and carry out operations that do not fall under the normal guise of military operations.” (READ MORE)

Noah Shachtman: More Troops to Afghanistan, But What Will They Do? - So the President has apparently made his decision about Afghanistan: He’ll send another 34,000 troops there, according to multiple reports. The White House is preparing for Obama’s first-ever prime-time address to formally announce the move. But for the moment, it’s not at all clear what those troops will be doing. When top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal laid out his gloomy Afghan war report in August, he cautioned that “additional resources are required, but focusing on force or resource requirements misses the point entirely. The key take away from this assessment is the urgent need for a significant change to our strategy and the way that we think and operate.” Right now, there’s no word of any big strategy shift — just news of an influx of more forces. According to McClatchy, “the plan calls for the deployment over a nine-month period beginning in March of three Army brigades from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky.; (READ MORE)

The Writings of a Man's Man: Iraq’s Enduring Image - A lot of you may wonder why I haven’t given a few more insights into what is going on in Iraq. I purposely don’t give out a whole lot of information or opinions due to the fact that I am in the military. Typically I fill the screen with funny anecdotes that give you a glimpse into the life of a modern soldier. However l will now try to provide you with a little glimpse of Iraq from my perspective. I don’t have a lot of expertise into what is going on in Iraq as a whole, just a glimpse into who they are as a people, what is going on in a little corner of northeastern Baghdad and where that little area is going. The security situation in Iraq has undoubtedly improved remarkably over the past few years. The Iraq I heard stories about before my deployment is not at all the Iraq I saw. Most people did not want to kill us, most people were not afraid of the American soldier. (READ MORE)

Greyhawk: More Over Tora Bora - Carl Levin is all over Tora Bora: A new Senate Foreign Relations Committee report about the failure to kill or capture Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan's Tora Bora region in December 2001 underscores the Bush administration's mistake of concentrating more on Iraq than Afghanistan, Levin added. "We took our eye off the ball," Levin said. Senator Kerry's new report concludes that Senator Kerry was right in 2004 when he said President Bush had lost the opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden when he "outsourced" the job to Afghan forces. But that's all in the past, and Senator Levin has a vision for the future of what Democrats used to call "the real central front in the war on terror" - he wants to turn it over to Afghan forces: "The key here is an Afghan surge, not an American surge," said Levin, D-Mich. "We cannot, by ourselves, win (the) war." And he wants it done fast: (READ MORE)

Burn Pit: Losing our will to win? - Maybe citizens have, but our military hasn’t. Over the last several weeks I have contemplated putting pen to paper, or more ccurately, keyboard to computer, and jot down some thoughts. I have been observing a dangerous trend happening all around us. It appears that our nation is losing it’s will to win. Sme may ask; win what? That can be answered by looking to the past. During WWII; would a prisoner getting a fat lip be considered an offense worthy of NJP or courts-martial? Would it be a case of taking the word of said prisoner as to how it happened over our own warriors, when such action, as lying, is part of the MO of our enemies? An enemy known for treating their prisoners to such wonderful treatment as be-heading, dis-embowelment, rape, etc.? We have watched as these things have occurred in many videos that have been seen around the world; and yet we sacrifice our own to political correctness. (READ MORE)



News from the Front:
Iraq:
A January election is now impossible, but talks on a new law make progress - Election officials said today that it is already too late to hold crucial national elections in January even if a tentative deal on a new interpretation of Iraq's long-stalled election law pans out. U.S. commanders have pegged the timetable for the withdrawal of American combat troops to a January election, and any delay in the elections could jeopardize the pullout. (READ MORE)

Benchmarks in Wartime: As Reliable as Promises - Watching Iraq’s Parliament debate an election law last week, inside a conference center still decorated with mosaics of Saddam Hussein’s wartime delusions, ought to have been reassuring to those who wish the country’s nascent democracy well. It wasn’t. The impasse over the election - which is now almost certain to slip past a constitutional deadline set for January - has laid bare more than Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian fissures: (READ MORE)

Lord Goldsmith Warned Tony Blair Over Legality of the Iraq War - Tony Blair was warned by his chief legal adviser that plans to overthrow Saddam Hussein would be illegal eight months before ordering the invasion of Iraq. Lord Goldsmith, the then Attorney General, sent a previously undisclosed letter to the Prime Minister warning that invading Iraqi without United Nations’ approval would be a breach of international law. (READ MORE)



Afghanistan:
Afghan police are weak link in security force - Underpaid, under-equipped and under-trained, Afghanistan's 93,000-member police force is the weak link in an ambitious security strategy to hand over defense of the country to Afghans so American and other foreign troops can go home. A strong, unified national police force has long eluded Afghanistan, a country torn by occupation and warfare for hundreds of years. (READ MORE)

Minister rejects charges of corruption - An Afghan government official has rejected suggestions in “The Washington Post” that he accepted millions of dollars from Beijing in exchange for awarding a Chinese company a lucrative copper-mining contract, RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan reported. Mining Minister Mohammad Ibrahim Adel denied any wrongdoing and insisted that the tender that gave the multibillion-dollar project to the state-run China Metallurgical Group in 2007 was transparent and approved by many different people. (READ MORE)

Ex-Gov turned 3,000 men over to Taliban - Sher Mohammed Akhundzada, the former Governor of Afghanistan's Helmand province, has revealed he turned thousands of his followers over to the Taliban after he was sacked from the job under pressure from British officials. He was accused of being linked to the opium trade and lost his position in 2005 to pave the way for UK soldiers to be deployed to the region. (READ MORE)

Why we should leave Afghanistan - At first, Matthew Hoh didn’t think he was doing anything that consequential — maybe he’d attract some attention for the first day or two before becoming, as he puts it, a “footnote.” But since news broke, a little less than a month ago, of his resignation from the State Department over the US war in Afghanistan — he is the first US official to publicly quit in protest — Hoh has swiftly become an influential voice, both within and outside the government. The timing of his resignation, dated Sept. 10, 2009, was fortuitous, he says: “People want to understand this.” (READ MORE)

Obama Prepares for Afghan Speech, Senators Offer Advice - As US President Barack Obama prepares to announce his new Afghan strategy, members of Congress are offering last-minute advice. Mr. Obama will spell out his plan Tuesday in a speech to the nation from the US Military Academy at West Point, as lawmakers get back to work after a holiday recess. Congressional support will be crucial to President Obama's plan, since lawmakers must approve the funding. (READ MORE)

Obama’s Speech on Afghanistan to Envision Exit - President Obama plans to lay out a time frame for winding down the American involvement in the war in Afghanistan when he announces his decision this week to send more forces, senior administration officials said Sunday. Although the speech was still in draft form, the officials said the president wanted to use the address at the United States Military Academy at West Point on Tuesday night not only to announce the immediate order to deploy roughly 30,000 more troops...(READ MORE)

Obama’s West Point Speech Must Explain Why Afganistan is Not His Vietnam - Seldom can a speech be called historic before it is delivered, but the one that President Obama will make tomorrow night already qualifies. In one address at the West Point military academy, the Commander-in-Chief of US Armed Forces must convince Afghanistan, Pakistan and his own generals that his commitment to prevailing against al-Qaeda and the Taleban is unwavering. (READ MORE)

Obama Faces Hard Sell on Afghan Decision - President Obama will attempt to persuade the American public this week that more time, troops and money will accomplish what eight years of effort and every outside power in history have failed to achieve - a measure of military success in Afghanistan. The details and justification for Mr. Obama's new war policy will be the focus of a major address at the US Military Academy at West Point, NY, on Tuesday. (READ MORE)

White House Emphasizes the Positive in Afghanistan - As they prepare to roll out a new Afghanistan policy to a skeptical US audience, Obama administration officials are starting to replace their grim public assessments of the battered country with praise for the skills and idealism of its officials and its progress in important areas. The message is aimed in part, officials say, at trying to build domestic support for a troop increase that President Obama is expected to announce Tuesday. (READ MORE)

US Offers New Role for Pakistan - President Obama has offered Pakistan an expanded strategic partnership, including additional military and economic cooperation, while warning with unusual bluntness that its use of insurgent groups to pursue policy goals "cannot continue." The offer, including an effort to help reduce tensions between Pakistan and India, was contained in a two-page letter delivered to President Asif Ali Zardari... (READ MORE)

Britain Presses Pakistan and Afghanistan on Militants - Highlighting themes likely to be taken up by President Obama in his military policy speech on Tuesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain has demanded that Afghanistan and Pakistan match plans for increased allied troop levels in Afghanistan by taking tough actions of their own, including, in Pakistan, a stepped-up effort to capture Osama bin Laden. In two hard-edged statements over the weekend, Mr. Brown signaled a renewed sense of impatience in the approach that Britain and the United States plan to take toward the governments in Kabul and Islamabad: (READ MORE)

Newly Deployed Marines to Target Taliban Bastion - Days after President Obama outlines his new war strategy in a speech Tuesday, as many as 9,000 Marines will begin final preparations to deploy to southern Afghanistan and renew an assault on a Taliban stronghold that slowed this year amid a troop shortage and political pressure from the Afghan government, senior US officials said. The extra Marines will be the first to move into the country as part of Obama's escalation of the eight-year-old war. (READ MORE)

Marines Plow Ahead with Anti-poppy Campaign in Afghan District - Under an awning set up at a tiny outpost guarded by US Marines, the district governor of Nawa is pleading with three dozen solemn-looking farmers and village elders not to plant the crop that feeds the world heroin market. Haji Abdul Manaf, a farmer and onetime leader in the fight against Russian occupiers, has several parts to his passionate anti-poppy pitch. (READ MORE)

To Prepare for War, GI’s Get a Dress Rehearsal - A firefight with heavily armed insurgents near a gold-domed mosque. A helicopter evacuation of bloody car bomb victims. A meeting with tribal elders upset about security. Just another day in Afghanistan? More like the dress rehearsal for war, played out on 100,000 acres of snake-infested pine forest on an Army post near the Texas border. (READ MORE)

NATO Tempts Taliban in From Cold - When American commandos killed a Taliban commander in his mountain lair in western Afghanistan last month, they celebrated the end of the operations he had masterminded: rocket attacks on their base, suicide bombings and the kidnappings of businessmen. They also worried that the death of Ghulam Yahya Akbari, a former mayor of Herat, might trigger revenge strikes from his heavily armed followers. (READ MORE)

Cuts Ground Special Forces’ Helicopters - Helicopters used by British special forces to mentor their Afghan counterparts on anti-drugs operations have been grounded to save just £2m a year. The funding for the helicopters - used by the Special Boat Service (SBS) and Afghan special forces for raids on drugs barons and Taliban insurgents - was cut by the Foreign Office two months ago. The decision came despite Gordon Brown’s announcement that Britain’s “exit strategy” rests on training Afghan forces to take over its role. (READ MORE)

Afghan Officials: 26 Militants Killed Near Pakistan Border - Officials in eastern Afghanistan say border guards backed by coalition air strikes have killed at least 26 militants near the Pakistani border. No security guards were reported killed during the hours-long battle in Khost province. On Tuesday this week, President Barack Obama is scheduled to announce his decision on US strategy for Afghanistan. (READ MORE)

The Afghan Decision - President Obama is expected to announce on Tuesday a substantial escalation of the US mission in Afghanistan: more training for the Afghan army, more support for Afghan governance and tens of thousands more American troops. It is a difficult choice but also the right one. While there is no guarantee that the new measures will reverse what is now a losing effort, the alternatives under consideration: (READ MORE)

Thanksgiving 2009 – Baltimore County, MD

“I think about her often and always wonder what happened to her…”

That was the phrase that brought the far away look to the eyes of my “father-in-law”. He’s not really my father-in-law but my wife’s father died long before I ever met her, and even though he married my mother-in-law after I married her daughter he is the only man I’ve ever known in that house, it wouldn’t seem right not calling him my father-in-law.

Anyway, back to that far away look.

I couldn’t remember where he had been stationed in Vietnam and when talking to my Scoutmaster - who was a loach pilot at the same time - about him, all I could offer was “up north in a hook unit.” So on Thanksgiving, yesterday, I ventured to ask more.

“I know you were in a hook unit up north but where was that? “

“Pleiku; Camp Holloway. Had the Montagnards there with us, couldn’t believe that they would run around with crossbows. I did 11 months straight and then out. I was afraid that if I took leave, I wouldn’t want to go back. My CO wanted to give me another stripe and make me a Staff Sergeant to stay there another 3 months, nothing doing, I had been pretty lucky and I didn’t want to risk it.”

“Do you ever think about going back now?”

“I’ve thought about it, I hear that it has been helpful to those that have gone back.”

And then it happened. He turnned and looked out the window and got that look in his eyes that you just knew meant that he wasn’t sitting in that chair anymore but was somewhere else.

“I think about her often and always wonder what happened to her. We had hooch mates (I think that was the term he used – we was speaking softly now so it as hard to tell.) She would do your laundry and clean up for you. I remember how happy she would get if you bought her something from the PX. But what a shy girl she was, only 16 years old and if you teased or complimented her she would turn bright red and hide her face.

Her name was Ling…”

He continued to look out the window for a bit and you knew that there was nothing else coming.

There is a story there...maybe one day he will be ready to tell it all.

[Ed Note: I found a web page dedicated to Camp Holloway]

Stephan Pastis creator of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine get's it. Go read his post Thanksgiving.

An excerpt:

“The Holidays: A time of year when people who otherwise try to avoid each other can’t.” – Stephan Pastis

It takes a certain kind of ass to quote himself at the beginning of his own blog. Fortunately, that’s me.

But I think I’m more than just an ass. I’m also a misanthrope.

I don’t like people. I don’t like parties. I don’t like the holidays.

Given that, the following will be woefully out of character.

Purists, look away.
. . .

We have in this country an all-volunteer army. It creates two parallel universes.

One is at home getting their latte from Starbucks, upset that the best the cable company can do is give them a four-hour window for their appointment. One is standing in 100 degree heat with 130 pounds of gear on their back, 9,000 miles from home, trying not to get killed.

The two groups’ collective experiences create a chasm deep and wide enough as to be seemingly unbridgeable.

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The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Staff Sgt. Matthew A. Pucino, 34, of Cockeysville, Md., died Nov. 23 in Pashay Kala, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group of the Maryland Army National Guard in Glen Arm, Md.

SSG Pucino was originally from Plymouth Mass.

More here:

A question for Mr. Obama: How long are you going to allow our men and women in uniform to die for your lie to support them in this "War of Necessity"?

Rear Adm. Ned Deets


Rear Adm. Ned Deets speaks with Frank Chebatar, president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, at the conclusion of the base consolidation ceremony. The two bases consolidated to form Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Fort Story.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. (New complete posts come in below)

Jalalabad Fab Lab blog: Another link in JBad - Hameed and Rahmat are fabbing up a storm with new links these days. As the density increases, we are rapidly reaching the point where the reflectors on the tower in JBad are blanketing the city in every direction with RF and we don't need any more reflectors on the tower for new links. Here's some photos from the latest 4km link: (MORE)

A World Away: Fifteen Purple Hearts later, the 951st Sappers will be back in Wisconsin tomorrow - The most banged-up Wisconsin National Guard unit since World War II is scheduled to return home Saturday. The 108 members of the 951st Engineer Company racked up 15 Purple Heart medals and 100 combat action badges in 250 combat missions in Afghanistan. "What these guys did was route clearance," state Transition Assistance Advisor Jeff Unger said, referring to checking for hidden explosives. "Every time they stopped and got out of that vehicle they put themselves at risk." Unger and Bob Evans, the director of psychological health for the state guard, said since WW II no other guard unit has had as many Purple Hearts and combat missions as the 951st. (READ MORE)

Old Blue: What Does The Taliban Say - ...when they’ve killed 13 people and wounded 42 more in a botched rocket attack? “We didn’t do it.” We were cordially invited to stay at FOB Kutschbach for a few extra days by the rotary wing folks, who bumped our return flight to a day earlier than scheduled. So, as we had some extra time on the ground, we did a foot patrol with the French, the PMT and the ANP through the Tagab bazaar a couple of days after the attack. Being that there were two of us, and we each had an interpreter, we were able to talk with the people we ran into at the bazaar. That is, when we weren’t being hurried along. While asking people what village they were from, if their village and/or family had suffered any casualties, and how they felt about the attack, the story the Taliban was telling came out. First, they insisted that only one rocket was fired… so the other round must have come from either the Americans or the French on the FOB. Right there they shucked off half of the responsibility. (READ MORE)

A World of Troubles: Talking to the Enemy - So how does a military intelligence gatherer know if an informant’s lying? “A lot of times you don’t know if someone’s lying,” Chief warrant officer Edward Strauss, head of a Human Intelligence team based out of Jalabad, said in a phone interview. “Sometimes they outright tell me the wrong name. A lot of times we have other intelligence signals- (satellite or drone) imagery, that will give us ‘contrary’ information.” “One thing we cannot do,” Strauss said, “we can’t do an operation based on what one person says. Nine times out of 10, (an informant’s motivation is based) on a tribal feud. You don’t go in on one person’s word.” “The hardest part,” Dan, one of Strauss's enlisted soldiers, said, “is to corroborate and vet the information we get. When we hear a specific high-value target is moving in the region, we note it. When we get two or three sources saying it, then we move to find someone who has had direct contact with the target.” (READ MORE)

Afghanistan My Last Tour: VMO Day 4 – Taliban determined - Before going to sleep, another heater was brought to our tent. The females found refuge in the ANA tent that were burning firewood and their tents were hot in comparison. In turn, we were given their heater stove. I also walked around the tent and sealed off all of the openings I could find to prevent the cold air from circulating through our sleeping quarters. The next morning, we woke up and felt a difference in temperature. The outside temperature was warmer and the additional heater increased our ambient temperature by 5 degrees inside the tent. Before going to chow we shaved, showered, brushed our teeth, etc. The shower tent is a bit of ingenuity. The water heater is rigged to the Humvee engine. Posted on the outside hygiene station are the instructions how to use it. Before we went to the school to set up, we received intelligence of a possible suicide bomber with plans to disrupt our activities. (READ MORE)

Afghanistan My Last Tour: VMO Part 3 – Insurgents attack again - As expected, it was a bitter cold and uncomfortable night. I woke up around 3 am and all of my teammates were buried inside their sleeping bags with their heads covered. You could see your breath as you exhaled. It was freezing cold inside the tent. When we awoke early the next morning, everyone complained how cold it was. The ladies in the tent next to us accidentally turned off their heater while trying to adjust it and complained about the freezing temperature too. The chow hall opened early for our visit and we took advantage of the small seating room. The tables and benches were constructed of cheap Pakistan quality plywood, but it served its purpose. The food was lukewarm and the eating area was illuminated by a 6 inch fluorescent tube light. The sun was rising, but it was still frosty inside. We didn’t want to whine because the soldiers who live here have to endure these conditions daily. (READ MORE)

Afghanistan My Last Tour: VMO Part 2 – Insurgents Attack - It was a brisk morning and the mercury was holding steady about 26 degrees. We ate a hot breakfast and prepared for the next leg of our trip. We met up with our US escort to finalize the details. The route clearance guys (IED hunters) would go in front of us and actively search for IEDs implanted in the culverts and along the road. As fast as the IED hunters dispose of the IEDs, the insurgents wait until they pass and reseed the road with these lethal home-made bombs composed of two types of fertilizer and diesel fuel. The fertilizer is cheaper than a bag of flour and is abundant in country and available anywhere for resale. We aligned the convoy and picked up additional ANA troops and vehicles along with some commercial trucks transporting food and drink supplies for the troops at the Charkh District Center. In all, we had over 30 vehicles in our convoy. (READ MORE)

Doc H: COMISAF on Board - It was a cool damp day on Camp Shaheen. Camp Shaheen is the Afghan National Army camp of which Camp Spann is only a small part. Usually I spend nearly all my time on Camp Spann, but not today. Today I was to standby in case a brief was needed about my mission here. In the early morning there was snow on the mountains in the distance. I really wished that I had brought my gloves or put on some long underwear. I saw the German helicopters come in low and fast. It was a few minutes until the buses arrived. The Afghan honor guard came to attention and was inspected. He spent quite a while talking with the Afghan Corps commander and his staff. Then he was led to the HEAT trainer. This is exactly the same set up I had to go through in Ft Riley, where you practice rollover drills in an armored HMMWV. The Afghan soldiers who were going through it were laughing as much as I was when I did it. (READ MORE)

Embedded in Afghanistan...: Eats, shoots and leaves - Thinking back on things, it does seem strange some of the things that went on. You walk around among, shake hands with, and eat and drink in homes of people you don’t really know and may not like you. But I never felt any fear in those situations, though I knew some of these people collaborated with insurgents. Pashtunwali, or “the way of the Pashtun”, simply does not provide for being dishonorable or inhospitable to guests. The concept goes so far that the Pashtun people are equally hospitable to some of our enemies as well. I’d say we returned the favor and were pretty darn hospitable to local people as well, however. On one occasion the local villagers brought men to the base with bullet and shrapnel wounds. They looked like Taliban, with their beards and stares, and my interpreter was absolutely convinced that they were. And how does an innocent get bullet and shrapnel wounds anyway? (READ MORE)

Free Range International: The Tribes - More interesting news is coming out of Kabul as the drive-by media continues its impressive efforts at covering for or trying to explain our Commander in Chief’s continuing dithering on what to do about Afghanistan. His ham-fisted attempt at moving President Karzai out of the way has ended in abject failure straining relations with the Kabul government to the point of breaking and driving Karzai right into the hands of the very people we have been trying to get off the Afghan stage. An excellent explanation on how the administration completely screwed themselves, the Afghans and the rest of us can be found in this Power Line post. But the stupidity of our current administrations efforts are not what got the blood up this morning….what do you expect from a President with no prior executive experience and Hillery Clinton? This article from the New York Times about tribes resisting the Taliban is why I’m pounding away on the laptop in a Dubai hotel lobby. (READ MORE)

Far From Perfect: A Gilded Cage - So I have been dealing with re-deployment issues for the last two weeks. What a headache. The right hand never talks to the left, let alone the feet. One minute everything is on track, scheduled and everybody is aware. Thirty seconds later, you call back and no one knows anything and its suddenly a rat race to put out the fire. Then comes DCS, the civilians, the contractors, and Navy Customs. I can keep going, but it is giving me a migraine just to think about it. So instead I will focus on something far more joyful, my current transient quarters. Those of you that have been following along on the Twitter site are well aware of the amenities this particular place has to offer. For those that aren’t following… shame on you! I had heard rumor that they were closing down one of the 4 Day R&R sites available to deployed troops and moving it here. Now I can see why. There is a big, heated outdoor pool, PX facilities better than the ones I have back home, fast food joints and fast wifi access. (READ MORE)

Major Richard Streatfeild, OC A Company 4 RIFLES: BATTLE OF WILLS - The start of a tour is always incredibly busy. Every day is a new experience. Yesterday we held a Shura at the base. Or more accurately, we had a Shura come to us. A large group of elders arrived to protest the innocence of a man who had been arrested in a security operation. There was no doubt that they had been sent by insurgents, but they were a notable gathering. In Afghanistan, age, gender, and facial hair are all indicators of seniority in open society. Inside the compound there is alleged to be a matriarchy, outside, in Helmand, mature men with long beards get respect. It was as an impressive bunch of beards as you are likely to find. We talked for about two hours. They are good talkers and the conversation moves at a sedate pace. "You have the watches but we have the time" is a popular Afghan jibe. We sat on our haunches until my western joints creaked and we moved to benches. (READ MORE)

In Iraq Now (at 56): 100k on Sunday, PT Test on Monday - On Sunday my bike buddy had to cancel our plans to ride 100 miles, so I decided to ride 100km. It was a beautiful day yesterday so I did three laps of the base then stopped for lunch. I did another lap then met up with the HHC first sergeant to make sure of road guard placement for the race on Thursday. My first sergeant was part of the meeting also. He told me that I had to take the PT Test in the morning--this morning. So I decided to finish the 100km and use 6.2 of the last 15 miles to time myself on the bike distance for the PT Test. So I got up at 0440 and went to the gym to take the PT Test at 0530. The first event is the pushup. I need to do 56 in two minutes to max--get 100 points for the event. I got 49. Not bad. I was tired. I have done 56 when I felt really good, but after the 100km ride, I did not feel "really good." The situps were next. I needed 66. I got 66 in a minute, 50 seconds. Because I am over 55 I can take an alternative to the run. (READ MORE)

In Iraq Now (at 56): Who Flies That Blackhawk? The Whole Story - Last Month I wrote part of the story below--about the Blackhawk pilot who was a pilot for Gov. Blagojevich of Illinois in civilian life. Here is the four-man crew and their four very different backgrounds. Task Force Diablo is based in Pennsylvania but includes units and soldiers from across the nation. Because National Guard soldiers bring a variety of life and work experiences with them on deployment, even the smallest unit can include soldiers with a surprising array of skills and experience. In September Alaska-based, Charlie 1-52nd MEDEVAC needed a crew for the chase bird for a routine flight to two of their remote sites. Alpha 1-106th from Illinois supplied a crew for a Pennsylvania 1-150th Blackhawk helicopter. The four soldiers who comprised the Illinois crew on a Pennsylvania helicopter following an Alaska MEDEVAC show how different the members of a four-man unit can be. (READ MORE)

IraqPundit: A New Baathist Leader? - A lot of Iraq's former Baathists now live in Syria, and another large group of former high-ranking Iraqi Baathists live in Qatar. Many think their symbolic leader is Izzat Douri, the only member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle to escape. But if I were sitting with the ex-Baathists in either Damascus or Doha, I would suggest they pick Juan Cole to head their gang instead. The professor who claims to know so much about Iraq conducts his analysis from Ann Arbor. Today his mission is to insist that the Baathists are still going strong: "US politicians and military men seem reluctant to acknowledge the underground Baath Party as a source of some of Iraq's continued violence, choosing instead to attribute virtually all major violence to 'al-Qaeda,' by which they appear to mean the Islamic State of Iraq or similar Salafi organizations not in fact directly connected to Usama Bin Laden." (READ MORE)

JD Johannes: 20 Million Dinar for a Life - The blood debt is a custom in many cultures, but unknown to many Westerners. In Iraq the tradition of the blood debt helped fuel the sectarian killing sprees that nearly plunged the country into a civil war. In it is purest form, as described by Edward Gibbon in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, it is truly an eye for an eye a life for a life debt. Everyman, at least every family, was the judge and avenger of his own cause...the interest and principle of the bloody debt are accumulated; the individuals of either family lead a life of malice and suspicion, and fifty years may sometime elapse before account of the vengeance be finally settled. But that is the most base understanding of the blood debt. In Iraq and Afghanistan tribal leaders often negotiate the blood debt to a cash or property settlement. The family and tribe of the deceased agree to not seek blood if they are compensated. (READ MORE)

The Kitchen Dispatch: Out Of War, Art Must Emerge - Eric Schmidt has a dream. The former rifle team leader with the 82nd Airbone wants to teach art. In Afghanistan. Now a fine artist specializing in printmaking, Schmidt figures that teaching the art of lithography to a public starved of art would pretty much fulfill a dream of giving back. "What I hear from those on the ground in south and central Asia, and those here in the US is that education is the number one priority in the region. Contrary to popular belief, learning how to draw or paint is not just a way to kill hours in a day. It's very important. It has taught me how to view the world. To question what I see at first glance." He started off working in the facilities department at the California College of The Arts in Oakland, California. While he was there, he worked in their print shop. Ever curious, Schmidt asked the instructors about their equipment. There were stones --what were they for? He'd never seen anything like it. So they gave him a stone to draw him and immediately, Schmidt was hooked. (READ MORE)

Knottie's Niche: Angel Flight - Just when I think I have heard it all seen it all experienced it all something will happen that brings it all back. It can be anything but my reaction is always the same. My breath catches in my throat, my heart literally skips a beat then aches and fight the tears back with all my might. Today it was a song on the radio. I had reached over and hit the scan button on the car radio and the song hit me. “Angel Flight” I knew what those words meant. To me those two words hold more meaning than most who had their dial set to the same station. The song is about bringing home a fallen brother. To some this would seem a grim duty but to those who have served this particular mission they understand the honor of it. To those of us who have had a son brought home we understand the comfort of knowing our loved one was escorted and never for a moment alone on his journey home. (READ MORE)

Bill Roggio: Tajik rebels join al Qaeda - Members of a Tajik military unit that turned against the government a decade ago have have joined the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and al Qaeda. An unknown number of fighters who were loyal to rebel leader Mahmud Khudoyberdiyev joined the regional and global terror groups and have been fighting the Tajik government, the deputy chief of the Tajik National Security Committee said at a regional forum held earlier this month. Khudoyberdiyev was a colonel in the Defense Ministry and led a brigade of troops. He led an unsuccessful uprising in 1997 and took control of a northern city in 1998 before fleeing to neighboring Uzbekistan. It is "unclear" if Khudoyberdiyev himself has joined al Qaeda, a senior US intelligence official told The Long War Journal. Tajikistan has become a battleground over the past year, as the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan have tried to disrupt to NATO's new supply line into northern Afghanistan. (READ MORE)

Dude in the Desert: 22 Nov 09 - this morning I woke up to another call from the chief…this time it was to tell me that we needed to get some humm-vees cleaned up and prepped to take part in a “Fallen Comrade” ceremony…for those who have joined me recently, this is what we do when we have some KIA and they transport the remains to the airfield…I don’t know the circumstances regarding this death, but it was someone from our unit…the vehicles carry the caskets, draped in the US flag, and make their way from one end of the main street thru the base to the main entrance point on the flight line to be loaded on the aircraft headed to the US…when this happens most personnel on the base line the sides of the street and render proper respect–i.e. standing at attention and snapping a salute as the vehicle passes, acknowledging the ultimate sacrifice this service member has made for our country…so, we headed over to the shop and picked up two vehicles... (READ MORE)

Dude in the Desert: 22 Nov 09 - around 12–noon I was wakened by the sound of my phone ringing… normally I wouldn’t even care, but for some reason I picked it up to see who was calling…it was Chief…dammit man, some work must need to be done…so I answer and sure enough he wants me to find Joe so we can go fill up the the fuel tank on a wrecker…this is a big ass 8 wheeled tow truck–specifically designed for the military to haul big, heavy military equipment…I couldn’t find Joe so I started up the truck to head over there–thinking I might need jumper cables or something…this wrecker hasn’t been started in a while…it’s supposed to go out to a FOB somewhere, but nobody wants it, or has scheduled shipment or whatever…anyhoo, as I get in my truck chief calls back–Joe’s at the wrecker with chief…so I cruise over there and we look over the truck–the fuel tank is eemmmppttyyyyy….almost nothing but fumes… (READ MORE)

Ramblings from a painter: Iraq Reconstruction - The New York Times has an excellent article today on reconstruction in Iraq. The article says that US officials fear that Iraqis will not maintain what we've built for them over the past six years with $53B. It goes on to cite several projects, including a $270M water treatment plant in Nasariyah, several hospitals including the Basrah Children's Hospital, and the Fallujah waste water treatment plant, among others. I highly recommend the article - well-written and pretty accurate. A friend of mine sent me a note about it today. I sent him a bit of a long response and decided that I'd post it here as well. John - I saw this article this morning. It is pretty accurate. I'm familiar with the Nasariyah water treatment plant. It was the single most expensive project we've done here. Within months of turning it over to them, it was running at 35% capacity. The reason is that the local government down there is run like a bunch of Tony Sopranos: (READ MORE)

Sarah: Doing Pregnancy Alone - I am ready for a silver linings post, this time about pregnancy. My husband left for a nine month deployment right after we found out I was pregnant with our first child. He will miss the entire pregnancy. I can think of a million ways that it stinks that he's gone: no one to go with me to ultrasounds, no one to feel my belly when she kicks, no one to rub my feet or go downstairs to get me a glass of water. No pampering at all. That is lame. But I have been trying to keep track of the good things about doing this alone. I have come up with a couple. 1) I don't have to cook for anyone else. My husband left four days after morning sickness set in. During those four days, I felt guilty that I wasn't making him his favorite foods or taking care of him before he left. But as soon as he was gone, it was such a blessing. If I only felt like eating grapes for dinner, there was no one else to worry about. When the smell of food made me sick, I just didn't cook anything. (READ MORE)

A Smaller Footprint, a Target On Terrorists

The Counterterror option would reduce the number of forces we have in Afghanistan and rely on Special Operations raids and UAV drone strikes to target al Qaeda and other extremist groups.

The other option to Gen. McChrystal's call for a fully-resourced Population Centric Counterinsurgency, is to rely on a much smaller footprint and Counterterrorism (CT) in the Afghanistan/Pakistan theater. In an age of Jack Bauer, CT is very appealing, with our most elite troops swooping in, riding black helicopters, and killing terrorists. Or the vision of silent predator drones tracking bad guys across the wastelands before unleashing a literal Hellfire which destroy the enemy. These end games happen only after long periods of intelligence gathering and planning, sitting on rocks in the mountains watching and waiting. In fact, most missions never happen because actionable intelligence, resources and timing just don't come together. But when they do, it is devastating to the enemy.

Our CT efforts in this theater over the past several years have been very fruitful as hundreds of Taliban, al Qaeda and other extremists have been killed or captured. Gen. McChrystal, now the commander of all forces in Afghanistan, previously commanded the unit responsible for the successes there, as well as those in Iraq. Among the many terrorists they eliminated, this unit was responsible for dispatching Zarqawi and ending his reign of terror in Iraq. Gen. McChrystal has been known to accompany his men on raids, leading from the front. His Task Forces - comprised of SEALs, Rangers, Delta operators and many others - have done tremendous damage to the terrorists and,
more importantly, to the networks that support them.

But CT is not simply roving bands of black-clad, rough men doing violence in the night. There is an entire host of other operations, admin and support functions that have to be working perfectly together to put this deadly ballet into play. The single most important need for an effective CT operation is accurate and precise intelligence. Without actionable intelligence, the entire purpose of CT, precise strikes against positively identified targets, is impossible.

A CT operation by definition does not have a large footprint out among the populace. A CT strike comes out of nowhere, acts with swift and precise violence and then is gone. Ideally the force hits quickly and all the enemy are dead or captured. But, before that mission is even remotely possible, the intelligence must be gathered and developed to identify targets and plan a successful raid.

In CT, almost all of the intelligence gathering will be done covertly or electronically. It requires coordination between multiple intelligence agencies with human and electronic sources, large amounts of work analyzing disparate pieces of information, and cross-checking all of these against each other. In addition some of the information comes from other governments and, therefore, accuracy, as well as differing motives, must be taken into account. While our spy satellites and eavesdropping capabilities are useful, the best information comes from people, agents among the enemy, from the locals where they live, or from captured terrorists themselves. Spy handlers, translators, interrogators, analysts and others must all work in concert to create usable intelligence. It is incredibly difficult to sort and evaluate all of this in a timely enough fashion that it leads to a mission. But as we have seen over the past several years, it can be done.

Conversely, in a Counterinsurgency (COIN) operation, much of the intelligence comes from the close contact the troops have while living among the local populace. After sacrifices are shared, rapport is built, and trust is gained with the locals. This enormous effort produces information from the local populace on who does or does not belong in a particular village. When the locals still fear the insurgents or terrorists among them, they will not inform on them. Once the COIN strategy takes hold, the locals see US and Afghan security forces as providing safety and prosperity, and they are willing to identify infiltrators. It is important to note that, without a COIN operation, CT will not have a substantial “boots on the ground” view.

Coordination with the host nation and it's military and intelligence units is vital to the success of CT operations. They have the home field advantage and can use that in ways we simply cannot. In addition, we need to have bases to operate from close enough to hit targets in quick time windows. We have helicopters, UAVs, other vehicles, personnel, weapons, and communications gear that must have a home and, if possible, at a secure, undisclosed location. We also must help the host nation manage the inevitable fall out from even the most successful CT operations; people will die and claims will be made that they were innocent civilians. This puts ressure on the host nation to distance themselves from these strikes, and makes it difficult for them to support the operations publicly.

If CT becomes the strategy for this theater and we reduce our footprint in Afghanistan significantly, an aggravating factor will be a larger area where al Qaeda and Taliban elements can hide. Currently, most are in the tribal regions of Pakistan, and, as we remove forces from Afghanistan, the enemy will fill that void. Without a COIN strategy in effect and less forces on the ground, we will be left with a much larger zone that we need to cover with intelligence and surveillance assets. This opportunity will offer the enemy additional safe havens where they can refit and recruit.

It is important to note that these difficulties are offset by the smaller number of our own forces who are in direct danger. Force protection for our forces will become easier, and we can locate the troops that remain on large bases where they will not be exposed. CT operations, keeping the enemy off balance, would ensure that large groups of enemy could not mass to attack them.

Our goal would be to degrade the enemy by attrition and never allow any significant elements to form. As soon as the enemy built a training camp or gathered in numbers, their activity would trigger a raid or a strike. If the intelligence is actionable, it can be effective in ensuring that both Afghanistan and Pakistan do not serve as safe havens where terror can be planned and launched.

In order for this mission to be successful, it requires extensive improvements to both Afghan security forces as well as the functions of the central government itself. Our presence there, even in reduced numbers for a CT mission, requires a stable central government to host our forces, and we must train and help field enough Afghan security forces to eventually take the mission over from us. The end game for both COIN and CT is a hand off to the Afghans of responsibility for their own security.

Authors:
Matt Burden has supported counterterror operations in Southwest Asia, the Balkans and Africa as Commander and Executive officer of an classified intelligence detachment.

Danny Strickland has conducted counterterror operations as a member of 1st Ranger Bn. and subsequently as a member of a classified Special Operations unit.

Jim Hanson has conducted counterinsurgency and counterterror operations as a member of a Special Forces detachment in multiple countries throughout the Pacific Rim.

What worked in Iraq, and what can work in Afghanistan

Counterinsurgency is hardly a new concept. Throughout history, nations have dealt with attempts to destabilize or overthrow them. The organs of power belong to the government, but if the insurgency has popular support, or strikes fear into the people, that power may be difficult to wield. The stronger a central government is, the easier it is to clamp down on opposing organic or foreign elements employing guerrilla tactics.

The question becomes, will the government and it's allies attempt to gain the help of the populace by force or by conversion?

If guerrillas are swimming like fish in the waters of the citizenry, a nation must convince its people that they do not want to shelter them. Historically, this has been achieved by force and fear, if achieved at all. Whether an empire is protecting its possessions or a nation is protecting its sovereignty, uprisings have often been dealt with swiftly and violently. Those supporting the insurgents are identified and killed; sometimes they aren't even supporters, just unfortunates who served as an example of the stateʼs power. A popular uprising can become unpopular quickly if relatives and family members killed. Destroying the crops and livelihoods and razing the countryside leaves little for a guerrilla force trying to sustain itself. Brutality may not be pretty, but it can be extremely effective.

The United States now employs a more civilized approach to persuade citizens to deny aid and sanctuary to insurgents. The strategy of population-centric counterinsurgency (COIN) involves separating insurgents from the populace and convincing the people and the more moderate insurgents that the government represents security and an increased quality of life.

These are not new concepts; American military theorist Col. John Boyd write up the exact definition of population-centric COIN in his monograph ʻPatterns of Conflictʼ written in response to the escalating Vietnam war:

Action: Undermine guerilla cause and destroy their cohesion by demonstrating integrity and competence of government to represent and serve needs of the people - rather than exploit and impoverish them for the benefit of a greedy elite.* Take political initiative to root out and visibly punish corruption. Select new leaders with recognized competence as well as popular appeal. Ensure that they deliver justice, eliminate grievances and connect government with grass roots.* Infiltrate guerilla movement as well as employ population for intelligence about guerilla plans, operations, and organization. Seal-off guerilla regions from outside world by diplomatic, psychological, and various other activities that strip-away potential allies as well as by disrupting or straddling communications that connect these regions with the outside world.

This approach is more difficult and dangerous for security forces in the beginning, but pays dividends as the locals gain trust and begin to offer information about insurgent activities. It becomes possible to use targeted strikes and raids to harass and eliminate insurgents with minimal danger to civilians.

We have seen in Iraq and example of how this can succeed. Iraq was a complex mix of three insurgencies, the Shia militias, the Sunni Baathists and foreign Al-Qaeda elements. The groups had differing goals, allegiances and motivations, but shared a desire to expel U.S. forces, and to gain influence over the nascent Iraqi central government. Additionally, a civil war was ongoing between Sunni and Shia insurgents; longtime religious and tribal feuds turned into active, targeted kidnappings and killings.

Many factors contributed to the successes in Iraq including the Anbar Awakening, the marginalization of Moqtada al Sadr, the increasing proficiency of Iraqi security forces and a shift of United States strategy to population-centric COIN, along with the sufficient forces to do so. These factors are interconnected, and an approach focused on securing the civilian populace could have hastened them, had it been implemented earlier.

The Anbar Awakening was driven largely by a realization that the Al-Qaeda elements and Baathists were killing more Iraqis than Americans. The Sheiks came to determine that their responsibility to safeguard their people forced them to expel the foreign guerrillas and reign in those of their own who were perpetrating these outrages. A concerted effort over a number of years by U.S. forces had gained a level of trust that allowed an alliance of convenience between the tribes and the United States against the insurgents. This denied sanctuary to Al-Qaeda elements, and many former Baathist insurgents morphed into Sons of Iraq now responsible for security in their villages. Once the locals determined this was a viable and lasting situation a virtuous cycle began and they gave more intelligence on the remaining insurgents who were killed or captured. The U.S. and Iraqi forces jointly maintained security after each area was cleared. This was the key as US forces left their large bases and deployed out among the Iraqis to share their sacrifices.

As the Surge forces came into play the switch to pop-centric COIN had been made, but there were still many kinetic engagements as areas of insurgent control were entered and cleared. The difference was the U.S. forces stayed and set up alongside Iraqi security to ensure that the areas stayed safe. Local police were augmented and over time were able to become the primary guarantors of peace. In actions to clear areas controlled by Shia Militias, the Iraqi Army made some of its first major offensive operations and showed that the central government could impose its will and ensure the insurgents could not operate with impunity. The United States spent considerable time, effort and energy building, training and equipping the Iraqi forces and also that they were committed to staying long enough to quell the violence and not leave until the Iraqis could handle security themselves. When they showed they could defeat the militias in Sadr City, they achieved two things: a military victory and proof that the Shia-dominated government would fight against rogue Shia elements. This was essential to gaining the trust of Sunnis and Kurds. As more villages and cities were pacified, insurgents found fewer places to hide, and the vast majority of the country was secured.

This allowed the United States to negotiate a security agreement with the Iraqi government, pulling forces back and leaving Iraqis to provide their own security. That process is continuing, and while there are still outbursts of violence, the insurgencies are effectively defeated. Many challenges lie ahead for the country, but the strategies and tactics employed by U.S. and Iraqis, chiefly the pop-centric COIN, worked.

The question now becomes can these successes and strategies be transferred to Afghanistan. The answer: Yes, it can; quite effectively.

The basic tactics that compose a pop-centric COIN strategy remain applicable:
Safeguard the population;
Deny the insurgents safe haven;
Share sacrifices with the civilians to build rapport;
Demonstrate that the government brings security and prosperity;

The culture in Afghanistan is fiercely tribal. Each tribe must be treated as a separate country, more or less. Personal relationships take time and trust to build, but are the only way to convince the locals that the insurgents are not more powerful. Many local leaders have been killed when they cooperated with the coalition and then our forces left the area. They must be convinced that we are there to stay and will only leave once the Afghan security apparatus can keep them safe.

The scenario should play out like this:

U.S. and Afghan security forces arrive in the village and meet with tribal elders to illustrate that they are staying for the duration. Living arrangements are negotiated with an emphasis on living among the villagers. A defensible stronghold is established to be used in the event of a mass attack. The local leaders are asked what projects could improve the quality of life. Maximum interaction between the forces and the villagers is encouraged. Locals are recruited to work on civil improvement projects, and to also become part of the security apparatus. Meals, work and daily life become a shared existence; rapport is built. With that comes trust and the belief that security and prosperity come from this partnership. This grows to eclipse the fear of reprisals from the insurgents, and the idea that the government is a force for good takes hold.

As the Afghan security forces increase in number and competence, they replace U.S. forces and are augmented by locals to ensure that the insurgents cannot gain a foothold as the United States draws back.

This is not a quick solution; it is a decidedly long war initiative. But it has the advantage of diminishing violence as it progresses. Initially, there will be kinetic engagements and casualties as insurgents are pushed out of areas where they have influence. The risks are much heavier at the beginning because the locals wonʼt be as trusting or willing to help. Their support is won by showing them that the United States and the Afghan security forces value their safety. The tactics must cause as little collateral damage to the people as possible. That means accepting a greater danger to joint forces in the initial stages. But this is an investment to reap a reward: greater cooperation from the locals as they see who has their best interests at heart.

This strategy must be implemented in stages. As areas are pacified, the footprint increases. It must be done in conjunction with a major effort to recruit, train and deploy competent Afghan security forces – mostly Army and paramilitary police who can hold their own against insurgents. U.S. forces cannot garrison the entire country, but they can help clear areas, and then leave them in the hands of a combination of national and local security. Once a secure environment is created, the civilian surge must flow in. Infrastructure, health, agriculture and other quality-of-life projects must begin.

These will be what seal the deal. This must involve the State Department, USAID and NGOs, and especially agencies of the Afghan government who can safely operate in the now-secured areas. They will show that the national government is not a corrupt enterprise, but a structure to help the Afghan people. The people will then invest in the notion of a nation, creating an incentive to resist attempts by insurgents to re-infiltrate or recruit.

Many factors make this a difficult strategy to implement in a country with forbidding terrain, fractious tribal rivalries and a history of antipathy to outsiders. But if the goal is to foster a country that will not serve as a breeding ground and sanctuary for extremist violence, this is the most likely path. It will take resources, commitment and patience, and after seven years that is difficult to consider. But the alternative is to cede the battlefield and yield victory to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda – who will gain credibility, power and recruits within Afghanistan and worldwide. Which is more difficult to consider?

Authors:
John Wagner- Served in Iraq with MNF-I
Mark Seavey- Served in Afghanistan with the US Army Infantry
Jim Hanson- Conducted Counterinsurgency operations in multiple Pacific Rim
countries

Tom Burnett Sr:

A military trial will do the same thing--give them justice, give them a chance to talk--but not out, you know, in the public.

Nicely framed and edited by KSTP Minneapolis:

Second Burnett interview here. If only our government, with all its resources, could make 1/100th the sense of this honest patriot, but honesty and patriotism seem to be completely absent from the Obama/Holder makeup. Mr. Burnett says he will fight.


Mr. Burnett is also trying to stop the Park Service from planting a giant Mecca-oriented crescent atop his son's grave

Video expose of what was originally called the Crescent of Embrace design, contains footage of Mr. Burnett and Alec Rawls (author of this blogburst post) at last year's Memorial Project meeting:

To join our blogbursts, just send your blog's url.

News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. (New complete posts come in below)

A World Away: November roundup from Baghdad PAO - From Lt. Col. Tim Donovan, public affairs officer for the Wisconsin National Guard in Baghdad: With a little less than two months left in the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team's mission in Iraq, this is an update on some of our units from their locations around the country over the past month. When detainees at Camp Cropper want to get under the skin of guard force soldiers from the 829th Engineer Company, they employ a tactic that would be more at home along the St. Croix River than inside a theater internment facility in Iraq: they needle the Wisconsin Guard troops about Brett Favre's success as a Minnesota Viking. It seems the Green Bay Packers logos that sprouted up all over Camp Cropper since May tipped off detainees that Packer fans were in the house. It's a small world. The 3,200 men and women of the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team have accomplished a lot during their time in Iraq so far: (READ MORE)

Bouhammer: Border Crossings - After observing approximately 15-20 bad guys cross the Afghan-Pakistan border in the same spot for two nights in a row, I decided to take a squad of Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers, my Embedded Tactical Trainer (ETT) NCO, and myself to set up an overnight ambush along their avenue of approach. Now for all of you Monday morning quarterbacks who are already saying to yourself why didn’t you set up an ambush after the first night or use mortars, artillery, or even call in air assets to eliminate this threat. Well, those are courses of action that were discussed but other priorities limited our manpower for maneuver capabilities, air coverage wasn’t available at the time, and we could only get a few mortar rounds off before the enemy would scurry back across the border into Pakistan and then our hands were tied with the rules of engagement. As soon as darkness arrived, my squad of 12 ANA soldiers and I moved out towards the pre-determined ambush site. (READ MORE)

Philip Smucker: (VIDEO) Afghanistan's gray line - Along Afghanistan's porous border with Pakistan, the U.S. Army is focused on reaching out to Afghan villagers and building local institutions. Immense mountains and abject poverty stand out as obstacles to success, but it is the human terrain that presents the greatest challenge. In this mini-documentary, Lt. Jake Kerr, West Point Class '07, leads his motley "Combat Platoon" out of a remote outpost in the Dangam District of eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province. Kerr, 25, of Lake Placid, N.Y., struggles to improve his skills as a peacemaker and diplomat even as the Taliban and his own "warrior" alter-ego draw him deeper into combat. As more platoon-sized U.S. Army bases in eastern Afghanistan are abandoned over security fears, President Obama and the military's top brass must scrutinize the hard work of "Combat Platoon" and others like it. (READ MORE)

Katherine Tiedemann: Daily brief: newly inaugurated, Karzai sets 5-year target for Afghan forces to take control - Nearly three months after the fraud-plagued election, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was inaugurated into his second five year term, saying that he wants Afghan security forces to be under full Afghan control within five years and called for a loya jirga, or traditional council of elders, to address the insurgent threat and the country's pervasive corruption. In a speech that hit many of the same notes he struck during the presidential campaign, Karzai called for his erstwhile presidential rival Abdullah Abdullah to join a national unity government and also reached out to Taliban fighters for reconciliation. Excerpts of Karzai's inauguration speech, which was attended by some 800 Afghan and foreign dignitaries, are available from the BBC. The Taliban, for their part, dismissed the inauguration as "not a historic day" and called Kabul a "government based on nothing," though initial foreign reaction was more positive. (READ MORE)

al Sahwa: Future of Intel in Afghanistan: Enabling the ANSF - I’ve been doing some research and discussion with colleagues for another project of mine - trying to wrap our heads around all of the moving pieces involved in going “all-out” in Afghanistan. We’ve discussed strategic options several times on the blog already, but as we wait for a decision from President Obama, I wanted to try to really drill down to the operational and tactical levels and examine what the future of intelligence operations should look like when/if we surge additional combat forces. Below are some rough thoughts and several questions we’ve been thinking about. I would love some feedback and thoughts from everyone, particularly those who have studied or spent time in Afghanistan. Working from GEN McChrystal's COMISAF Assessment and operational design (read it here), it's critical that we make significant investments to ensure we properly resource our COIN efforts in Afghanistan. (READ MORE)

Bruce R: Oh no no no - Canadian soldiers will recall that once upon a time we had an unarmored jeep-type runabout called an Iltis. The Germans used it for base MP duties. The Canadians, because we had nothing better at the time, used it as a primary tactical reconnaissance platform for a time, even if it wasn't big enough to fit a machine gun on. A friend of mine likes to tell of the day he was working with a Bundeswehr colleague, who was telling him how the MPs had the same jeep back on his base back home... when the German found out Iltises would be the first vehicles the rampaging Soviet hordes would have to deal with, he adopted a look of petrified horror, and started muttering, "Oh, no.... no, no, no.... no, no, no..." After reading Joe Klein this week I know how the German felt. The military has been shockingly slow when it comes to matching U.S. training companies with Afghan battalions. No such joint units currently exist... (READ MORE)

Houston Central: Welcome Home! - I know Im super behind... Can you blame us? We had just enough time to get over the most ridiculous case of jet-lag then Jon came home!!!!! I have more pictures to post...but I wanted to share a few. Look at his face...PURE JOY...absolutely the best look on his face I've ever seen:) There are so many events Im behind in posting...from when Noah and I were still in Texas, my birthday with the Kate, Halloween, fun times with family...and fun Daddy/Noah time. Just give me some time. We are in no hurry to be on this thing..we are enjoying family time, can you blame us though? We have so much catching up to do! I promise to do a more regular post once life slows down...lol, but I know it will never fully "slow"down..especially with these two boys together again! (READ MORE)

In Iraq Now (at 56): My "Band of Brothers" - My Band of Brothers. The two guys in the middle, Matt and Dale, run public affairs for the Brigade (the next higher unit, 2000 soldiers) and the guy on the right, Andy, works for a 700-soldier unit that is part of the brigade. Matt and Andy are very good writers. Dale is admin mostly--but really good with paperwork and politics. Matt and Dale got me the camera that got me back into photography. They were also very encouraging, meeting with me every week in the summer when I was doubting I could do half of what I was assigned and dealing with all the difficulties in the motor pool. Matt and Dale, more than anyone else here, got me through July and August. Andy is a good writer who is assigned as a truck driver. He has only a little college, but is an avid reader. He is a good guy. We will be keeping in touch when we are back in America. I am hoping he can get work as a writer. (READ MORE)

SFC Burke - My Point of View: Looking In The Mirrors... - Sigh. Yes. I know. I haven't posted a blog in a long time...aside from the story that I did recently. So yeah...if I had blogged during my little hiatus it wouldn't have been very positive. Anyway. I'm blogging now. I'm more content now...we're leaving Baghdad very soon. Things are starting to wind down for us as far as public affairs is concerned. I, on the other hand, still have to layout the newspaper and distribute it until our replacements arrive. Things have changed since my last blog. The weather has been the most drastic change. No longer are the days where we swelter in the 115+ degree heat. Since about a couple weeks ago, the temps have been nice. Partly cloudy skies and temps in the 70s-80s during the day and between 50-60 degrees at night. The rains have turned everything to a sticky, mucky mess. A precursor to the December weather at Fort Dix. (READ MORE)

JD Johannes: New View of Samarra - In the lexicon of Iraq, few words carry as much meaning as Samarra. This city on the Tigris river north of Baghdad was the source of the sectarian slaughter of 2006 and 2007 and the scene of some the most violent fire fights of the same era. Even as late as 2008, it was city to be by-passed when traveling north or south on Highway 1. The city is peaceful enough now, but still struggling with an identity crisis. It is a Sunni city but home of a holy Shia shrine that draws millions of pilgrims a year. It was once the leading city of Sala ad Dihn province, but during Saddam's regime, the seat of government was moved to Tikrit. The Sunni tribes fought with the coalition to rid the city of Al Qaeda, but the Shia security services from Baghdad dominate the old quarter near the Golden Mosque. And it was the second bombing of the Golden Mosque in 2006 that was the catalyst of the sectarian upheavals and rampant murders of 2006 and 2007. (READ MORE)

Registan.net: Is Central Asia post-colonial or not? - Is Central Asia post-colonial or not? Can post-colonial theory be applied to post-Soviet region? Laura Adams raises this question and generally comes up with a positive answer here (PDF pp 2-7). The current CESS President Edward Lazzerini responds with an interesting approach. I learned from his response was that the Sankt Peterburg library contains a catalogue of all Turkic-language works published during the Soviet time. He is essentially saying that post-colonial lens obscures the nature of real events. Although he does not provide exactly how researchers should proceed with their works without post-colonial prism, I feel that he raised some important points by his examples. I will try to sum them up. The Central Asian region and its people underwent several stages of socio-political transformation under the Soviets: (READ MORE)

Afghan Journal: Fort Lewis remembers two soldiers from a hard-hit platoon - Spc. Gary Lee Gooch and Spc. Aaron Seth Aamot grew up in opposite ends of America. Gooch was raised in Florida, while Aamot was raised in the town of Custer in the northwest corner of Washington. Their lives were intertwined when they were both assigned to the same platoon of the Fort Lewis-based 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which headed off to war in Afghanistan in July. On Nov. 5, Gooch and Aamot, both 22 years old, died together as their Stryker vehicle was struck by a huge roadside bomb in the Arghandab Valley of southern Afghanistan. On Thursday, the young men were remembered at a memorial service at Fort Lewis that was attended by dozens of family, friends and fellow soldiers. Gooch had a keen sense of humor, and urged his friends not to take life too seriously. Aamot was a devout Christian, who was fascinated by the history of the U.S. civil war. (READ MORE)

The Torch: New Canadian commander at Kandahar/More US troops to be under his command? - Interesting development, see speculation about the US unit at the end: “The incoming commander of Canadian Forces in Afghanistan is preparing to change the focus of counter-insurgency efforts as he deals with the possibility NATO will once again enlarge the area under Canadian control. Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard said Thursday he plans to increase troop levels in the province's dangerous capital, [emphasis added, more here] marking a shift from existing strategy concerned largely with rural areas southwest of the city.” As far as I know no "further additions of U.S. troops" are planned for Kandahar province in the near future; though President Obama may decide to send a fair number, it will be some time before they arrive. I could well be wrong, but it seems unlikely to me that the US Army's combat unit at the province, the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, would be put under Brig.-General Ménard. (READ MORE)

Wings Over Iraq: Light vs. Heavy: Brigade Combat Teams - While the Obama White House debates the exact troop numbers for the new counterinsurgency strategy, it's safe to say that there will be an increase of around 20,000 to 40,000 additional "combat troops" (definition to follow). While the troop numbers must primarily take into consideration the desired effect in Afghanistan, planners must also take into account one additional factor: how many brigade combat teams we have available. (Based on over 100,000 troops in Iraq and over 60,000 in Afghanistan) The Washington Independent (H/T Spencer Ackerman) has the rollup of current US Army force strength (including a really good chart). Before I begin, let me define some terminology. There's been a huge debate at Tom Ricks' "The Best Defense" blog regarding what "combat troops" are in this era of asymetric war and non-contiguous battlefields. (READ MORE)

War, the military, COIN and stuff: More Afghan Combat Soldiers, But at What Cost? - As part of my conversation with Maj. Gen. Richard Formica, who heads up the ISAF training programs, I had the opportunity to also talk to U.K. Brigadier Simon Levey, the Commanding General for the Combined Training Advisory Group in Kabul, and learned a little more about the logistics issues plaguing the Afghan armed forces, and efforts aimed at promoting literacy among the ANA. Echoing Gen Formica, Levey says that standing up Afghan logistics battalions is still years away, and the CSTC and ISAF are throwing all of their weight behind getting as many Afghasn combat soldiers out in the field as possible. “We’re going to delay those a year or two so we can apply that force structure to infantry-centered force,” he said, “we’re going to take every Kandak in the South and the East and we’re going to add a fourth company to each of those forty-four Kandaks…to give them more infantry soldiers faster.” (READ MORE)

Bill Roggio: Suicide bomber strikes in western Afghanistan - Taliban suicide bombers struck for the second day straight in southern and western Afghanistan. A suicide bomber driving a motorcycle detonated his explosives in a market in Farah City, killing 17 people and wounding 29. Provincial officials in Farah said a senior police official, who was killed in the explosion, was the target of the suicide attack. Two of the senior police official's bodyguards were also killed in the attack. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf denied responsibility in a phone call to Reuters. But the governor of Farah province said the Taliban backed down from taking responsibility for suicide attacks when large numbers of civilians are killed. "Whenever there are civilian casualties, the Taliban deny responsibility," Governor Rohul Amin told Reuters. "This attack was definitely carried out by the Taliban." (READ MORE)

Bill Roggio: US strikes Taliban camp in North Waziristan, kills 8 - Unmanned US strike aircraft killed eight Taliban and al Qaeda operatives in the second attack in North Waziristan in two days. Today the US aircraft hit a Taliban training camp in the village of Palooseen near Mir Ali. "At least eight people were killed in the drone attack," a Pakistani intelligence official told AFP. "A compound used by militants was targeted." Three "foreigners," a term used to describe al Qaeda operatives, were among those killed. No senior leaders have been reported killed. The town of Mir Ali is a known stronghold of al Qaeda leader Abu Kasha al Iraqi, an Iraqi national who is also known as Abu Akash. He has close links to the Taliban and the Haqqani Network. The Haqqani Network and Hafiz Gul Bahadar also have influence in the Mir Ali region. (READ MORE)

The Captain's Journal: So much for the Pakistani military offensive in Waziristan - As we discussed in Pakistan Crumbles, the Pakistan Taliban have melted away into the mountains of the Hindu Kush in the face of the Pakistani military offensive against them. More detail: … there are those in the diplomatic circles of Islamabad who say the Pakistani military leadership would soon realize that the troops in South Waziristan are actually chasing shadows because the TTP militants have simply melted into the vastness of the inhospitable surrounding territory. It appears that the militants in Waziristan, headed by the Pakistani Taliban – the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan – are bent on a long-term insurgency against the security apparatus. Although tough resistance was expected from up to 10,000 well-trained Taliban guerrilla fighters from the mainly ethnic Pashtun Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan, the military operation has been relatively proved easy so far, to the surprise of many. (READ MORE)

Loving A Soldier Blog: Move That Bus - Between four kids, deployments and seven moves, I have not taken the best care of myself, translation, I have packed on some pounds. So one of the deployment silver linings is it is the perfect time to lose some weight. I do not have to cook dinner every night and I can eat dinner when I am hungry not at 2100 when my husband drags himself home. I used the day he left for my cutoff date, and I started the next day. I have already lost almost thirty pounds. I am feeling so much better, and I know that I am avoiding the temptation to eat or drink to make myself feel better during the deployment. I also know that at the end of the year I will be healthier and happier. I can't wait for the big reveal, you know that moment on that Home Makeover show when they say "move that bus," and everyone screams and cries because the house is so fantastic. I can't wait to see my husband's face! Fortunately every time I put on pants that are a size smaller I get the "move that bus" feeling just for myself! (READ MORE)



News from the Front:
Iraq:
Iraq Sentences Sunni Leader to Death - A leader of a Sunni Awakening Council was sentenced to death for kidnapping and murder on Thursday, setting off charges that the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government was trying to weaken the Sunni movement, which is credited with much of the reduction of sectarian violence here since 2006. (READ MORE)

Iraq’s Election Law Morass - Iraqis have quickly learned to play hardball politics. That was evident on Wednesday when one of Iraq’s two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashimi, who is a Sunni, vetoed an important election law at the last minute. He demanded a change that would allocate more parliamentary seats for Iraqi Sunnis living abroad. (READ MORE)

Bike officers added to Iraqi Police Force - Iraqi Police (IP) officers recently attended the Bicycle Police Course at the Police Academy here, part of an ongoing effort to establish better policing practices in the city. Many of the police officers had never seen or heard of a bicycle cop before, but soon they themselves will be the first group to begin operating as Bicycle Police in Kirkuk City. (READ MORE)

American forces assist Iraqi businesswomen - Women here have struggled for centuries to carve out a life of their own. Even with the advent of democracy, that struggle continues, and only attention and assistance can improve the situation. With that in mind, U.S. Soldiers recently visited a rug factory managed and staffed entirely by women in Gharraf, a town north of Nasiriah in Dhi Qar province. The factory employs more than 100 women, all experts in the art of weaving fine rugs. (READ MORE)

First females graduate Police College - Fifty female Iraqi Police (IP) officers became the first women to graduate from the Baghdad Police College here, Nov. 9. The new female officers and more than 1,000 male students culminated their training with a ceremony marking their successful completion of the rigorous nine-month training program. (READ MORE)

U.S. Officials Study Effect of Iraq Election Law Veto - American forces are waiting to see what effect the veto of Iraqi election legislation may have on the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, the commander of Multinational Force Iraq said in Baghdad yesterday. “I think we’re set up and we’re flexible enough between now and the first of May,” Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said. “So … we won’t have to make any decisions until the late spring.” (READ MORE)



Afghanistan:
'Too early' for Afghan handover deadline: - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday it was too soon to set a timeline to transfer security duties from NATO-led troops to Afghan forces, as proposed by Britain. "I think I would rather have those on the ground in Afghanistan make the judgment call about when a province or a district was ready to be turned over, rather than specific dates," Gates told a news conference. (READ MORE)

IJC Operational Update, Nov. 20: - At approximately 9 a.m. today, an IED detonated in downtown Farah in western Afghanistan. Initial reports indicate seven Afghans were killed and more than 35 were injured. No ISAF service members were in the area at the time. "This was a malicious attack that killed and injured innocent Afghans. We offer our sincerest condolences to the families of those killed and sympathies for those injured this morning," said Navy Capt. Jane Campbell, IJC spokesperson. (READ MORE)

Statement by the Secretary General on the inauguration of President Karzai - On behalf of NATO, I congratulate President Karzai on taking office for his second term as leader of Afghanistan. This is an historic event: the second time in modern Afghan history that a government has taken office peacefully. It is a testimony to the courage of the Afghan people, and their determination to exercise their hard-won democratic right to choose their own leaders. (READ MORE)

Germany remains commited to NATO mission in Afghanistan - German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has held talks with his American counterpart Robert Gates in Washington with Afghanistan topping the agenda. The 45-minute meeting at the Pentagon was dominated by the current military situation in Afghanistan. "The USA and its allies are doomed to succeed," said zu Guttenberg. (READ MORE)

Obama Won't Make Afghan Decision Before Thanksgiving, Aides Say - President Obama will not announce a decision on his war strategy in Afghanistan before Thanksgiving, his aides told Fox News on Thursday. The latest development on the fate of up to 40,000 U.S. troops came at the tail end of the president's eight-day Asia trip. (READ MORE)

Brown Gets Ahead of the U.S. on Afghanistan Policy - U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has beaten the Obama administration to the punch with some very public stands on Afghan war policy, many of which proved to be previews of similar stances later taken by the White House. U.S. and U.K. officials say Mr. Brown is acting on his own, not as part of a coordinated effort to soften the path for decisions later made by U.S. President Barack Obama -- and in fact U.S. officials have sometimes been irritated that Mr. Brown got out front on these issues. (READ MORE)

Motorcycle Blast Kills 16 in Afghanistan - Afghan police say a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle has blown himself up in southwestern Afghanistan, killing at least 16 people and wounding dozens more. The bomb exploded Friday in a busy area of Farah city, the capital of Farah province. The provincial governor told reporters the blast occurred not far from his compound. (READ MORE)

Pakistan worries over new U.S. Afghan strategy - As the United States ponders its Afghan strategy, Pakistan is waiting nervously, worried that a U.S. troops surge would widen the war but also keen to see a robust U.S. commitment that would convince the Taliban to talk. U.S. President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to end the Afghan war before he leaves office. (READ MORE)

Karzai Sworn In for Second Term as President - Tainted by a flawed election and allegations of festering corruption in his government, President Hamid Karzai was inaugurated Thursday for a second term, promising to remedy the country’s problems and to have the Afghan Army assume full control of security within five years. Speaking in Dari and Pashto, Mr. Karzai reached out to the country’s two largest ethnic groups as well as to his defeated political rivals in a speech at a midday ceremony at the presidential palace. (READ MORE)

Karzai Sets Key Goals in Inaugural Address - President Hamid Karzai set two ambitious goals in his inauguration speech Thursday: to have Afghan soldiers and police take full responsibility for security within the next five years and to root out the pervasive corruption that hobbled his first administration. In many ways, Karzai's words dovetailed precisely with the aims of the Obama administration. (READ MORE)

Karzai Has Plenty of Promises for the West - President Hamid Karzai used his inauguration address Thursday to try to reassure the West that he will cleanse his government of corruption and buttress Afghan security forces so they can take charge of the nation's security within five years. Mr. Karzai's speech was a virtual laundry list of promises that the increasingly disenchanted international backers of the Afghan president had hoped to hear. (READ MORE)

A Softer Approach to Karzai - When a team of senior US officials led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton entered the presidential palace in Kabul on Wednesday for a dinner meeting, they had little indication of what Afghan President Hamid Karzai planned to discuss, or whether questions about corruption and governance would pitch their host into a foul mood. But instead of revisiting old disputes, Karzai brought in several cabinet ministers to talk about development and security. (READ MORE)

US Aims to Hold Afghanistan's Karzai to His Pledges of Reform - The United States is developing a set of benchmarks to ensure that Afghan President Hamid Karzai keeps a promise delivered at his inauguration to fight corruption and inefficiency, US officials said. Taking the oath of office Thursday, Karzai, whose reputation has been battered by corruption allegations against close associates, pledged to fire any official connected to drug trafficking and "end the culture of impunity and violation of the law." (READ MORE)

White House Aides: No Afghan Decision Before Thanksgiving - President Obama will not announce his decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan before the Thanksgiving holiday, senior aides said Thursday. The news came as the president greeted 1,500 troops at Osan Air Base in South Korea, just before boarding Air Force One and heading back to Washington after an eight-day trip to Asia. (READ MORE)

US Defense Secretary Urges Against Afghan Withdrawal Timeline - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is urging caution on those who are calling for a timetable for an allied withdrawal from Afghanistan. Among those who have spoken about a "timetable" or an "endgame" in recent days are British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama. (READ MORE)

Improvements in Afghan Governance Will Take Time, Gates Says - Improving the quality and professionalism of Afghanistan’s central government will not be accomplished quickly, and will involve continued discussion between US and Afghan officials, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. “My view on all this is that improvements in governance in Afghanistan will be evolutionary,” said Gates... (READ MORE)

Mullen: Talks Favor Broad Afghanistan Solution - President Barack Obama’s security team recognizes troops alone aren’t the answer as it begins wrapping up strategy deliberations about the way ahead in Afghanistan, the top military officer said today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the talks are nearing their conclusion, predicting that Obama will announce his decision “in the near future.” (READ MORE)

Italy Remains a 'Determined' Ally - Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata, the newly appointed Italian ambassador to the United States, objected to the term "war" to describe the conflict in Afghanistan, but he said Italy had dropped restrictions that had kept its troops away from the fighting. In an interview with editors and reporters at The Washington Times Thursday, Mr. Terzi said that Afghanistan is a key component of Italian foreign policy. (READ MORE)

Afghan Bomber on Motorcycle Kills 13 - A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle killed 13 people, including a police officer, and wounded 30 others Friday in a busy city square in western Afghanistan. Several children were among those wounded in the morning explosion, said a doctor at the hospital in Farah city, Shir Agh Asas. Afghan police shouted ''Stop! Stop!'' at the motorcyclist before he detonated the explosives, provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Faqir Askar said. (READ MORE)

Taliban Chief Hides Among Pakistan Populace - Mullah Mohammed Omar, the one-eyed leader of the Afghan Taliban, has fled a Pakistani city on the border with Afghanistan and found refuge from potential US attacks in the teeming Pakistani port city of Karachi with the assistance of Pakistan's intelligence service, three current and former US intelligence officials said. (READ MORE)

Pakistani Politics Take on a Nationalist Tone - These days, politics here look more and more like a movie Pakistanis have seen before. Anti-Americanism is peaking. Enemies of the state lurk around every corner, if the nationalist media is to be believed. President Asif Ali Zardari could hardly be more unpopular. Political insiders make a sport of handicapping how long it will be before he falls. It is a familiar plot line. (READ MORE)

Obama the Undecider - In the beginning, the Obama administration directed a spotlight toward its careful, thoughtful decision-making process on Afghanistan. National security meetings were announced, photographed and highlighted in background briefings to the media. President Obama would apply the methods of the academy to the art of war - the University of Chicago meets West Point - thus assuring a skittish public that deliberation had preceded decision. (READ MORE)

Afghans Want Obama to Hold Karzai's Feet to the Fire - On Afghanistan's independence day in August, my friends in Kandahar were puzzled. Why was the government bothering to celebrate the holiday? With 100,000 or so foreign troops occupying our country, how could we consider ourselves independent? When my American friends and professors ask me if I think the United States should send additional troops to Afghanistan, I tell them yes, but... (READ MORE)

To Succeed in Afghanistan, We Must Fail - Afghan President Hamid Karzai's inauguration today will be a somber affair. Gray storm clouds are slowly replacing the blue skies, and the sour tang of charcoal smoke hangs in the air. The mood among the internationals here is similarly gloomy. So many conversations end with the scratching of heads, with the tacit admission that no idea that has come forward has been big enough to reverse the Afghan government's steady loss of control. (READ MORE)

When this man speaks - I listen, you should too:

11 Congress Members Who Want to Pass a Tax to "Share the Sacrifice" of War
By Robert Stokely

My friends in MilBlog community: I am sorry but right now I am somewhat having one of those anger induced bladder discharge moments. And sorry if this is not very well proof read - I tried, but it made me more angry each time I thought about this legislation. But read on if you like.

First, read this, article where: House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey, and Representative John Murtha, who chairs that panel's defense subcommittee; and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank set forth that "The only people who've paid any price for our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan are our military families: and state "... We believe that if this war is to be fought, it's only fair that everyone share the burden."

Then read this pdf document and pay real close attention to the definition of who is "family" when it comes to who would be exempted from paying this Share the Sacrifice tax to support the War on Terror - it actually winds up excluding most of the family of the fallen, or in some cases could result in a non-family member who receives the death gratuity to be given preferential tax treatment as "family" while none of the fallen's family would be exempted.

SGT Mike Stokely was killed in action fighting the War on Terror and his death was and continues to be devastating to our family. The familial and emotional cost can only be measured by a lifetime of love lost. But in the aftermath of that lifetime of love lost, our family has also suffered direct and significant financial impact. This impact will affect our family prosperity for a lifetime to come. I estimate the costs to date and the future costs to exceed $50,000.00. Some have a perception that families like us got a large check from the American Government because Mike died in the War on Terror. However we didn't because Mike Stokely did what any good husband would do, he took care of his wife by naming her the beneficiary of his death gratuity and group life.

The Stokely family in Sharpsburg Georgia - me, my wife, and Mike's brother and sister work hard for what we achieve in life and we pay the prevailing tax rate on our earnings. We don't get any exemptions for the costs that we continue to incur because of and only because Mike as KIA in the War on Terror. And we are not looking for one either.

Rep. Obey, Murtha, Frank and other Congress members who want to pass the "Share The Sacrifice Act of 2010" claim it exempts the families of the fallen. Well the truth of the matter is it only exempts the person(s) who received the death gratuity (which is the single lump sum payment the government makes - $100,000 - to the named beneficiary of a fallen soldier and which can be, as it is in some cases, made to a non-family member). Thus, this Share the Sacrifice tax will be a new tax for most of the family of the fallen, including Mike Stokely's family.

Sadly, these Congress members also have another agenda other than to "Share the Sacrifice". This is a Health Care Reform Tax as well, as it seeks to shift costs of the War on Terror that "devours money need to fix the health care system."

To Rep. Obey, Murtha, Frank and others who think the Stokely's and others like us should pay the war tax surcharge and thus "SHARE THE SACRIFICE: given you crafted legislation that sets forth the premise we have not Shared the Sacrifice, please tell me how much you think is our fair share of the sacrifice in the War on Terror?

Robert Stokely
proud dad SGT Mike Stokely
KIA 16 AUG 05 near Yusufiyah Iraq
USA E 108 CAV 48th BCT GAARNG

Want to do something?
Contact your Senator here:
Contact your Represenative here:


My thoughts:

So, these "fine men" want you to pay a tax for the privledge of NOT having your son or daughter killed in combat. But wait there's more! If your son or daughter is married and names their spouse their insurance beneficiary...you still get to pay!

I have two words for these "fine gentlemen".... Fuck and You....they can put them together in the proper order.

Now do you want to do something?

Contact the miscreants here:
Dave Obey:
Barney Frank:
John Murtha:

Not for me but my friend Concrete Bob!

Concrete Bob had a heart attack Wednesday night. He writes:

The rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Short and sweet, I had a serious heart attack on Wednesday night. I'm in the hospital, hooked up to a bunch of tubes. I have had a catheterization done and a stint put in, but there is still some blockage. So next Wednesday the doctors are going to do a little carving and install some new parts. No big deal.

Pray for the doctor and my family.

Stents have been put in place and hopefully soon he will be back to giving out more of that wonderful BBQ sauce of his. Concrete Bob for those who don't know him - shame on you - is an amazing patriot and believes in suporrting the troops 110% of the time.

So stop on by and wish him well and then talk to the man upstairs and have him do some of his magic.

News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. (New complete posts come in below)

A World Away: Arrows fly at Camp Bucca - We expected about 20 shooters and we ended up with 33. After 3 rounds Douglas Isbel was in the lead with 110 points, Joshua Corbin was in 2nd with 102 points, Robert Mulvey was in 3rd place with 100 points. Then, Herb Johnson, as the very last serviceman to shoot, blew the completion away with 120 points. We thank camp commander COL Lund for attending and giving us permission to carry out this event. We thank deptuy LTC Moore ( camp deputy Commander and 132nd Battalion Commander) for being there and for shooting the first arrow down range, you did a great job Ma’am. We thank MSG Robert Mulvey for donating the 4 trophies and the 25 medallions. We had an awesome camera man, SPC James Morrow, who did an outstanding job along with our scorers, SPC Carlson and PFC Bryan Schneider. An awesome turn out, no one got hurt and everyone had a great time. We thank everyone for helping us get this together and making this happen. (READ MORE)

Bouhammer: Did this have to happen? - "In a rare fatal incident, two American troops have drowned in Afghanistan, while trying to recover equipment from a northwestern river, security officials say. The soldiers died on Wednesday, while trawling in the Badghis province’s Bala-Murghab River for lost supply packages, the area’s Deputy Police Chief Mohammed Jabbar told a Press TV correspondent. The supplies were lost as a US aircraft was dropping caissons and food parcels on the troops’ base." It is such a waste and so sad that these two brave Sergeants had to die this way. It either goes to show how important those supplies were that one of them risked his life to retrieve them from a fast-moving river or that he was that dedicated to being a soldier and making sure no supplies were lost. It does show that one soldier cared so much about his “battle-buddy” that he ignored the risks and jumped in after his buddy to save him, but lost his own life. (READ MORE)

Afghanistan My Last Tour: What to bring to USF Bulls game on Saturday - From Liisa, SMSgt Rex Temple’s wife: Rex wanted me to post a quick “Thank You” to the USF Bulls and to his home base at Tampa’s MacDill AFB for adopting the “School Supplies for Afghan Children” project at this Saturday’s football game against Louisville. It’s an honor to have this project be part of the team’s military appreciation game. And I’m thrilled to have Rex’s friend SPC Christopher “Kit” Lowe join us at the game; he’ll be enjoying a few days of leave from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C. and his rigorous physical therapy and recovery training after being wounded in Afghanistan in August. If you are in the Tampa area and plan to come to the game, it starts at 12 noon and we have drop-off locations at South and North ends of the stadium. We are looking for new and slightly used school supplies – specifically these items: (READ MORE)

Asma Nemati: Waiting for Karzai's inauguration...to be over - A day before President Hamid Karzai's inauguration on November 19, traffic -- incoming and outgoing -- on all major roads in Kabul was at a standstill. I left my house to get to a clinic via a route that normally takes twenty minutes, but due to the numerous presidents and other VIPs flying in, I had to take a long detour across and around Kabul, so the trip took nearly two and a half hours. Security is tight; at least one fully equipped Afghan National Army soldier could be seen today every 100 meters on major roads out of the airport. From the airport, lines of SUVs with red government license plates filed into the city nearly every hour. On the actual inauguration day, two districts surrounding the presidential palace will be completely closed for security purposes. The pre-inauguration mood in Kabul is tense. Television ads this week have been warning Afghans to stay home and limit movements on November 19. (READ MORE)

Katherine Tiedemann: Daily brief: Clinton in Kabul for Karzai's inauguration - U.S. President Barack Obama reportedly told CNN today that he is "very close" to making a decision about whether to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan and plans to make an announcement "in the next several weeks," after more than two months of deliberations. Obama is reportedly angry about the stream of leaks that has come out about his Afghanistan decision, telling CBS, "For people to be releasing info in the course of deliberations is not appropriate" and said yes when asked if that is a "firing offense". Meanwhile, Afghans are on hold, waiting for Obama to announce a decision and for President Hamid Karzai to be inaugurated tomorrow and appoint his cabinet of ministers. Whether Karzai will appoint reformers or stack his cabinet with political friends remains an open question that worries Afghan and international observers alike. (READ MORE)

User81 @ al Sahwa: Helmand TOA Follow-up - AQ efforts in Britain: AQ-affiliated groups appear to be quite active in their efforts against the UK, but for the most part AQ’s efforts have not replicated the level of Bekay Harrach’s efforts in Germany. The preponderance of open-source reporting revolves around the AQ brand demanding the release of Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza al Masri. While AQ did not carry out any attacks on UK soil this year, they did execute a UK citizen who was kidnapped along the border between Niger and Mali. I was unable to determine whether the June 2009 execution of Edwin Dyer was directly attributed to the April 2009 threat of attacks if Qatada and Hamza were not released. It is, however, extremely plausible. I also came across an Andrew Exum paper from May of last year titled “The Spectacle of War”. In it, Exum writes “A recent study by al-Qaeda expert Jason Burke demonstrated that insurgent propaganda videos on the internet had played a significant role in the radicalization process of young British Muslims...” (READ MORE)

Army Live: Gone but Never Forgotten - Dogs have always been known to be “Man’s Best Friend.” For Army Wounded Warrior (AW2) Clay Rankin, his dog Archie was just that and more. Sadly, Archie passed away last week, much to the surprise of the Rankin’s as well as the entire AW2 family. Read Ms. Stephanie Rankin’s emotional blog entry about Archie and how he will be missed. As many of you now know, Archie, Clay Rankin’s service dog passed away last Thursday night. It was a sudden, heart wrenching reality that life is precious and fragile. Archie died of heart failure, according to our veterinarian’s best diagnosis. He was eight-years-old and in good health — no one saw this coming — but the impact will be felt for years to come. Archie was more than a service dog. He was Clay’s companion, his freedom from a wheelchair, his courage to get up every day and live. Archie was there when the pain got to be overwhelming, when the nightmares visited and when scenes from the past came unexpectedly crowding in. Archie was Clay’s anchor. (READ MORE)

Doc H: A Tribute to the ALO - Almost every time I leave Camp Spann, it is after coordinating with the ALO. ALO stands for Air Liaison Officer; The officer who books flights and schedules the convoys to and from the airport to connect with those flights. It is a fairly thankless job, which our ALO has done very well. I know that as our plans have changed, as they have done very frequently, he has always worked to support us in a thoroughly professional manner. He is a superb example of an officer working way outside his usual field while deployed and doing it very well. He went through the same training class that I did at FT Riley. In fact he was only one bunk over in our 40 man bay. He has let me sit up front during several of the convoys in MRAPs. Finally, however, he is leaving in just a few weeks. It will be quite a loss for the mobility of Camp Spann when he departs. As is only healthy, our ALO has a good sense of humor. He has the below creed posted on the wall of his office. (READ MORE)

Embedded in Afghanistan: ANSF vetting - It's always disturbing to hear news of Coalition trainers being turned on by their trainees. When you hear of an incident like the one a couple of weeks ago where the five Brits were killed by one of their trainees, it certainly makes you wonder how feasible the end strategy of training more and more Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF...an umbrella term to cover the ANA, ANP, Border Police, and other security agencies within Afghanistan) is. Thankfully, such incidents are rare, but with more and more ANSF out there, we're bound to start seeing more of this. To significantly increase the size of the ANP and ANA they are going to have continue lowering the already low standards for recruits...many are essentially conscripts already. Currently, ANP members need little more than the recommendation of two local elders in order to get accepted into the police academy - and very shortly after that they are police. (READ MORE)

Free Range International: Fear Factor - In the war on terror, our greatest enemy is our self. Like the company picnic we have become a community of self licking ice cream cones and have forgotten the mission, or more tragically become so self-absorbed in power point success and vertical movement within dysfunctional organizations that champion mediocrity and the status quo. This risk adverse culture has paralyzed the intelligence world and is metastasizing to the military and other government organizations to the point of a terminal diagnosis or paralysis through analysis. Our current senior management (I cannot use the word leadership as that implies the ability to lead and inspire others which if were the case this post would not be necessary)in the military and intelligence services have become a large group of frighten children who put career advancement and self preservation ahead of the mission. Our congressional management (see above why leadership does not apply) has redefined the carrot-stick philosophy. (READ MORE)

Helmand Blog - Afghanistan: Combat chef cooking on gas - Meet 23-year old LCpl Stevie Allan. He's a combat chef with an impressive array of awards to his name, including Scottish Junior Chef of the Year. LCpl Allan has just arrived at the Forward Operating Base at Wishtan, Helmand, where he'll be working in a brand new, winterised cookhouse. The new kitchen has been named 'The Jordan Rossi Cookhouse', after Sapper Jordan Rossi who was tragically killed by an improvised explosive device while on patrol nearby in May. It's a much-needed improvement, offering greater space and better appliances - essential for feeding over a hundred soldiers three times a day. A trained soldier as well as a chef, he spent parts of his pre-deployment training as a member of an Infantry platoon, and is trained to handle the full range of Infantry weapons, from the pistol to the Grenade Machine Gun. He said: "One minute you can be in the kitchen cooking, the next you can be in a Sangar firing at insurgents, or be sent to an isolated Patrol Base. You just never know." (READ MORE)

IraqPundit: An Early Xmas Present for the Press - The mainstream media got an early Christmas present today. There are reports that Iraq is collapsing. First, there are stories that the election process has gone off track because one of Iraq's vice presidents vetoed one article in the election law. Next, the Kurds are threatening to not take part in the upcoming election. And finally, Iraq has made the top ten list of most corrupt places. Let's begin with the BBC who says: "Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, revoked Article 1 of the law and called for the representation in parliament of displaced people to increase to 15%." It is thought that most Iraqis who have fled violence since 2003 are Sunni. "Electoral officials say they have suspended preparations for a January vote until an amended law is approved." But wait, there's more. The mainstream media barely had a chance to unwrap that gift when the Kurdish politicians threatened to boycott the January election. (READ MORE)

Sgt Danger: Profile: Abdul the Jingle Truck Driver - JINGLE TRUCKS - On any given day in Afghanistan, an infantry squad will ambush a Taliban column, a platoon of engineers will finish a new road, and a civil affairs team will supply a school with pencils and paper. But to make those things possible, it takes logistics that consumes millions of dollars, requires countless hours, and yields an epic number of truckloads of ’stuff.’ Most of the freight is moved on what we "jingle trucks." Drawing the name from decorative chains that dangle from their bumpers, Afghan truckers are the most plentiful moving parts in this massive logistical machine. But a 1989 Mercedes or MAN with 340,000 miles is a soft meaty target for a hungry Taliban trooper. So we drive each mile with our Afghan counterparts, providing a big gun every few trucks to make sure they don’t get messed with. EXPERIENCES - I’ve been leading a gun crew on these security missions for some five months now, and have a pretty good grasp on the concept. (READ MORE)

Life at Joint Base Balad: A Tribute to the JBB USO - When you arrive in Iraq, you are far from home and in an unfamiliar environment. Most of Joint Base Balad consists of warehouses or working buildings dedicated solely to the Army mission, and it’s not a friendly, welcoming, or comfortable place. As shown in past posts, JBB has many other ways to compensate. I’ve discussed the swimming pools, the rec centers and gyms, the movie theater, the wonderful food at the DFAC’s. One special place on JBB is the USO. USO stands for United Service Organizations. The USO Website says “Since just before World War II, the USO has been the bridge between the American people and our men and women in uniform, conveying the heartfelt appreciation and support of a grateful nation. Whether it is a quiet place to go for rest and relaxation, movies refreshments, or a friendly face, the USO consistently delivers its special brand of service to the military.” (READ MORE)

Bill Roggio: US airstrike kills 4 Taliban in North Waziristan - The US has killed four Taliban fighters in just the second airstrike in Pakistan's tribal areas this month. Unmanned aircraft, likely remotely piloted Predator or Reaper drones, hit a Taliban compound in the village of Shanakhora, which lies six miles west of Miramshah in North Waziristan, with two Hellfire missiles. “It was a US drone attack which targeted a militant compound killing four militants and wounding five others,” a senior Pakistani security official in the region told AFP. “The compound was being used by Taliban militants, however it is not clear whether there were any foreign militants or high-value targets,” another Pakistani official told the news service. The region is a stronghold of the Haqqani Network. The Haqqani family is led by Jalaluddin and his son Siraj, who serves as the military commander. (READ MORE)

Bill Roggio: Afghan forces battle the Haqqani Network in Paktika - Afghan troops killed 23 Haqqani Network and foreign fighters during a clash in Afghanistan's eastern province of Paktika. The battle took place in Paktika's Barmal district along the border with Pakistan. Arab and Pakistani fighters were among those reported killed during the clash, the Afghan military said. Today's clash followed a raid on Nov. 15, where six Haqqani Network fighters were killed in the Sarobi district. A "group commander" was reported to be among those killed. Also, two suicide bombers were killed during a premature detonation of their explosives in the Yaya Khil district. Both the Barmal and Sarobi districts are Taliban strongholds in Paktika province. Paktika province is run by Mullah Sangeen Zadran, who is the shadow governor. Mullah Sangeen is a senior lieutenant to Siraj Haqqani, the military commander of the Haqqani Network. (READ MORE)

Dude in the Desert: 19 Nov 09 - this morning I saw chief in the latrine and he assured me that we would be picking up generators today…anyho, it was just another day of sitting around and not doing much at the barn…found out one of the Army guys is going home early…having family problems…that sucks–he won’t be back either…they aren’t supposed to leave until Jan, but I guess this is something big…not really sure what the deal is–I try not to get into other people’s business…anyhoo, one less person at the barn means others have to take up the slack…not that it really affects me in anyway…I just fix trucks nad push parts/supplies out to the other mechanics out at the FOBs…that’s just the new talk of the guys at work..thought I’d share…so as usual I go upstairs, get a cup of coffee, smoke a few cigarettes and wait for lunch… pretty much the same as every other day .. altho, no v-ball today.. the guy hit it over some connexes yesterday and now they can’t find it… (READ MORE)

War is Boring: U.S. Air Force Advisers Struggle with Afghan Cultural Gap - The Afghan helicopter, a brand-new Russian-made Mi-17, wasn’t clearly his, but U.S. Air Force Maj. Darren Brumfield was still determined to keep it. His unit, the 438th Air Expeditionary Training Group, needs four transport helicopters to perform its mission, and in early November, the group had just three. Assembled in Kandahar in April and tasked with mentoring the local Afghan National Army Air Corps wing, the group “shadows” and advises its Afghan counterparts as the Afghans maintain and fly the helicopters on behalf of the Afghan military. But of the three helicopters the unit did have on hand, two were in need of maintenance, with one of them in such bad shape that it essentially needed be replaced. “We’re broke,” is how Master Sgt. John Anderson put it. So Brumfield had arranged with the Afghan military to send fresh choppers from Kabul. (READ MORE)

Sorority Soldier: The Army Game - Fort Dix is boring. We’ve been outprocessing since we got here, which is just a game of hurry up and wait. We’re going through the demob center with a few other units, so there are lots of people backed up at one station which makes for good reading time (my current choice is Chronicles of Narnia). I finished all my paperwork, so now the hold up is reading my TB results which is tomorrow afternoon (takes 48 hours). After that, they’ll book me a flight home. Can’t wait! (READ MORE)

Dena Yllescas: Merry Christmas from Heaven - Last week I went on a much needed "mini vacation" to Texas without the girls. I made a quick trip to Killeen to check on my house (which was in pretty good shape except for some cobwebs and nasty toilets!) then it was off to Dallas for the rest of the weekend. I was able to do some golfing and shopping. I got back last night to a very cranky little girl (I think she had too much fun with her grandpas and grandmas!) and another girl who wanted to start decorating for Christmas NOW. I have always loved Christmas and tend to have a weakness for Christmas decorations. So, as you can imagine, I was a little overwhelmed with my 6 TUBS of Christmas decorations and 3 Christmas trees!!!! Of course no decorating can be done while Eva's awake because that would just be pointless! So, I told Julia that today I would decorate as much as I could while she was at school and Eva was at daycare and have the Christmas tree ready for her to decorate when Eva goes to bed. (READ MORE)

War, the military, COIN and stuff: Embedded in Afghanistan - While in Afghanistan in September, I spent some time with an Embedded Training Team from A Company of the 1st Battalion, 121st Regiment, 48th Brigade Combat Team, part of the Georgia National Guard, to observe the training and mentoring of the Afghan Army at the operational level out in the field. My longer-form piece about the embed is out in the November issue of DTI, and it features some interviews with Afghan Army officers, a perspective that is missing from too much of our domestic debate about the war. This is an Afghan war—I would even say an Afghan civil war—and it has to be fought by Afghans. In order for the NATO alliance to have a reasoned and well-informed debate about the way forward in Afghanistan, we first have to understand what the Afghans want, and to do that we have to listen to them, as opposed to arguing among ourselves at think tank conferences in the comfortable capital cities of the West. (READ MORE)

The Captain's Journal: Pakistan Crumbles - Pakistan’s military offensive against the Taliban in Swat has not produced the desired effect, as commander Maulana Fazlullah and many of his fighters have escaped the region (Fazlullah is in Afghanistan). Much the same thing is happening with the Taliban in Waziristan as a result of the Pakistani offensive there. On Tuesday, the military escorted journalists on a tour of the area, where it closely restricts access, showing piles of things they had seized, including weapons, bombs, photos and even a long, curly wig. “It all started from here,” said Brig. Muhammed Shafiq, the commander here. “This is the most important town in South Waziristan.” But lasting success has been elusive, tempered by an agile enemy that has moved easily from one part of the tribal areas to the next — and even deeper into Pakistan — virtually every time it has been challenged. (READ MORE)

Maj Pain: Keeping the bad guys on the run - Gang- Its been a freaking whirlwind to date. Getting ready to deploy, staying, getting ready to deploy again etc, then finally departing. Flying, no shit, around the world stopping in every third world country then arriving in country and start moving again. Now we are somewhat stationary. Mail has gotten better as has our way of life. We have improved from Wag-bags (burning poop) to port a johns and we get two hot meals a day…pretty damn good chow too. Living conditions are austere, no salsa nights here, just warriors patrolling their butts off and going where the enemy thought they owned terrain. The bad guys don’t like us very much, but on the contrary, the locals love us. Are we making a difference? Bet yer ass. Email is limited as you can tell by the amount of posts produced, been busy supporting Marines. Your Warriors are doing freaking outstanding things! (READ MORE)

Transistions: Official Day # 2 - I begin writing this from my bunk while my other cohorts sleep off a heavy-sitting lunch and as a strong, steady wind blows across the dry, dusty sand causing a layer of haze to form up all around the camp while unlucky people walking about outside are treated to the constant reminder of why they should walk around with their mouths closed lest they want to taste the grit of fine sand amongst their teeth, tongue, and gums. I awoke this morning, after a not-so sleep-filled night, to the rustle of sleeping bags and the creaks of metal bed frames of my fellow bunkmates as they began to pile out of bed to make the trek to the head and shower hut located 30 to 40 yards away. Since my body was still on the Seattle time zone time and not yet ready for the major change it had undergone, I was wide awake at 0430 local time and in serious need of a shower and shave. As a handful of us got up to get ready for the day, a few of the others decide to stay in the 30' x 15' wooden huts that are lined with 8 bunk beds each and play catch-up with the ever-so-crafty sleep fairy eluding us. (READ MORE)


News from the Front:
Iraq:
Al Qaeda in Iraq becoming less foreign-U.S. general - Al Qaeda in Iraq is becoming more Iraqi and less dominated by foreigners as the insurgent group increasingly joins forces with Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, the commander of U.S. forces said on Wednesday. Investigations into massive suicide bombings in Baghdad on Oct. 25, in which more than 150 people died, indicated that explosives or fighters were coming across from Syria, U.S. General Ray Odierno also said. (READ MORE)

Iraq January Election on Hold - Plans to hold Iraqi parliamentary elections in January are once again facing uncertainty, after Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi indicated that he was vetoing part of the electoral law, passed on November 8. As a result, Iraq's electoral commission says it has halted preparations for the general election scheduled for January. (READ MORE)

Iraqi Election Measure Vetoed - Iraq's Sunni vice president on Wednesday vetoed legislation to organize parliamentary elections in January, throwing the measure back to a fractious parliament that spent months haggling over it and threatening to further delay a vote the US military has deemed essential to its plans to withdraw from Iraq. The veto by Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi was the latest setback amid growing criticism of the election by the country's biggest minorities - Sunni Arabs and Kurds: (READ MORE)

Veto of Iraq’s Election Law Could Force Vote Delay - Iraq was thrown into a fresh political crisis on Wednesday after a vice president vetoed a newly passed election law, delaying the vote, setting off fresh sectarian wrangling and possibly complicating plans to withdraw American troops. In a move that caught American officials by surprise, one of two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashemi, said Wednesday that he had vetoed the new election law the night before: (READ MORE)

Iraq Vice President Vetoes New Election Law - One of Iraq's vice presidents vetoed the country's new election law Wednesday, throwing into fresh doubt the feasibility of holding crucial national balloting in January and possibly disrupting the withdrawal next year of US troops. Vice President Tariq Hashimi, a Sunni Arab, carried out his threat to veto the law because, he said, it does not provide for enough seats to represent Iraqi refugees who fled the violence of recent years: (READ MORE)

Iraqi Veto Threatens Parliamentary Vote - Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi vetoed a recently approved election law, throwing a parliamentary vote slated for January into question. The veto is the latest holdup for the legislation, which election officials say they need in place before national polls early next year. The elections have become a factor in US planning for a large-scale military withdrawal scheduled for 2010. (READ MORE)

44th Iraqi Army captures Baghdad Kata’ib Hezbollah member - Soldiers from the 44th Iraqi Army arrested a Kata’ib Hezbollah cell member during a joint security operation conducted in northeastern Baghdad today. Iraqi Army and U.S. advisors searched a building for and found the Kata’ib Hezbollah member, who allegedly leads a sniper and missiles group in addition to being part of a media cell that records attacks against security forces in Iraq. (READ MORE)

Women discuss selling wares on US base - A meeting room inside the library here was filled with lively conversations, Nov. 14, as Iraqi women discussed business opportunities available to them within the Salah ad-Din province. Women from Balad, Samarra, and Dujayl gathered together for a business workshop to exchange ideas about the possibilities of selling hand-made goods on Contingency Operating Base Speicher at the Iraqi Souq Bazaar. (READ MORE)

Iraqis seek out, arrest 11 criminal suspects - Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) arrested 11 terrorism suspects in operations over the last two days, military officials reported. Iraqi forces and U.S. advisors searched several buildings throughout Baghdad yesterday during a series of operations to search for a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) leader believed responsible for multiple vehicle-borne bomb attacks in the region. (READ MORE)



Afghanistan:
Operational Update, Nov. 19: - An Afghan-international security force detained several suspected militants in northern Kandahar province Wednesday while pursuing a senior Taliban commander. The joint security force targeted two vehicles near the village of Sahabey in Ghorak district after intelligence indicated militant activity. One of the vehicles contained an RPG launcher and several rounds, as well as a PKM machine gun and ammunition. (READ MORE)

Canada's Expeditionary Force Commander Visits ISAF Joint Command - Lt. Gen. Marc Lessard, commander of Canada's Expeditionary Force Command, visited the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Joint Command (IJC) at the North Kabul International Airport (NKAIA) military compound Nov. 17. Maj. Gen. Jacques Lechevallier, the IJC’s deputy commander hosted Lessard during his visit. (READ MORE)

Karzai Sworn in for Second Term as Afghan President - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been sworn in for a second five-year term following his disputed victory in fraud-marred presidential elections. The inauguration was held Thursday at the presidential palace in the capital Kabul. (READ MORE)

Afghan President Karzai's inauguration speech - In his inauguration address in Kabul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has vowed to combat corruption and work with his main rivals. Here are some key excerpts from his speech to the nation. (READ MORE)

Pakistani Military Encounters Little Fight as Militants Flee - This windswept, sand-colored town in the badlands of western Pakistan is empty now, cleared of the militants who once claimed it as their capital. But its main brick buildings, intact and thick with dust, tell not of an epic battle, but of sudden flight. A month after the Pakistani military began its push into the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan, militants appear to have been dispersed, not eliminated, with most simply fleeing. (READ MORE)

At Least 19 Reported Dead in Pakistan Blast - Pakistani officials say a suicide bomber killed at least 19 people outside a court building in Peshawar Thursday, in the latest attack to strike the northwestern city. The bombing was the sixth in less than two weeks in and around Peshawar. Officials say the attacker blew himself up when guards were trying to search him at the court's gate. They say three policemen were among the dead. Doctors say at least 36 people were wounded. (READ MORE)

Debate Shifts to Afghan Exit Plan - President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have turned the focus of Afghan war planning toward an exit strategy, publicly declaring that the US and its allies can't send additional troops without a plan for getting them out. The shift has unnerved some US and foreign officials, who say that planning a pullout now - with or without a specific timetable - encourages the Taliban to wait out foreign forces and exacerbates fears in the region that the US isn't fully committed to their security. (READ MORE)

Obama: Afghanistan Decision Due in Next Several Weeks - President Barack Obama says he will announce his highly anticipated decision on US strategy in Afghanistan over the next several weeks. The president says the decision will put the United States and its NATO allies on a path toward winning the war. During his visit to Beijing Wednesday, President Obama told NBC television his long-awaited decision on Afghanistan will address every aspect of US strategy in the war. (READ MORE)

Decisions Will Pave Path to End War, Obama Says - A range of decisions still remain for President Barack Obama and his administration to finalize the US strategy in Afghanistan, the president said in Beijing today. In separate interviews with traveling press, Obama said Afghans have to responsible for their own security and Pakistan has to be more effectively involved. “There are a range of things that we know we have to do,” the president told CBS correspondent Chip Reid. (READ MORE)

Karzai Sworn In for Second Term as Afghan President - Tainted by a flawed election and allegations of high-level corruption in his regime, President Hamid Karzai was inaugurated Thursday for a second term, saying the Afghan Army should assume full control of the country’s security within five years. “We will decrease the role of international forces,” Mr. Karzai said at a midday ceremony held at the presidential palace in Kabul. (READ MORE)

Karzai Sworn in as Afghanistan President - Hamid Karzai was sworn in today for a second-five year term as Afghanistan's president, assuming leadership of a war-battered nation and a government that the West is demanding be cleansed of corruption. The ceremony took place in a soaring, white-columned chamber in the fortresslike presidential palace, before an audience of Afghan and foreign dignitaries... (READ MORE)

Karzai Sworn In, Offers Few Specifics on Corruption - President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second full term Thursday, promising to fight corruption but offering little in terms of specifics, as hundreds of foreign dignitaries watched for signs of his determination to rid his government of graft and cronyism. In his speech, Mr. Karzai, 51, also set the ambitious goals of having Afghan forces take over security across the country and ending Afghanistan's reliance on private security companies by the end of his new five-year term. (READ MORE)

Hamid Karzai Sworn in for Second Term as Afghanistan President - Hamid Karzai pledged to tackle corruption and said he wanted Afghan forces to take over security of the country within five years as he was sworn in for a second term as president. Mr Karzai also called for a national tribal council to seek peace with Afghanistan’s insurgents. He made his announcement as 800 guests watched him inaugurated amid tight security in his fortified palace in the heart of Kabul. (READ MORE)

Clinton: Afghanistan Faces Critical Moment With Karzai's Second Term - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Afghanistan to join foreign dignitaries and Afghan leaders Thursday for President Hamid Karzai's inauguration ceremony. Secretary Clinton says Afghanistan is at a critical moment in its history on the eve of the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai's second term. Speaking alongside US Ambassador to Kabul Karl Eikenberry, Clinton addressed a few hundred members of the US Embassy staff. (READ MORE)

US Demands Clear Results From Afghan Reforms - President Obama’s top diplomat privately pressed Afghan President Hamid Karzai to deliver “measurable results” on governance and corruption as the White House prepared specific new demands to accompany an American troop buildup. In an unannounced visit Wednesday to Kabul, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Mr. Karzai that future civilian aid would depend in part on how his government performed in areas like developing an effective army and curbing cronyism... (READ MORE)

$30m Bribe Claim Sours West’s Hope that Karzai Can Show He is Fit to Lead - New claims of corruption will hang over Hamid Karzai today as he tries to use his inauguration to persuade Western allies that he is capable of changing his ways and arresting Afghanistan’s downward spiral. Every word from the Afghan leader, when he speaks to about 300 foreign dignitaries at his inauguration ceremony in Kabul, will be scrutinised in London and Washington... (READ MORE)

Pakistan: Suicide Bomber Kills 30 Outside Peshawar Court - A suicide bomber has killed an estimated 30 people and wounded 36 outside a Pakistan court in the latest attack to strike the northwest city of Peshawar. The bomb exploded at the main gate of the building near the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel, where at least nine people were killed when attackers shot their way through a security checkpost and blew up a truck bomb in June. (READ MORE)

Deadly Blast at Pakistan Courthouse - A suicide blast near the judicial complex in Peshawar on Thursday killed at least 16 people and injured more than two dozen others, a senior police official said. The official, Sahibzada Anis, said in Peshawar that a suicide bomber stepped out of a taxi and attempted to make his way to the main gate of the courthouse complex after his car was stopped for a security check. (READ MORE)

Mr. Obama’s Task - There is no doubt that the prospects for success in Afghanistan are so bleak right now because former President George W. Bush failed for seven long years to invest the necessary troops, resources or attention to the war. But it is now President Obama’s war, and the American people are waiting for him to explain his goals and his strategy. Mr. Obama was right to conduct a sober, systematic review of his options. (READ MORE)

This is how General George S. Patton would sum things up .... and then catch holy hell from Ike.

He sure had a unique way of expressing his thoughts.



ATTENTION!

To ALL those whining, panty-waisted, pathetic Citizens, it's time for a little refresher course on exactly why we Americans occasionally have to fight wars to keep this nation great.

See if you can tear yourself away from your "reality" TV and Starbucks for a minute, pull your head out of your ass -- and LISTEN UP!!

Abu Ghraib is not "torture" or an "atrocity." This is the kind of thing frat boys, sorority girls, and academy cadets do every year. A little fun at someone else's expense.

Certainly no reason to wring your hands or get your panties in a wad.

Got that ?

THIS IS an atrocity!


So Was This!!!


And this!


Islam a peaceful religion? My Ass! Millions of these warped misled sons-of-bitches are plotting, as we speak, to destroy our country and our way of life any way they can. Some of them are here among us now.

They don't want to convert you and don't want to rule you. They believe you are a vile infestation of Allah's paradise. They don't give a shit how "progressive" you are, how peace-loving you are, or how much you sympathize with their cause.

They want your ass dead, and they think it is God's will for them to do it.


Some think if we give them a hug or listen to them, then they'll like us, and if you agree -
Then you are a pathetic dumb ass!

If they manage to get their hands on a nuke, chemical agents, or even some anthrax -- you will wish to God we had hunted them down and killed THEM while we had the chance.

How many more Americans must be beheaded? You've fallen asleep AGAIN - get your head out of your ass! You may never get another chance!

NOW GET OFF YOUR SORRY ASS and pass this on to any and every person you give a damn about - if you ever gave a damn about anything!

News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front. (New complete posts come in below)

Sketchpad Warrior: Blasts From The Past - I've been looking through my "catalogue raisonne", and found some of my old sketches I thought I'd post again... Studies for "A Little Light Reading": I had a blast doing each of these sketches, and wanted to show them again to all who might have a blast viewing them. (MORE)

Noah Shachtman: U.S. Turns to Local Guns-for-Hire to Guard Afghan Outpost - The U.S. military is turning to guns-for-hire to guard one of its outposts in Afghanistan. But Blackwaters of the world, take note: simply hiring former G.I.s or American cops or even Nepalese Gurkhas won’t do the trick this time. At least half of the 50-man force has to come “from within a 50 kilometer radius” of the base, according to a contract solicitation issued by the U.S. Air Force. Over the summer, the American military signaled its interest in hiring an army of contractors to help handle security at as many as 50 outposts in Afghanistan. It’s one of several efforts efforts designed to free up uniformed troops for combat and counterinsurgency work. Now, U.S. forces appear to be taking the first step towards building that country-wide private security force, by soliciting bids for a team that watch over Forward Operating Base Lightening, in Paktya province. (READ MORE)

War is Boring: U.S. Air Force Defends Endangered Rescue Mission - It was a mission that stretched the airmen to their absolute limits. Coalition troops were stranded on an Afghan mountain, some 9,000 feet above sea level, somewhere in the country’s north. An element of the 33rd Rescue Squadron, normally based in Kadena, Japan, was tapped for the rescue attempt. Flying from Bagram, outside Kabul, they would recover the troops in a pair of HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters. In each armored Pave Hawk ride teams of highly trained combat medics. Door gunners scan for threats and suppress them with bullet-spewing mini-guns. Problem is, the lavishly-equipped Pave Hawk is a less than stellar performer at altitude. Under-powered for its size and over-burdened with armor and weapons, the Pave Hawk can’t reach 9,000 feet under normal circumstances. In Afghanistan flat, low south, where other HH-60Gs are based, that’s not a problem. In the mountainous north, even routine rescues can pose huge challenges. (READ MORE)

War, the military, COIN and stuff: The Afghan Army's Logistics Problem - When people talk about the problems besetting the Afghan National Army, three issues usually jump to the head of the pack: the difficulties the ANA has in supplying its soldiers in the field with food, clothing, ammunition, and shelter; the issue of corruption at all levels from the ministerial to the grunts on the ground; and third, the ability—or the willingness—of the ANA to fight. The first two issues were the topic of a conversation I had last month with Major General Richard Formica, commanding general of the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A), the organization tasked with training the Afghan army and police. Formica had no qualms about discussing the areas in which the Afghans lack capacity, and described a force that is rapidly increasing in size and fighting effectiveness, (when it fights), but is still years away from being able to stand on its own. (READ MORE)

The Torch: Big Canadian operation at Kandahar ignored/Other CF Afstan news - So far only the Globe and Mail has seen fit to report this; most of our media only pretend to cover the CF at Kanadahar, and don't even use what is reported--see second story: “Canadian offensive sees little action [that's good, right?] Operation Hydra launches with 1,000 Canadian troops [emphasis added, that's big, right?] and 200 Afghanistan National Army soldiers in push toward a known Taliban command post south of Kandahar. One of the biggest Canadian operations of the entire Afghanistan mission launched this week with barely a shot fired. More than 1,000 Canadian troops and 200 Afghanistan National Army soldiers surged towards the village of Haji Baba, a known Taliban command post south of Kandahar, on Sunday, encountering a single belligerent insurgent along with a maze of improvised explosive devices.” A broader story from CP, picked up by almost none of our major media. Fie! “Sizing up new Canadian tactics against changing insurgency in Afghanistan - The Canadian military says its new methods are effectively weakening the insurgency in Afghanistan, but the Taliban's resilience is raising questions about the changing nature of the guerrilla war.” (READ MORE)

this is our life: *bittersweet* - A couple days after Ben left I remember thinking to myself, "We (the kids and I) are really alone. It's just us." I was surrounded by family, but I felt lonely and isolated thinking I was the only one who could understand what I was going through. Then we packed up and moved out of my parent's house and into The Village. I was determined to make our new 'home' feel like it used to when Ben was here. The Village is where I met one of my best friends. It's said in the military you make friends quickly because you know you have to hurry and get to know them before you or they move again. That was the case in our friendship. We heard that we were in the same situation and we instantly became friends. We began spending A LOT of time together: FHE, we ate dinner together, movies, bowling, hanging out at the lake. If there was something to do in Rexburg we did it, together with the kids. Because of Angie and her kids I am able to say that we had a fun summer. (READ MORE)

She of the Sea: But You're Right Here - I find myself in a frustrating situation this week. My husband, who is deployed, has come back to the States for some sort of training. He's here, in this country. In my deployment warped brain, this means that I should be able to talk to him, email, or generally make contact more easily than when he's far, far away. Unfortunately, that isn't always true. Yes, he's here, but he's working. And he's jet-lagged. And he may or may not have a decent internet connection. And he can't call our home phone from his cell phone because the kids would see it on the caller ID and know that he's here. I'm having a hard time not getting irritated by this. For goodness sake, you're only four hours away. I should be able to pick up the phone and talk to you. Or hop on the computer and find you online. It is amazing how ones perception gets warped. (READ MORE)

Mike Francis, The Oregonian: Goodbye to Iraq, and thanks - The soldiers of Oregon's 41st Brigade are about halfway through their Iraq deployment, but I'm finally home after a gruelling passage through Kuwait and a misadventure or two. I said goodbye to my last acquaintance in the Oregon National Guard on Monday afternoon in Salt Lake City. SSG Tom McNeil of Central Point was peeling off to fly to Medford, close to his home in Central Point, while I continued on to Portland. Have a terrific Thanksgiving at home, Tom. Thanks to all the folks along the way, especially the soldiers of Oregon's 41st Brigade Combat Team, for the many kindnesses extended to me during my sojourn among them. This toast to you, and I'm starting with you two, since you challenged me to do this, Scott and Mike. (READ MORE)

Mike Francis, The Oregonian: A few words from medics for the 41st Brigade - I spent an hour or two last month with Oregon National Guard medics who are based at Al Asad Airbase, discussing a little of what they've observed since coming to Iraq this summer. The discussion, as you might think, covered issues in two categories: The physical and the mental. The Physical - CPT Scott Johnson of Newport, who is the highest-ranking soldier in the medical support unit at Al Asad, said that medics are seeing a significant share of orthopedic issues that stem from the heavy loads that soldiers carry. Even though the war has wound down considerably over the last few years, soldiers on convoys and at checkpoints still wear a lot of body armor and carry a lot of ammunition and weaponry, as much as 65 pounds or even more. Over time, even young soldiers experience increased stress on their joints from walking, running and jumping with that much gear. (READ MORE)

Dude in the Desert: 16 Nov 09 - well, today I woke up kinda late … stayed up late doing nothing — watching The Office–I love that freakin show…it was a little chilly this morning but not as cold as it has been lately…I still grabbed my thermal shirt…I hopped in the shop truck to head over to the shop…it’s a whole 250 yeards away, but I drive over there every day anyway…mainly just so we have the truck over there, you know, in case we need to actually use it…well, today we didn’t need to use it at all–except to empty the dead batteries and contaminated fuel out of the truck–stuff that was in the back from other work…I got over to the barn and hung out doing nothing again…I did get some news yesterday afternoon that I will be heading out to a FOB for a few days…not sure when I am leaving–in a week or so, and don’t know when I’ll be back–prob only out there for a few days…Ma, don’t freak out…it’s just rollin out to a FOB, do a couple jobs, and roll back here… (READ MORE)

Bill Roggio: Pakistani military hits Taliban in Arakzai - The Pakistani military pounded Taliban strongholds in the tribal agency of Arakzai, a region where Taliban leaders from South Waziristan have regrouped. Pakistani Air Force fighter-bombers, Army attack helicopters, and artillery batteries struck enemy hideouts and supply depots in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency on Saturday and Sunday, killing 30 Taliban fighters. On Saturday, Pakistani Air Force fighter-bombers hit Taliban ammunition and supply depots that were established in the homes of Sikhs who had been forced to leave the tribal agency. This bombardment reportedly killed 12 Taliban fighters. In December 2008, the Taliban imposed sharia, or Islamic law, in Arakzai and forced the Sikhs to pay jizya, a tax enforced on non-Muslims. Many Sikhs fled their homes, which were subsequently taken over by the Taliban. On Sunday, fighter bombers, attack helicopters, and artillery batteries hit Taliban bunkers... (READ MORE)

Knottie's Niche: No Man Left Behind - We’ve all heard the military quote “No Man left behind” But it wasn’t until last weekend as I sat listening to a veteran Marine talking to an Army Sgt about how the Army helicopter pilot who saved him and many others in Vietnam by flying in a hot zone repeatedly to save men that it hit home. The words took on a whole new meaning to me. When Micheal was killed the Army did not leave us behind. It started with a visit to tell us the news and they did not leave until there was no more they could do for us in that moment. Then there was the email to let us know no one else had been hurt from one of the medics. The Army did not leave us behind when they assigned us a causality assistance officer who walked us through each step, even offering to go to the store for us at any hour of the day if we needed anything at all. Then the emails, calls and instant message conversations from the men who served with Micheal began. (READ MORE)

IraqPundit: Iraqis Get Democracy - Whether wittingly or unwittingly, the AP wrote an okay story about Iraq today. The reporter says the impact of the recent bombings in Baghdad lingers. That is definitely true. "Recent bombings that hit government buildings in downtown Baghdad killed more than 250 people and wounded hundreds more. The blasts also had a wider effect: slowing down the government services Iraqis use on a daily basis." It is unclear whether the reporter understood that the Iraqi people don't support the attacks that target them. Nobody is certain who the murderers are or what they want. The media often present Iraqis as ones who are taking sides in this murder campaign when in fact they just want to live. There are hints that the AP understands what's going on, but one can never be sure. The story quotes government worker Bosho Ibrahim who said the people who bombed his building and others are trying to undermine the whole government. (READ MORE)

IraqPundit: Yes Iraq Is Worth the Effort - A WaPo reporter who has been covering Iraq wrote a piece asking whether the war was worth it. The newspaper has largely reported on Iraq as though it's a country of worthless inhabitants -- until, of course, they can be used to support their argument that President Bush was no good at his job. In that case, they're poor victims. Otherwise, they are simply to be written off. The article talks about the role of the U.S. military, and asks whether their work and sacrifices were worth it. Does this god-forsaken place deserve their efforts? Almost begrudgingly the reporter writes that it was worth it. To the people whose lives are affected by the conflict, the U.S. soldiers and the Iraqi people, it's worth it. To the mainstream media, it isn't. That's why it was a surprise to see this story in the paper. "Samarra, where the U.S. military closed a key base this fall, in many ways embodies the Iraq that American forces are leaving behind as the troop drawdown begins in earnest. (READ MORE)

In Iraq Now (at 56): Fright Night - At the end of the day today, I was thinking very hard about how much we are the sum of our habits. How what we do again and again becomes what we are, because what we do by habit eats into the 168 hours we have every week to sleep seven nights, eat 21 meals, brush our teeth at least 14 times, take seven showers, dress and undress at least 28 times, maybe triple that if you ride a bike in the middle of the day. I used to smoke. Most of my life from 13 to 33 I smoked. I estimated something on the order of 100,000 cigarettes. I am well past any current desire to smoke, but I still consider myself a smoker--at least in the sense that a long stretch of my life was limited by that bad habit. And now I carry a gun. I have been carrying a gun for a year. I ride my bike with a gun. I wonder about using the gun. As my last day on the range showed, I am only accurate with the gun if it is supported by something. (READ MORE)

Bruce R: Today's essential Afghan reading - Gilles Dorronsoro and David Kilcullen are shaping the new Conventional Wisdom on Afghanistan virtually as I write. What's out, in this new CW? PRTs, NATO-style OMLTs, and clear-hold-build at least as a generally applicable model: basically all the assumptions my roto fought under, more or less. The growing consensus of these scholars and others seems to be that 2009, despite all the new resources thrown at it by Pres. Obama, was still another year of stepping backwards, primarily due to an overfocus on Helmand, where whatever payoff it has had on the ground has to be balanced with the spike in casualties that came with it starkly eroding U.S. will and nearly driving the U.K. out of the war; and the election fiasco. Dorronsoro: "A common misperception is that the insurgents are terrorizing the Afghan people and that the insurgents’ level of support among the people is marginal." (READ MORE)

Army of Dude: The Thing I Carried - Special Edition - A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of hearing Tim O'Brien speak at Texas State University about the art of writing. He read from a recent magazine article and entertained a few questions. During his book signing I presented a copy of "The Things They Carried" that I literally did carry in Iraq. Its edges were torn and bent, the pages browned by dust and sand. I brought an edited copy of an old favorite entry on here, The Thing I Carried, thanked him for the reading, and handed over the copy. The version I gave him is reproduced here. Enjoy. The Thing I Carried - Out of the Army and into school. That was the simple plan that many of us adopted before we deployed in the summer of 2006. In between crusty Army lifers were shortimers, soldiers approaching the twilight of their enlistment. For some, two deployments to Iraq were enough for a lifetime. Others made plans to get out before desert boots touched foreign sand. (READ MORE)

Michael Innes: The war of leaks - The Obama Administration's social media prowess has been a novelty among latter day political media machines. It helped to crowd-source the campaign funding needed to put Barack Obama in the White House, and generated a populist gloss that was, at the time, convincingly fresh and transparent. What was equally admirable was its apparent internal discipline over when information made the transition from government secret to press release. Controlling the flow of data and keeping secrets secret is a challenge under any circumstance. Combine that with a predilection for Facebook and Twitter, and a hyperactive security officer might expect policy waters to muddy more quickly than they would under normal circumstances. So when U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry's expressed his "discomfort" last week over a possible troop surge, via diplomatic cable to Washington, it's no wonder that the message ended up dominating headlines. (READ MORE)

P.J. Tobia: Exporting Afghanistan: A Photo Essay - Last week I wrote this story for the IPS newswire about a program in Kabul that buys fruit from farmers across Afghanistan, packages the produce and exports it to the wider world. The program, based out of the Badam Bagh neighborhood (which means “almond grove” in Dari) also has a model farm where farmers from dozens of provinces come to learn modern organic agricultural techniques. It’s a cool program, funded by USAID and administered by the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, and teaches farmers everything from safe use of organic pesticides to crop rotation methods. This year alone the Badam Bagh shipping center has packaged and shipped 3 million tons of apples from Wardak and Paktia provinces to consumers in other countries The day I was there, a huge shipment of pomegranates came in from Kandahar. I was given a few as a gift, and they were some of the sweetest fruit I’ve tasted. (READ MORE)

3rd Time, New Country: Boondoggle - I know I am a little late on posting to my blog, but I returned from a boondoggle out to Mazar-e-Sharif in the Northern provinces. I even have some pictures to post with this entry. First, let me recap last week. We did make a normal trip to NDS. It was actually a clear, cool morning which is a rarity here in Kabul. The pollution is so thick that it is very rare to see the distant mountains. So, here is a picture of the snow-capped mountains, west of Kabul. This picture was taken last Monday. I haven’t seen the mountains since. Other than that, it was a normal week of mentoring. There are always little things to work on and improve in the OT. Friday was another violent day here in Kabul. The Taliban used a SVBIED outside Camp Phoenix a little before 0800. There were no American casualties, but there were injuries. You can read about it online. Here's hoping the Presidential Inauguration will be less violent than the actual elections. Now, for the boondoggle... (READ MORE)

Manatee's Military Moms: Patience, please! - No communications. The Bonhomme Richard’s Facebook page is a great way to feel connected to our Marines and Sailors, except when people start to speculate or freak out, and that happens when communications are down for one reason or another. A letter from the Captain reminded us that there are very important reasons for that, and reassured us that our loved ones are well: From the Captain... Greetings family and friends. Life is great on BHR as we sail today. Your Sailors and Marines continue to do remarkable work keeping this great ship humming and ready to perform any mission that comes our way. Rest assured we are safe and mission focused. I would like to remind you that from time to time we may be out of normal communication opportunities. This is a routine part of sailing ships at sea. The reasons for communication challenges range across an entire spectrum, but they are a fact of life. (READ MORE)

McQ: The Coming Afghan Decision - How Much Is Driven By Politics? - Richard Fernandez of the Belmont Club writes a very well done essay on the present Afghanistan decision making process. He compares Andrew Sullivan's apologia with David Kilcullen's concerns about the time involved in reaching a decision. You can disregard the Sullivan part except to understand that he thinks it is just marvelous that Obama is taking so much time considering all the options and doing his homework before making a decision to change the strategy there. Fernandez reminds us of a very important point that seems to have escaped many as they await the decision. The strategy President Obama is planning on changing is his own. In March of this year he said: Good morning. Today, I am announcing a comprehensive, new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. This marks the conclusion of a careful policy review that I ordered as soon as I took office. My Administration has heard from our military commanders and diplomats. (READ MORE)

News from the Front:
Iraq:
Iraqi Kurds Warn of Election Boycott in Dispute Over Seats - Kurdish officials threatened Tuesday to boycott the upcoming national election in the three provinces they control in northern Iraq unless more parliament seats are allocated to the region. The threat came two days after Iraq's Sunni vice president said he would veto the election law passed last week unless more seats are set aside for representatives of Iraqi refugees. (READ MORE)

Kurdish Legislators Threaten Boycott of Iraq Election - Only a week after Iraq’s leaders celebrated the passage of an election law that kept the country on course to hold its first national elections in four years, Kurdish lawmakers threatened Tuesday to boycott the election unless their demand for a greater share of parliamentary seats was met. (READ MORE)

ISF arrest 9 in pursuit of AQI VBIED cell members in Baghdad, Kirkuk - Iraqi Security Forces arrested nine suspected members of al-Qaeda in Iraq-sponsored vehicle-borne improvised explosive device cells today during two joint security operations in Baghdad and Kirkuk. ISF and U.S. advisors searched several buildings throughout Baghdad today during a series of operations searching for a suspected AQI leader believed to be responsible for multiple VBIED attacks in the region. (READ MORE)

Governor Schwarzenegger visits Iraq, meets troops - Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, met with Servicemembers today at Camp Victory where he shook hands and thanked them for their service in Baghdad, Iraq. Additional photos and videos of the governor’s visit with troops are posted on the Digital Visual Information Distribution System website: (READ MORE)

Bazaar raises money for widows, orphans - The Daughters of Iraq, a national womens' organization here, held a bazaar on Combat Outpost Meade to raise money for local widows and orphans, Nov. 13. Soldiers of the 113th Field Artillery Battalion's Civil Affairs Team, based at the COP, hosted the bazaar that featured the work of several female Baghdad-area artists and tailors. (READ MORE)

Iraqi forces arrest 21 terrorism suspects - Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), working with U.S. advisors, arrested 21 terrorism suspects in various recent operations, military officials reported. In southern Baghdad, Nov. 16, ISF and U.S. advisors searched a building for a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) leader alleged in an arrest warrant to be responsible for multiple vehicle-borne bomb attacks in the region. (READ MORE)

Iraqi Commandos, US Paratroopers prepare for joint air-assaults - Iraqi Commandos and Reconnaissance Scouts partnered with the "All American" paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division here, Nov. 15, to train for future joint helicopter air-assault operations. The 1st Iraqi Army Division Soldiers trained with Paratroopers of the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (Advise and Assist Brigade), on loading and unloading from assault helicopters. (READ MORE)


Afghanistan:
Afghan Rocket Attack Spurs Concern Over Taliban - A rocket attack apparently targeting French forces that killed ordinary Afghans raised concerns Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan about international troops' ability to secure a volatile valley despite a major offensive. Monday's assault in Tagab missed the shura — a traditional meeting called by French officers to explain their operation to local elders— but hit a crowded market area. Fourteen Afghan civilians were killed and dozens more wounded, said Afghan Gen. Paikan Zamaray. (READ MORE)

Soldiers to bribe Taleban recruits with hard cash - British soldiers should buy off potential Taleban recruits in Afghanistan with cash, according to a new Army field manual. Army commanders should also talk to insurgent leaders with "blood on their hands" to speed up the end of the drawn-out conflict , the guide said. The edicts, contained in rewritten counter-insurgency guidelines, will be given to all new Army officers, the Times said. (READ MORE)

Civilian death toll almost trebled in Afghan attack - Afghan officials said Tuesday 14 civilians had been killed by rockets fired by the Taliban into a crowded market a day earlier, almost trebling the original toll given for the attack in the country's northeast. "In total 14 people were martyred and 38 of our countrymen were wounded," Afghan Army General Paikan Zamaray told reporters after visiting some of the wounded at a medical facility in a NATO military base at Kabul airport. (READ MORE)

Khazei calls for Afghan military mission transfer - The United States should not send more troops to fight the war in Afghanistan, but instead should slowly draw down its own forces and transfer counterinsurgency operations to the Afghanistan government, Democratic Senate candidate Alan Khazei said Monday. Khazei, one of four Democrats running to succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, was to speak Monday at Harvard University to outline the details of his proposed new U.S. approach. (READ MORE)

UK urges 'clear political strategy' in Afghanistan - Success in Afghanistan can only come with a clear political strategy, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told a NATO gathering Tuesday. He also said Britain is ready to raise its "already high contributions" to the country on the basis of an agreed strategy. While Miliband did not specify whether that meant troops, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he will commit at least 500 more to Afghanistan. (READ MORE)

Afghan, NATO forces kill 5 Taliban insurgents, arrest 17 near Kabul - Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers backed by NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) eliminated five Taliban insurgents and detained 14 others in separate operations outside the capital city Kabul, officials said Tuesday. "Acting upon intelligence reports the joint forces raided a compound in Syed Abad district of Wardak provinces 40 km west of Kabul on Monday, killing four rebels on the spot," Shahidullah Shahid the spokesman for Wardak provincial administration told Xinhua. (READ MORE)

NATO Chief Confident Afghanistan Will Have More Troops - The NATO secretary-general says he is confident the United States and other NATO allies will send more troops to Afghanistan, where insurgent attacks have surged in recent months. He spoke at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Meeting in Edinburgh, where Britain's foreign secretary outlined the strategy his nation would support. (READ MORE)

Clinton In Afghanistan For Karzai Inauguration - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Afghanistan on Wednesday to attend the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai and meet with top U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChystal. Karzai is under stiff pressure from the U.S. and other nations to fight pervasive corruption in his government. Clinton — one of more than 40 dignitaries from the U.S., Europe and other countries scheduled to attend the event — has said the U.S. will not provide civilian aid to Afghanistan unless it can be sure the government can be accountable for the funds. (READ MORE)

Ridding Afghanistan of corruption will be no easy task - Afghans have a name for the huge, gaudy mansions that have sprung up in Kabul's wealthy Sherpur neighborhood since 2001. They call them "poppy palaces." The cost of building one of these homes, which are adorned with sweeping terraces and ornate columns, can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many are owned by government officials whose formal salaries are a few hundred dollars a month. (READ MORE)

Pakistani Successes May Sway US Troop Decision - A month after the Pakistani military began its push into the Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan, militants appear to have been dispersed, not eliminated, with most simply fleeing. That recurring pattern illustrated the problems facing the Obama administration as it enters its final days of a decision on its strategy for Afghanistan. (READ MORE)

Pakistani Army Shows Off Captured Taliban Posts - A toy car booby-trapped with explosives, chemistry textbooks and handwritten case files from a Taliban court were among the debris left behind by fleeing Islamist militants in this remote village in the conflicted tribal region of South Waziristan. The now-deserted village, which was retaken by Pakistani army forces two weeks ago and visited by Western journalists on Tuesday for the first time since... (READ MORE)

Prolonged Struggles Loom in Pakistani Battle Zone - Troops from the Pakistani army are pressing deep into a tribal region along the Afghan border as they try to defeat one of the country's most powerful Taliban factions. But commanders say the bulk of the estimated 10,000 militants who were believed to be in South Waziristan when Pakistani forces began the offensive about four weeks ago have now fled, raising the prospect of a drawn-out guerrilla conflict in the region. (READ MORE)

Afghan, Pakistani Taliban Diverge on Goals - Both go by the name "Taliban," but militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan are increasingly diverging in their ultimate goal. The Pakistanis have joined al Qaeda's campaign to attack Western targets and spread radical Islam while the Afghans want to rid their country of foreign troops but harbor no global ambitions, according to a number of prominent analysts. (READ MORE)

Poll Finds Guarded Optimism on Obama's Afghanistan Plan - Most Americans say they think President Obama will come up with a successful strategy for Afghanistan, but few are "very confident" that he will do so, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The president is expected in the coming weeks to roll out a new approach for handling the conflict in Afghanistan... (READ MORE)

Afghan Corruption Concerns US Policy Planners - Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has been roundly criticized in the international community for presiding over a corrupt government. A new report reinforces the perception of widespread corruption in Afghanistan, naming it the second most corrupt country of all those surveyed. That worries American policy makers as they deliberate on the future US strategy in Afghanistan. (READ MORE)

Afghan Minister Accused of Taking Bribe - The Afghan minister of mines accepted a roughly $30 million bribe to award the country's largest development project to a Chinese mining firm, according to a US official who is familiar with military intelligence reports. The allegation, if proved true, would mark one of the most brazen examples of corruption yet disclosed in a country where the problem has become so pervasive that it is now at the heart of Obama administration doubts over Afghan President Hamid Karzai's reliability as a partner. (READ MORE)

NATO Chief Predicts ‘Substantially More Troops’ in Afghanistan - NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen today predicted the alliance’s future mission in Afghanistan will entail a counterinsurgency approach with “substantially more troops.” The NATO chief, speaking to the alliance’s Parliamentary Assembly, said he expects NATO will reach a troop-level decision in a few weeks for the International Security Assistance Force it leads in Afghanistan. (READ MORE)

Team Combines Civilian, Military Expertise - The provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province serves as a model for the continued integration of civilian assets into military operations to achieve a unified strategic goal. The Panjshir team is the only US provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan that is civilian-led and military-commanded, combining resources from the Air Force, Army, Navy, State Department, US Agency for International Development and the Department of Agriculture into one unified effort aimed at economic, judicial, social, educational and infrastructure development. (READ MORE)

Vision for Victory, Part I - The news from Afghanistan all year has been dispiriting, and the last few weeks have been especially tough in terms of the violence. Yet most foreign and Afghan officials and officers who I encountered on a recent weeklong visit sponsored by the U. military are guardedly optimistic about our prospects. How can this be so? (READ MORE)

Staff Sgt. Dennisur Thompson


Staff Sgt. Dennisur Thompson, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, overcompensates a left turn while on a driving simulator as a part of the Save a Life Tour in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army

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H/T: JD Johannes