Where Empires Go To Die

Naturally, the military wants more troops for Afghanistan. Have they ever advocated a REDUCTION in troop levels? We need to get OUT of Afghanistan before we lose hundreds more troops and spend tens of billions of dollars that we didn't have in the first place. One way or another, the military is going to LOSE in Afghanistan. Will it be NOW or LATER? Even our top military guy says that "resources will not win this war."

Someone recently said that Afghanistan is where empires go to die. Looking at history, it's hard to dispute that. We in the U.S. are a staggering, tottering, decaying empire, overextended and deep in debt. We need to pull out of Afghanistan AND many of the over 700 military bases we have scattered across this planet and COME HOME. We have MANY needs to focus on at home.

For Afghanistan and Pakistan and al-Queda, we should leave a small force behind to train the local police and military AND to infiltrate al-Queda and gradually disrupt their operations. We should have handled al-Queda from the beginning as a police and intelligence operation. This is how most countries seem to most successfully battle their terrorist pests. Shortly after 9/11, our country was in shock and outraged, and a military strike against SOMEONE was inevitable. One might think that cooler heads would have prevailed by now and a constant pouring of troops and money into Afghanistan is not going to do the job. Wake up America. Come home, America.


Report: More troops needed for Afghan war success
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The situation in Afghanistan is growing worse, and without more boots on the ground the U.S. risks failure in a war it's been waging since September 2001, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan says in a confidential report.

“Resources will not win this war, but under-resourcing could lose it,” Gen. Stanley McChrystal wrote in a five-page Commander's Summary. His 66-page report, sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Aug. 30, is now under review by President Barack Obama.

Details of McChrystal's assessment were first reported late Sunday by The Washington Post. The newspaper posted a link to the report on its Web site, with some operational details withheld at the request of the Pentagon.

“Although considerable effort and sacrifice have resulted in some progress, many indicators suggest the overall effort is deteriorating,” McChrystal said of the war's progress.

While asserting that more troops are needed, McChrystal also pointed out an “urgent need” to significantly revise strategy. The U.S. needs to interact better with the Afghan people, McChrystal said, and better organize its efforts with NATO allies.

“We run the risk of strategic defeat by pursuing tactical wins that cause civilian casualties or unnecessary collateral damage. The insurgents cannot defeat us militarily; but we can defeat ourselves,” he wrote.

In his blunt assessment of the tenacious Taliban insurgency, McChrystal warned that unless the U.S. and its allies gain the initiative and reverse the momentum of the militants within the next year the U.S. “risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.”

The rest of the story is here.