Though US officials seem to change their story on the Afghan escalation on a daily basis, today they seem to uniformly agree that the decision on the escalation in Afghanistan is “nearing.”
But the administration is well short of consensus on the wisdom of throwing ever increasing numbers of troops at the nation. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry in particular has expressed reservations about the assorted plans.
Officials said they wouldn’t characterize Eikenberry as “opposed” to the surge, but that he seemed to be asking a lot of questions about how the assorted plans would lead to American forces eventually leaving the nation. Such questions, it seems, are unusual in the administration.
President Obama had reportedly narrowed his selection of choices somewhat, though various officials seem to differ on which options are still under consideration, and at least one official says he won’t accept any of the existing options but wants a slower escalation.
The most recent concrete number given is 34,000, though escalations from anywhere between 10,000 and 45,000 are still mentioned.
General Stanley McChrystal’s requests have continued to rise over the course of the past several months, starting at 20,000 additional troops but rapidly escalating to the point where he is said to have sought up to 80,000 as his ideal choice.
The speculation that the decision is near was further fueled when British Prime Minister Gordon Brown declaed that he had been informed the announcement would be made “in a few days.” Of course, the British government claimed Obama was going to make an announcement in mid-October as well, so their reliability on the issue is unclear.
Obama has to increase the USA troops because most of the NUTsO countries are pulling out next year.Elections in Canada are on the agendia and Canadians are starting to question PM Harper Seal @sskissing of Uncle Sam.Why is Canada envolved in America's plunder for oil,when it has millions of years of oil in reserve?
Many economic experts agree: there is now no doubt that the vast military expenditures that are made each year to maintain the American military empire and to support the ongoing, endless wars of "liberation" are rapidly bankrupting the American people. But to our political leaders, the question as to how many additional troops should be deployed into Afghanistan seems to be this: "should the political leadership of America give the generals all the troops they are requesting and bankrupt the entire nation immediately, or should they give them half that number and prolong the current economic hardships and agony of the American people as long as possible?"
More troops to Afghanistan will only be more 'cannon fodder' – more deaths on 'the graveyard of empires' and 'the graveyard of soldiers'. The generals -as they were in Vietnam – are WRONG! Mao was to have correctly observed: "An arrogant enemy is easy to defeat." In our arrogance and stupidity, do we really believe that we will win a war in Afghanistan when the Russians and the British did NOT? – when Ghengis Khan could not hold onto the country? – when even Alexander the Great had difficulty getting army through that country? Sun Tsu said: "There is NO instance of a country having benefitted from prolonged warfare." – our prolonged warfare will bankrupt and destroy America. We need to get out of Afghanistan now!
You are 100% correct in all that you said. American veterans can see through all the establishment's propaganda and bullshit in a New York City second. I wish the average American could.