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elleng

(130,126 posts)
Sun Sep 16, 2012, 02:46 PM Sep 2012

Tough Words From General on Afghan Insider Attacks

Source: nyt/ap

The U.S. military's top general says the problem of rogue Afghan soldiers and police turning their guns on American and allied troops is a "very serious threat" to the war effort.

Gen. Martin Dempsey says the Afghan government needs to take the problem as seriously as do U.S. and NATO commanders and officials.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman says "you can't whitewash" the problem, and that it can't be fixed by just working harder.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/09/16/us/politics/ap-us-us-afghanistan.html?hp

11 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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pasto76

(1,589 posts)
1. here's an idea, bring all the troops home
Sun Sep 16, 2012, 03:18 PM
Sep 2012

these green on blue attacks are waaaaay past the point when our presence is necessary. There is zero way, no how that I would let any non american person have any weapon around me or mine. this is pretty nuts

 

jody

(26,624 posts)
4. Any President of the US can call the best minds on earth to meet with her/him in the Oval Office.
Sun Sep 16, 2012, 03:47 PM
Sep 2012

With that resource available one has to wonder how our Presidents keep making such stupid mistakes?

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
6. maybe the best minds he has .....just have a different agenda
Sun Sep 16, 2012, 03:57 PM
Sep 2012

than other best minds. And, he's stuck with those who "brung him to the party" ....some of whom were there before and are entrenched in the Govt...due to Bush and before.

That's the worrisome part. I don't know that he really gets outside of the Think Tanks that are so powerful. Or, perhaps he just agrees with many of their policies.

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
7. Unfortunately, the tendency has been to "fall forward" into a new war with each failure
Sun Sep 16, 2012, 04:35 PM
Sep 2012

My guess would be Syria, after the election, with Iran to follow shortly thereafter.

I suspect the Think Tank orthodoxy is all there is, unless we say otherwise, and Obama's thinking is a product of it.

 

nanabugg

(2,198 posts)
5. Bring our troops home NOW!!! After the Marines were killed when Reagan was Pres. we cut and run.
Sun Sep 16, 2012, 03:49 PM
Sep 2012

Who the fuck care what you call it? We just want our sons and daughters home safely. Let the Afghans deal with their own country...they have for eons.

sad sally

(2,627 posts)
9. What will be different in January 2014 than today, September 16, 2012?
Sun Sep 16, 2012, 05:35 PM
Sep 2012

More dead and wounded Americans, more dead and wounded Afghans, more hatred worldwide against the forever occupiers, more destruction of infrastructure that will need to be rebuilt and rebuilt, more unspent weaponry left to permanently injure generations of people - mostly children and young adults, more profits for American arms manufacturers, more Americans and Afghans with post traumatic stress disorders that leaves them and those who love them suffering for who knows how long, more suicides, more American trained Afghan army and police shooting their trainees, more billions spent on an un-winnable war at the expense of so many other worldwide needs, let alone U.S. needs?

What will be different? Will the next two years be like Iraq became - the unreported war, left as something that looks like a failed state?

The prime minister of Iraq rules over a system that is corrupt and brutal. Will the outcome in two years be different in Afghanistan?

In Iraq, security forces and militias intimidate the general population. While the names of the groups are different, will the outcome in two years be different in Afghanistan?

Most Iraqis don't have basic services, including regular electricity in summer, clean water, and decent health care; unemployment among young men is close to 30%, making them easy recruits for criminal gangs and militant factions. Large numbers of Afghans who used to live a nomadic life have been driven in several major cities, will their lives be any better in two years?

Our government must know that staying will not make the outcome better.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
10. War??? We are at war over there? When was WAR declared???
Sun Sep 16, 2012, 06:36 PM
Sep 2012

I seem to remember we chased Bin laden to Afghanistan and then ran into some Al quada that we killed and then
had to attack the Taliban for being all..Taliban-y, because all the Al-quada had fled to Pakistan where we had to go drone them, but ended up killing a bunch of "militants" instead
and something about "insurgents" popping up now and again, which meant MORE droning in MORE countries we also were not at war with.
and later we killed Bin Laden in Pakistan, so why we were still in Afghanistan chasing him has me totally confused.
Plus all those #2 Al Quadas got killed, a whole bunch of them over the years, but just recently Al-Quada claims they attacked one of our embassies BECAUSE # 2 got killed, but they did not say which # 2 they were avenging.
We will probably have to kill more of them in revenge payback, byt maybe not in the country they attacked..that seems to be part of the pattern.
My head hurts now.

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