Now There's a Surprise

The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time.

  Yahoo

They’ve been given an extra 30 days.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

What's Good for America

I have a really great blog post for you. Unfortunately, it's not here. Fortunately, it's at W3IAI. Read. Enjoy.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Violence Is Down in Iraq?

I'm pretty sure that's what they've been saying. I suppose after we've blasted the last man, woman and child to kingdom come, there won't be any violence.

The U.S. military conducted more than five times as many airstrikes in Iraq last year as it did in 2006, targeting al-Qaeda safe houses, insurgent bombmaking facilities and weapons stockpiles in an aggressive strategy aimed at supporting the U.S. troop increase by overwhelming enemies with air power.

Top commanders said that better intelligence-gathering allows them to identify and hit extremist strongholds with bombs and missiles, and they predicted that extensive airstrikes will continue this year as the United States seeks to flush insurgents out of havens in and around Baghdad and to the north in Diyala province.

  WaPo

Because bombing in cities is a good way to limit killing untargeted people and destroying homes and infrastructure.

The U.S.-led coalition dropped 1,447 bombs on Iraq last year, an average of nearly four a day, compared with 229 bombs, or about four each week, in 2006. [Emphasis mine]

And in case you’re wondering, twice as many airstrikes were made in Afghanistan in 2007 over the previous year (20 times that of 2005).

Further Reality

Recently I heard one of the Republican candidates praising our quick and correct action post-9/11 in going into Afghanistan and "winning".

Today, we are planning a Springtime "surge" of 3,000 new troops into that country, presumably because things are not exactly under control. What a win.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Guns and Money: Where Does It Go?

In Afghanistan. Courtesy of our good friends DynCorp and Blackwater. To the tune of $28.4 million in money and U.S. government-issued property, including armored cars and guns. That's a little more than 20 percent of the government property held by those two companies.

And just for fun, DynCorp also bought millions of dollars worth of pick-up trucks and motorcycles on the taxpayers' account.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

The Marines Want Out

The Marine Corps is pressing to remove its forces from Iraq and to send marines instead to Afghanistan, to take over the leading role in combat there, according to senior military and Pentagon officials.

The idea by the Marine Corps commandant would effectively leave the Iraq war in the hands of the Army while giving the Marines a prominent new role in Afghanistan, under overall NATO command.

The suggestion was raised in a session last week convened by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and regional war-fighting commanders.

[...]

It is not clear exactly how many of the marines in Iraq would be moved over. But the plan would require a major reshuffling, and it would make marines the dominant American force in Afghanistan, in a war that has broader public support than the one in Iraq.

  NY Times

One: Did they toss a coin to see who had to stay in Iraq? And, two: There are 25,000 Marines in Iraq. Would this count toward the 30,000 troops from the surge that they are talking about “reducing” the forces in Iraq with? I thought maybe those would be going to Iran, but then again, it wouldn’t take 30,000 to bomb the place to Hell.

It is not clear whether the Army would support the idea. But some officials sympathetic to the Army said that such a realignment would help ease some pressure on the Army, by allowing it to shift forces from Afghanistan into Iraq, and by simplifying planning for future troop rotations.

The Marine proposal could also face resistance from the Air Force, whose current role in providing combat aircraft for Afghanistan could be squeezed if the overall mission was handed to the Marines. Unlike the Army, the Marines would bring a significant force of combat aircraft to that conflict.

And free up the Air Force for Iran.

....and hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan

Even our allies don't want us there.

A senior British commander in southern Afghanistan said in recent weeks that he had asked that American Special Forces leave his area of operations because the high level of civilian casualties they had caused was making it difficult to win over local people.

[...]

An American military spokesman denied that the request for American forces to leave was ever made, either formally or otherwise, or that they had caused most of the casualties.

  NY Times

Meanwhile in Afghanistan

The South Korean church volunteers being held in Afghanistan apparently aren't good bargaining chips.

The deadline passed a day after Afghan police found the body of a second hostage slain since the church-group volunteers were seized two weeks ago. A purported Taliban spokesman had demanded the release of eight militant prisoners, including some held by the United States at Bagram.

South Korea said it would send a parliamentary delegation to the United States to seek cooperation in resolving the crisis, and relatives of the hostages pleaded for help at Washington's embassy in the South Korean capital.

  Yahoo

Hey, that's an easy one. The hostages aren't even Americans, and it's not South Korea that has nukes. On the other hand, they are Christians, George.

As an aside, but not irrelevant, the South Korean government told these people it was too dangerous to go to Afghanistan, but I guess God told them to do it anyway. Back when we first invaded Iraq, there was a Christian guy where I worked who was packing his Bible and his toothbrush to head over there with a missionary group and convert some Muslims. And then things went sour PDQ. I never heard whether the group cancelled their trip or whether the guy at work just wised up.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

It's Graduation Time All Over the World

Teams assigned to carry out attacks in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Germany were introduced at an al Qaeda/Taliban training camp graduation ceremony held June 9.

[...]

The leader of the team assigned to attack Great Britain spoke in English.

"So let me say something about why we are going, along with my team, for a suicide attack in Britain," he said. "Whether my colleagues, companions and Muslim brothers die today or tonight, every drop of our blood will invigorate the Muslim (unintelligible)."

  ABC News

Typical graduation speech.

U.S. intelligence officials described the event as another example of "an aggressive and sophisticated propaganda campaign."

Others take it very seriously.

"It doesn't take too many who are willing to actually do it and be able to slip through the net and get into the United States or England and cause a lot of damage," said ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism official.

On the other hand, it's probably timely for another diversionary, "Look over here! We stopped a terrorist plot." After all, the purge and missing email stories haven't died.

Canada's public safety minister isn't worried.

"Their capability, personally, is limited, because there is a lot of internal intelligence that points out who certain individuals are and they do have a limited ability to travel and get through our border systems."

[Minister] Day said the report is a "PR move on behalf of a terror organization" that knows it is losing the fight in Afghanistan, where more than 2,000 Canadian soldiers are serving in a NATO-led mission.

  CBC

I don't know. I'm not all that certain they know they're losing.

Taliban on the Move in Afghanistan Military.com
Taliban step up attacks in southern Afghanistan International Herald Tribune
Taliban overrun southern Afghan district; more than 100 killed York Dispatch
Taliban fighters seize south Afghan area MLive.com
Support for coalition forces in Afghanistan waning Edmonton Sun

Canada's Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day

No Blood, No Foul

That's the unofficial motto of a Special Forces interrogation detention facility in Afghanistan.

The only Pentagon investigation into Special Operations' role in detainee abuse, led by Brigadier General Richard Formica in 2004, focused only on specific allegations of abuse, not on what standard detention and interrogation procedures are for SOF [Special Operations Forces]. Formica nevertheless found that for four months in 2004, interrogators used techniques "including sleep management, stress positions, dietary manipulation, and yelling/loud music that were not specifically authorized" by the U.S. command in Iraq -- and which the command had, in October 2003, expressly foresworn. Formica attributed the use of those techniques to a misunderstanding.

  TPM Muckraker

A misunderstanding.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

TWOT

As bad as things are in Iraq, they're every bit as bad in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, In Afghanistan

May 8:

A U.S. commander said Tuesday he is ''deeply ashamed'' by the Marine killings of Afghan civilians in March and reported that the American military has made condolence payments to their families.

[...]

[Col. John] Nicholson read the apology he said he made to the families.

"I stand before you today, deeply, deeply ashamed and terribly sorry that Americans have killed and wounded innocent Afghan people," the statement said.

"We are filled with grief and sadness at the death of any Afghan, but the death and wounding of innocent Afghans at the hand of Americans is a stain on our honor and on the memory of the many Americans who have died defending Afghanistan and the Afghan people," the statement said.

  Sun Times article

May 9:

Airstrikes called in by U.S. Special Forces soldiers fighting with insurgents in southern Afghanistan killed at least 21 civilians, officials said Wednesday.

[...]

The report of civilian casualties comes less than a week after Afghan officials said that 51 civilians were killed in the western province of Herat.

It also comes one day after the U.S. military apologized and paid compensation to the families of 19 people killed and 50 wounded by U.S. Marines Special Forces who fired indiscriminately on civilians after being hit by a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan in March.

  MSNBC article

American military justice

Pfc. Willie Brand, convicted of a variety of crimes in relation to a prisoner he beat to death in Afghanistan in 2002 by hitting him in the knee thirty times (one of two prisoners he beat to death: he was acquitted for the other one), including assault, maiming, and making a false statement but not murder, is sentenced to diddly squat, that is, a reduction in rank to private. That’ll show him. Brand told the jury, "We were trained on these things and when we implement them we were condemned; if we asked questions we are condemned." Yup, damned if you beat two prisoners to death, damned if you don’t.

  WIIIAI post

We get to keep our base in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan assured the United States on Tuesday that it could keep its base in the former Soviet Central Asian state to support American military operations in Afghanistan.

[...]

But acting Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov told a joint news conference with Rumsfeld: "The presence of the (U.S.) base fully depends on the situation in Afghanistan." He added that once Afghanistan became stable, there would be no further need for American use of the base.

"Today the minister (Rumsfeld) rightly noted that the situation in Afghanistan has not finally got back to normal," Isakov added.

With Russia's tacit acceptance, the United States established a military presence in former Soviet Central Asia in 2001 allowing it to use the region as a springboard for operations in Afghanistan. U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban rulers who had harboured al Qaeda, responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.

Moscow is now becoming concerned that the U.S. military presence there could undermine its influence and foment revolutions like those that installed pro-Western governments in former Soviet Ukraine and Georgia.

  Reuters article

This is what irks me about the whole global system - indeed, the entire human race:

Impoverished Kyrgyzstan, whose new government came to power after a popular revolt in March and is trying to establish itself as an "island of democracy" in a mainly authoritarian region, has to tread a fine line between Moscow and Washington.

Serfs in a global feudal system. Dominance by the few over the many.

Earth life apparently will never accommodate personal sovereignty. Only an illusion of it (if you don't look too closely).

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Update 2:30pm: We get to keep Tajikistan, too.

Oh yeah, there's still the Taliban

The bodies of six Afghan policemen have been found beheaded in southern Afghanistan, on the same day Taliban guerrillas claimed to have beheaded a missing U.S. commando, officials said on Sunday.

[...]

They claimed to have captured the commando in the eastern province of Kunar last month.

The U.S. military said it had no information to support that claim and a search for the man was continuing in Kunar.

  Reuters article

That commando is from the failed mission event involving a downed helicopter, 18 dead American special forces soldiers, one rescued soldier, and 17 dead Afghan civilians.

Hundreds of people have died, many of them guerrillas, since the Taliban and their militant allies stepped up violence in March ahead of September 18 parliamentary elections, the next big step in Afghanistan's difficult path to stability.

The deaths have included at least 32 U.S. troops killed in action, making 2005 the bloodiest year for U.S. forces since they invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban in late 2001.

Afghan failed resuce mission update

Two Navy SEALS missing in Afghanistan have been found dead, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday night. Another SEAL was rescued on Saturday, and the fate of a fourth SEAL was unknown. The official who confirmed the recovery of the two bodies spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing effort to account for the missing U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, an American airstrike in Afghanistan's rugged eastern mountains killed 17 civilians, including women and children, an Afghan official said Monday. The U.S. military confirmed civilian deaths but said the numbers were unclear.

[...]

The serviceman rescued on Saturday had taken shelter in an Afghan village elder's home in the province before American forces were notified of his location and picked him up

[...]

An initial airstrike destroyed a house, and as villagers gathered to look at the damage, a U.S. warplane dropped a second bomb on the same target, Kunar provincial Gov. Asadullah Wafa told The Associated Press.

  SFGate article

Thanks for taking care of the soldier, though.

No news about how the dead SEALS were killed or where they were found. The Chicago Tribune says the Pentagon and Afghan officials declined to provide details.

A Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, claimed last week that militants had captured one member of the team and said he was a "high-ranking American" caught in the same area as where the helicopter went down, but refused to elaborate.

   Pak Tribune article

Afghanistan on Tuesday condemned the killing of up to 17 civilians in a U.S. airstrike [...]

[...]

``The president is extremely saddened and disturbed,'' said Jawed Ludin, President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff. ``There is no way ... the killing of civilians can be justified. ... It's the terrorists we are fighting. It's not our people who should suffer.''

A government team is on its way to the site to investigate the bombing, a Defense Ministry statement said.

  Guardian article

I guess they're not buying that bit about, when you bring your families to camp with you...

Speaking about the U.S. airstrike, Wafa told The Associated Press that an initial strike destroyed a house, and as villagers gathered to look at the damage, a U.S. warplane dropped a second bomb on the same target, killing 17 of them, including three women and children.

He said it was unclear who was killed in the initial attack in the tiny village of Chechal. ``Maybe some militants were killed, but I don't know,'' he said. ``The 17 people were killed in the second bombing.''

The U.S. military said the attack was carried out ``with precision-guided munitions that resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of enemy terrorists and noncombatants.''

[...]

The statement added U.S. forces ``regret the loss of innocent lives and follow stringent rules of engagement specifically to ensure that noncombatants are safeguarded. However, when enemy forces move their families into the locations where they conduct terrorist operations, they put these innocent civilians at risk.''

Earlier posts.