McChrystal calls Marjah a 'bleeding ulcer' in Afghan campaign

U.S. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal aboard a U.S. military helicopter in southern Afghanistan


McChrystal calls Marjah a 'bleeding ulcer' in Afghan campaign
By Dion Nissenbaum | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Monday, May 24, 2010

MARJAH, Afghanistan — Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top allied military commander in Afghanistan, sat gazing at maps of Marjah as a Marine battalion commander asked him for more time to oust Taliban fighters from a longtime stronghold in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province.

"You've got to be patient," Lt. Col. Brian Christmas told McChrystal. "We've only been here 90 days."

"How many days do you think we have before we run out of support by the international community?" McChrystal replied.

A charged silence settled in the stuffy, crowded chapel tent at the Marine base in the Marjah district.

"I can't tell you, sir," the tall, towheaded, Fort Bragg, N.C., native finally answered.

The fact is that the Taliban fighters are native to the area and probably have been for a thousand years. What in the holy hell is fighting these stone-age tribesman in one of the world's most inhospitable backwaters doing to keep us safe in America - not a gaddamned thing! The insanity of these two wars is off the charts. Trillons of dollars are being poured into these meaningless efforts while at the same time America is really being attacked by a gargantuan oil monster that is gaining strength. Millions upon millions of Americans will be directly effected by the Gulf spill while the vast majority of our national defense budget is being spent to chase tribal fighters with no army, navy, air force or marines all over land that they have lived on for millenia. America has gone mad!

Bring our troops home Mr. President. End the madness.

Five Fronts in the War in Afghanistan - Graphic
May 12, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/13/world/asia/20100513-afghan-war-five-fronts.html?scp=1&sq=war%20in%20afghanistan&st=cse

Five fronts???