[paraclete]

The General should be fired, ( although he is right, a general is just not allowed to talk about the commander in chief)

But then the White House should be fired for trying to police, not fight a real war.

Yes fire this one like so many others. A general only stays in command when he wins, a general only stays in command when he heeds his political masters. A general who decides his own policy has become a potential dictator and a serious political threat. Where is the June offensive? Much has been said about what will be achieved this summer, if they don't get on with it it will be winter again, summer lasts but a few days in places like Afghanistan and you can't fight a war from a chair in Washington.

It is a shame that the lessons of history have not been learned, Afghanistan has a long history of dealing with invaders, and Washington a long history of making it difficult for commanders. Kazhai wants to win a war without killing any of his people so the only people who will get killed are the foreign troops and just maybe a few pakistani taliban

[tomder55]

Karzai wants to run his opium cartel.

The General was insubordinate and needs to go ;but the Obama administration is rudderless and that breeds factionalism in the ranks. The General's snipes are no more grevious than Eikenberry's and special envoy Richard Holbrooke . Both oppose the President's policy (whatever that is ) and have done so openly and through press leaks.

The time for McChrystal to resign was when he handed the President a blueprint for victory ,and the President weakened it with troop strengths below the recommendation,restrictive ROE's dictated by Washington and the druglord in Kabul ,and an arbitrary fixed date of withdrawal.

[paraclete]

Karzai wants to run his opium cartel.

Yes possibly. Karzai fell on his feet in 2001, but he can only stay in power as long as the americans hold him up, so I don't expect he wants anyone to leave anytime soon.

[tomder55]

Rolling Stone's article is now on line.

The Runaway General | Rolling Stone Politics

As ususal it doesn't read as bad as it was reported by the Compost . Many of the comments were off the cuff by the staff while they were downing a few at a Paris bar .

But I'm sure that the article reflects the attitude of the command to the CIC ;and the President needs to impose his authority even if I disagree with the way he has commanded.

[paraclete]

Ok back to the original question, part one; mission accomplished. Part two; more of the same

[excon]

the President weakened it with troop strengths below the recommendation,restrictive ROE's dictated by Washington and the druglord in Kabul ,and an arbitrary fixed date of withdrawal.

Hello again, tom:

How about this? IF our goal is to prevent Al Quaida from re-establishing bases in Afghanistan, why don't we do the same thing there that we're doing in Pakistan? We COULD remove every single ground troops, because there's NOTHING the ground troops can do, and maintain air superiority with our drones like we're doing. The Taliban couldn't stop us. We can base them in India. What? It's going to piss off the Pakistani's, huh? To quote one of your favorite dudes, "SO"?

Unless, of course, our mission has changed into nation building and counter insurgency. Like the nonexistent WMD's, THOSE aren't the things we signed up for. We couldn't do it in Iraq. It's falling apart as I predicted, and we CERTAINLY can't do it in Afghanistan. Didn't you say something about history repeating itself? Did we learn NOTHING from Vietnam? Did we learn NOTHING from the Soviets?

excon

[tomder55]

Nothing wrong with nation building . What ? Are you saying we didn't turn enemies into friends after WWII by shaping their governments in the post war era ?

And yes , I am a student of history .That is why I don't buy this idea that Afghanistan can't be governed unless by brutal thugs like the Taliban.In fact ,for close to a century Afghanistan was successfully governed by a monarchy with the consent of the tribal leaders(the jirga or shura ).

Our effort in Afghanistan would indeed by a wasted effort if we left behind a vacume to be filled by the Taliban .

Now that isn't to say we need leave behind a western styled democratic Vallhalla (to paraphrase Robert Gates ).

But there is no reason why the successful model of governance of the past couldn't be repeated. There .

Did we learn NOTHING from Vietnam?

Evidently not . We still plan on bugging out before the job is finished.

[excon]

Evidently not . We still plan on bugging out before the job is finished.

Hello again, tom:

All the more reason to leave now... But, I don't disagree with you. What COULD have been WASN'T. Bush got distracted. If Afghanistan is lost, HE lost it. Vietnam was lost when the politicians decided to tie our hands. That happened LONG before we actually left. Same here. Afghanistan was lost in 2004.

excon

[paraclete]

.

Now that isn't to say we need leave behind a western styled democratic Vallhalla (to paraphrase Robert Gates ).

.

I though Vallhalla is a place where dead warriors go, Tom, so the way to leave it behind is kill them all. It seems that is something that hasn't been accomplished so far and won't be. No, best shoot for a minerals funded Utopia, there is more chance of success or just let the drug funded Opistan develop. Perhaps if you introduce coca into Afghanistan you could put the Columbian cartels out of business and win the War on Drugs. Some lateral thinking needed here

[speechlesstx]

You know who else should be fired? VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, who apparently only learned last week that over 1800 patients had possibly been exposed to HIV and other infectious agents at a VA center in St. Louis... over a period of 13 months.

For 13 months, dental equipment was "insufficiently sterilized" at the facility. It took 3 months for the administration to notify these patients of the potential harm they encountered.

The Democratic chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee ripped into the administration:

“It's outrageous, one, that this happens, but even worse is this secretive, almost cover-up mode that they go into when something like this happens,” Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.) said on CNN Monday.

Is there ANY leadership in this administration?