The Pentagon wants you to ignore some inconvenient facts about the failure of the escalation strategy in Afghanistan. The latest Petraeus/Gates media tour is under way in preparation for the general’s testimony to Congress next week, and they’re trotting out the same, tired spin they’ve been using since McChrystal was replaced in disgrace last year. [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Robert Gates’
Pentagon Assertions of “Progress” In Afghanistan Are a Bad Joke
Posted: March 9, 2011 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, COIN, counterinsurgency, escalation, Gates, insurgents, Obama, Pentagon, Petraeus, propaganda, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Gates, spin, Taliban, targeted killings, troop increase
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General Petraeus, Concern Troll
Posted: June 18, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, Brave New Foundation, ISAF, Jim Jones, Levin, NATO, Obama, Petraeus, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Gates, Taliban, war in Afghanistan
Watch "Don’t Let General Petraeus Move the Goalposts on Afghanistan" in HD on Facebook. Concern troll. In an argument (usually a political debate), a concern troll is someone who is on one side of the discussion, but pretends to be a supporter of the other side with “concerns”. The idea behind this is that your [...]
Secretary Gates, Backpedaling
Posted: June 9, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, COIN, counterinsurgency, Daniel Ellsberg, Defense Department, Department of Defense, Helmand, Kandahar, McChrystal, Obama, Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Gates
Defense Secretary Gates wants to extricate himself and the president from the impending P.R. disaster shaping up around the flailing Kandahar operation set for this Summer Fall. “I think it’s important to remember that Kandahar is not Afghanistan,” Gates said in comments that appeared to play down a U.S.-led operation for control of the area, [...]
U.S., Allies Responsible for Most Marjah Civilian Casualties
Posted: March 9, 2010 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Brave New Foundation, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, Helmand, insurgents, Marja, Marjah, Marjeh, NATO, Operation Moshtarak, Petraeus, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Gates, Taliban
According to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, U.S. and Allied forces have killed and injured more civilians than have the insurgents during Operation Moshtarak. Incredibly, the Pentagon continues to insist that this operation "protects the people." AIHRC’s Feb. 23 press release reports [h/t Josh Mull, our new Afghanistan blog fellow]: "AIHRC is concerned at [...]
No Exit Strategy in Obama’s Speech, but Plenty of Escalation
Posted: December 2, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, escalation, Obama, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Gates
The press is getting it wrong regarding the president’s announcement of the newest of his escalations in Afghanistan, which said: I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home…Just as we have done in [...]
SecDef. Robert Gates & Friends Think Al-Qaida Has a Commitment to Truth
Posted: October 17, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Adam Rawnsley, Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, al-Qaida, COIN, counterinsurgency, propaganda, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Gates, safe havens, Taliban
Derrick Crowe is the Afghanistan blog fellow for Brave New Foundation / The Seminal. Learn how the war in Afghanistan undermines U.S. security: watch Rethink Afghanistan (Part Six), & visit http://rethinkafghanistan.com/blog. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is showing his Bush Administration credentials by tossing around any and all justifications for continued U.S. military action in Afghanistan [...]
Frogs and Hot Water and All That
Posted: July 12, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Center for Strategic and International Studies, escalation, Every War Must End, Fred Charles Iklé, nonviolence, Normon Solomon, Obama, pacifism, Petraeus, Robert Gates, Stanley McChrystal
Someone holding the purse strings (that’s you, Congress) better decide right now how much taxpayer money and how many dead U.S. soldiers are a fair price for “victory” in Afghanistan, because any minute now you’re going to receive a request for more blood and treasure. Specifically, the Pentagon wants more money to grow the Afghan [...]
Dying by the Sword in Afghanistan
Posted: January 28, 2009 in UncategorizedTags: Afghanistan, Christianity, counterinsurgency, Jesus, Kabul, Karzai, nonviolence, Obama, Robert Gates
Today’s New York Times ran a story on its front page entitled “Aides Say Obama’s Afghan Aims Elevate War.” WASHINGTON — President Obama intends to adopt a tougher line toward Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, as part of a new American approach to Afghanistan that will put more emphasis on waging war than on development, [...]
