Dec 4, 2009 5 Comments ›› Erik Wong
KABUL (AP) - U.S. Marines swooped down behind Taliban lines in helicopters and Osprey aircraft Friday in the first offensive since President Barack Obama announced an American troop surge. About 1,000 Marines and 150 Afghan troops were taking part in "Operation Cobra's Anger" in a bid to disrupt Taliban supply and communications lines in the Now ...
Continue ReadingDec 2, 2009 17 Comments ›› Erik Wong
Roaring Republican: "The United States and Russia do not intend to, and cannot, create the future government of Afghanistan. It is up to the Afghans themselves to determine their future." – Joint US/Russia release on Afghanistan – November 13th 2001 The comedian Sam Kinison had a routinue that described succinctly and almost eloquently, ...
Continue ReadingDec 2, 2009 3 Comments ›› Erik Wong
CBS: 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 ...
Continue ReadingDec 2, 2009 5 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Fox News: The Pentagon will "evaluate" next year whether the military can meet its goal of starting to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by July 2011, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday under tough questioning, signaling that the withdrawal date could move back if violence spirals out of control. President Obama said in announcing the timeline Tuesday ...
Continue ReadingDec 2, 2009 3 Comments ›› Erik Wong
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - The Army has charged the suspect in the Fort Hood shooting spree with 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The charges are in addition to the 13 premeditated murder charges filed against Maj. Nidal (Nee-DAHL) Hasan (Huh-SAHN') in the Nov. 5 massacre at Fort Hood. The Army says the attempted murder charges ...
Continue ReadingDec 2, 2009 8 Comments ›› Erik Wong
Speigel Online: Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric -- and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught. One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their best ...
Continue ReadingDec 2, 2009 1 Comment ›› Erik Wong
Gallup: PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans are far less approving of President Obama's handling of the situation in Afghanistan than they have been in recent months, with 35% currently approving, down from 49% in September and 56% in July. Tuesday, Obama outlines his new strategy for the war in Afghanistan in a nationally televised address. The policy has ...
Continue ReadingDec 2, 2009 10 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Washington Times: KANDAHAR, Afghanistan | 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 ...
Continue ReadingDec 1, 2009 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
New York Times: WASHINGTON — In April 2001, seven months after the Navy destroyer Cole was bombed in Yemen, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was staying at a Qaeda guesthouse in Afghanistan when he is alleged to have laid out how he had planned the whole thing. One of those houseguests was later captured, and he told F.B.I. agents ...
Continue ReadingNov 30, 2009 19 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Fox News: The anti-war left is turning on the president it helped put into office, launching a counteroffensive against President Obama's decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan. Activist groups are joining liberal members of Congress in condemning the president's expected announcement on Tuesday that he will order roughly 30,000 more troops to the war zone ...
Continue ReadingNov 30, 2009 15 Comments ›› Erik Wong
The Washington Times: After years of putting the cost of war on the nation's credit card, liberal members of Congress say the time has come to impose a new war tax and drive home to average Americans how expensive it is to keep fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The call for a tax on high-income earners, coming ...
Continue ReadingNov 30, 2009 2 Comments ›› Erik Wong
Politico: Presidential politics is about storytelling. Presented with a vivid storyline, voters naturally tend to fit every new event or piece of information into a picture that is already neatly framed in their minds. No one understands this better than Barack Obama and his team, who won the 2008 election in part because they were better storytellers ...
Continue ReadingNov 30, 2009 8 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Politico: President Barack Obama issued new orders for the war in Afghanistan from the Oval Office Sunday night, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Monday. Obama finalized the orders during a meeting with advisers including Adm. Mike Mullen, Gens. James Cartwright and David Petraeus, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Immediately ...
Continue ReadingNov 30, 2009 1 Comment ›› Pat Dollard
New York Times: WASHINGTON — 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 ...
Continue ReadingNov 30, 2009 1 Comment ›› Pat Dollard
Washington Post: 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 ...
Continue ReadingNov 23, 2009 13 Comments ›› Erik Wong
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House said President Barack Obama could use an unusual evening war council session Monday to lock in his long-awaited decision on whether to commit tens of thousands of new U.S. forces to the stalemated war in Afghanistan. Military officials and others said they expect Obama to settle on a middle-ground option ...
Continue ReadingNov 23, 2009 10 Comments ›› Erik Wong
News Busters: At the end of CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, host Bob Schieffer fretted over massive government spending but avoided blaming current Democratic proposals: “I’m not even talking about the cost of health care....It is now costing $1 million a year to keep one U.S. soldier on the ground in Afghanistan, not to mention ...
Continue ReadingNov 21, 2009 3 Comments ›› Erik Wong
FORT BENNING, Ga. (AP) - A Fort Benning spokesman says Army officials are investigating whether a suspicious note and package found at the west Georgia post is a viable threat. Bob Purtiman says a soldier found the note and package Thursday morning in an outdoor gazebo. The soldier immediately told a supervisor, who called 911. Purtiman would ...
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