Obama quietly deploying 13,000 more US troops to Afghanistan

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/13/obama-afghanistan-troop-deployment

Obama quitely deploying 13,000 more US troops to Afghanistan
Move is separate from Nato commander General Stanley McChrystal's request to increase troop levels
Ewen MacAskill in Washington

President Barack Obama is quietly deploying an extra 13,000 troops to Afghanistan, an unannounced move that is separate from a request by the US commander in the country for even more reinforcements.

The extra 13,000 is part of a gradual shift in priority since Obama became president away from Iraq to Afghanistan.

The White House and the Pentagon both announced earlier this year that the number of US troops in Afghanistan was to be raised by 21,000, bringing the total at present to 62,000, with the aim of 68,000 by the end of the year.

But the Washington Post, based on conversations with Pentagon officials, said that on top of those an extra 13,000 "enablers" are also being deployed. They are mainly engineers, medical staff, intelligence officers and military police. About 3,000 of them are specialists in explosives, being sent to try to combat the growing fatality rate from roadside bombs.

The deployment of such non-combat troops is in line with the professed aim of the new US commander, General Stanley McChrystal, to try to win the hearts and minds of the Afghanistan population...

how are military police and intelligence personnel supposed to win hearts and minds?

just think of all the good that could have been done in this country, winning hearts and minds, if we had spent the trillion or so on assistance, instead of blowing their country up.

their jobs better, anything that helps our relations with the locals, anything that helps limit casualties, is welcome. I have no problem with this.

this to be news.

this was reported last night on Rachel Maddow's show ( I think it was her show..might have been Countdown)

headline, I thought it was news. Then I read the story. Kind of annoying.

include these extra 13T in its inital announcement.

God the stupid it burns.