Military Chief: US Doesn't Have Enough Troops To Send To Afghanistan

From The Washington Post:

The nation's top military officer said yesterday that more U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan to tamp down an increasingly violent insurgency, but that the Pentagon does not have sufficient forces to send because they are committed to the war in Iraq.

Watch the video:

Comments

[soljifire]

but you wnan start a next war with iran lmao

[qofdisks]

We need to get out of Afghanistan too.
Leave Afghanistan to the Chinese. They can afford it. Legalize opium and poppy products such as wines, tinctures, teas. Regulate it and spend some health dollars on treatment of general addition.
Allow human beings to function in society as addicts to best of their ability. In so much as an addition can be rendered victimless vice, let it be decriminalized and regulated.

[arkgrfx61]

That makes too much sense...

[Counterglow]

60 Minutes did a segment a few years ago on a Swiss woman who was addicted to heroin. Because it's legal for citizens there, she would go to a pharmacist every now and again and fill her doctor's prescription for the drug. To avoid a rush of dope addicts to Switzerland, it isn't available to anybody except Swiss citizens. The woman worked as a secretary and carried on a perfectly normal life.

Legalization and medical management is the only course that makes sense. And laws already exist to govern endangering other people while you're high.

[Troubledgoodangel]

Chinese can afford things because we have allowed them to employ their people in lieu of our people. This globalistic insanity has resulted in China having an enormous army of taxpayers, who do the work for us, but who pay taxes to the Communist Politburo ... while in America the vital for Social Security taxpayers are becoming a rarity! The economic planners who allowed this to happen, I do not care how many MBA's they have, and how many connections to the Wall Street ,are the greatest mental misfits that ever populated the planet earth!

[steamboat]

In the mid-90's when all these trade deals with the Chinese and even campaign contributions from them, etc. where being made where you griping about it then? ....I don't remember the liberal-faction complaining very hard.

[JoJoKewl]

A. We don't have enough cannon fodder to colonize the Middle East.

B. We won't get enough cannon fodder under a volunteer system.

C. A military draft is coming.

A + B = C..

[steamboat]

BLUNT but well said.

[NoahVail]

Well, I realize that we have adopted the Likud foreign policy- even going so far as to occupy our own Middle East territory, but- and this is going to sound radical- We could develop our own foreign policy that will benefit the US, and let Israel develop their own foreign policy. Yeah, yeah- I know it sounds really unbelievable, but just imagine that we act in our own best interests. Just imagine it.

[glaze]

First off, the Admiral only said there weren't enough troops T O D A Y to accomplish what Bush wants. Quote: "... until I have a reduced requirement in Iraq... (then) opportunities like that would be created".
The Admirable DID NOT say anything the Prince of Paranoia could find fault with. So celebrating 'another straight-speaking military guy who stood up to Bush and anticipating an early retirement'... is misplaced.
Second, It's a fair bet that Bush wishes he had supported human cloning about twenty years ago... the cannon fodder crop would be about ready to harvest now... Just in time- Right, Commander McFlightsuit? ...
Third, This announcement amounts to a cue for Bush to make an impassioned speech about how our young people should drop out of college, quit their jobs, enlist in the Armed Forces and share in the patriotic responsibility in this Noble Struggle of Blood for Gas.
For millions of truly sane, patriotic young Americans, the proper response to this speech will be "UCFAY OOYAY, OOSHBAY".

[scouserinlondon]

Proper response from young kids to Bush "O.K. But yours first"

[scouserinlondon]

''GRADE A ' BRILLIANT!!!!.
Had me laughing uncontrollably and choking on my Mars Bar.
Mission accomplished!
Another ''PEACE MAN''bonus;.........
Think of all the great Taliban rock?blues music they could write whilst munching their sweeties.........
"Hey Mr.Taliban Man....." "Yesterday....Bin Laden got clean away....now it looks as if we're here to stay..." "Po op py Fields forever...."
Apologies to Beatles and Dylan for the plagiarism.
Any other suggestions gratefully received.

[scouserinlondon]

Sorry this is my reply to GLAZE below.Don't know how it got here.Either my butterfingers or my MAC has got jet lag!!

[HumeSkeptic]

Does that mean that we don't get to obliterate Iran either? That's sad. No wonder Ahmadinejad doesn't take our threats seriously. He knows we are tied down in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, we did him a great favor by making Iraq a Shia country.

I am also wondering why it has taken over six years for the mightiest super-power ever to control those horseback riding Taliban , and we still can't do it.

What's going on? Where did all our money go? We spend more on our military now than the rest of the world combined, for crying out loud. And we still can't control Taliban?

Some Commander-in-Chief we have!

.

[qofdisks]

Let the Taliban control themselves. The Himalayas are not a favorable place for hardware. Let them sustain themselves with opium products for the world. Let them grow food too.

[glaze]

You, QOFDISKS, Sir or Madam, have given me a radical but brilliant idea! This is so good that if the late and very great Kurt Vonnegut were still with us, he COULD consider this for another of his short stories, so if there are fellow cynical humanist sci-fi writers out there, remember where you read this:
Through a typical Vonnegutian series of events, a pacifist/humanist becomes the Chief Muckety-Muck of the Armed Forces. He is troubled by the waste on all sides of the story's war. In a flash of inspiration, he conceives the D-BOMB.
It's warhead isn't atomic, poison, or even heat-producing. It's loaded with concentrated heroin or cannibis. Lobbed by a very sophisticated drone after our troops pull back far enough, it spreads out surrepticiously deep in enemy territory, and causes widespread lethargy and unheard of levels of "the Munchies".
Enemy drops weapons, spends all remaining energy either looking for Twinkies, laughing uncontrolably, or nodding off... ("HEY YO, ALLAH! HOW'S IT HANGIN'?! Hahahahazzzzzzzzzzzz...".)
Mission accomplished!

[NoahVail]

Its chilly in here. I think I feel a draft.

[arkgrfx61]

That would be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.

[NoahVail]

Yeah, I know. It might help break down the insulation between the "sacrificers" and the "deciders" though. We could always reactivate the Swift Boat battalion.

[gonavy]

They will activate the reserves and recall the troops on Inactive Ready Reserve status first. If they still don't have enough, then they will contact those who have recently separated or retired and ask them to voluntarily return to service. They will tap all the National Guard units in the country (I know they already have), and there will be some serious money thrown at these troops to get them in. Then, and only then, will they be forced to use the draft.

My husband has quietly been gathering his uniforms and supplies, he's in the reserves, he thinks they will be sending him to Afghanistan. It's coming, we can feel it.

[glaze]

That brings to mind the reported unconscionable decision by Saddam Hussein to send some of his oldest and weakest people into the desert to bear the brunt of the advancing American forces in GW1.
Gonavy, I am sincerely sorry about your situation. I hope it doesn't come to that.

[HumeSkeptic]

How about Blackwater? I'm sure there are many more of Pinochet's goons they can hire.
.

[twinfinfish]

...or Apartheids enforcers. There are currently an estimated 10 000 ex South African military, police and special forces employed in Iraq. Iraq has been a blessing to veterans of South Africa's CIA sponsored wars in Angola , Mozambique and Namibia who have been unemployed since Apartheid fell in 1994.

[steamboat]

When you pick-on those folks, don't forget to pick-on the far more brutal folks. Why not hire the goons in Congo, Rwanda, Liberia, Nigeria, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and of course, Mugabe's goons, also?

[GnitenGoodLk]

We stiffed them on some bills. No money by the truck-loads, no services, no laws capable of forcing them. Republicans, patriots at their finest.

[DAVESEAN]

NO MORE TROOPS FRM AFGANISTAN
AND BUSH WANTS TO ATTACK IRAN
WITH AN ONGOING WAR IN IRAQ
LOL
WONDER WHO MAKES EXECUTIVE AND STRATEGIC DECISIONS IN THE MILITARY
IT SEEMS BUSHCHENEY IS REALLY THE FIELD MARSHALL
THE WAR IN IRAQ SHOULD BE CALLED IT'S RIGHTFUL NAME....
THE AMERICAN WAR FOR OIL IN IRAQ
ASIA IS ALREADY HELPING US WITH THE WAR FOR OIL
VERY SOON,WE WILL NEED HELP FROM THE ZIMBABWE MILITARY
IF MUGABE SAYS NO WAY
WE WILL END UP BEGGING ALL AFRICAN LEADER FOR TROOPS IN IRAQ FROM AFRICA
POOR,HE KEPT BEGGING EUROPE FOR TROOPS
ALL TO NO AVAIL

[TTigerX2]

Did anyone think to point out to the reich marshal there are 4, 113 reasons why there aren't enough troops for Afghanistan; not counting another 100,000 reasons being rehabilitated in hospitals?

[BabsfromKS]

I am so very outraged and sickened.

[Erdgeist]

We shouldn't be in Afghanistan. There is no evidence that al-Qaeda or Osama bin Laden was behind 9/11--or took refuge there. That is just tooth fairy dust. Look at the FBI's own site. OBL is not wanted for 9/11. These wars are only driving up the price of oil as is the threat of bombing Iran just before the election.

[steamboat]

They (al-Qaeda) only bragged about it, laughed about it, and took total credit for it. You are in the fairy-tale.

[jeffp26]

No kidding. Maybe we should start drafting young white men and women, beginning with anyone related to any politician who voted to allow W to wage a useless, blatantly illegal, immoral, etc. war.

How about the two little bush brats go first?

[BabsfromKS]

Trying to set up a case to reinstitute the draft?

[Torus34]

[Excitedly waving hand in the air . . .]

'Teacher! Teacher! I know! We can privatize the whole US part of the war in Afghanistan through a no-bid contract to Black -- whatever the name was. Or perhaps Halliburton! And we can put the cost off-budget on the tab, just like other bailouts!'

[JoshSN]

I blogged Mullen says we need more troops in Afghanistan yesterday.

I went for a different comment of his, where he said (close paraphrase) "Afghanistan is an 'economy of forces' operation, which means, by definition, that we need more troops."

I'm not saying we shouldn't economize at all, or that more troops will make Pushtuns of FATA, NWFP, or SE Afghanistan like us.

[somekid1234]

Pearl Harbor and we don't have enough troops to fight Japan

[AmericanMike]

That is the question!! Why do we not have enough troops to fight these wars? How come we lost in Viet Nam? Why did we win WWII. What are the differences. Two Texans lied to the American people about their wars. You think we would have learned from Viet Nam, but no. We let LBJ get away with the killing of over 48,000 men for his lie. We did nothing to shame him or make him pay. Now this Bush has done worse. Murdered over 1 million people to rob them of their oil and pad his and his pals pockets with US Treasury Dollars.
If this was a truely just war it would have been over by now. The military would have to discharge people because so many would have volunteered.
If this was a just war why not a draft.
MAKE THEM PAY FOR THEIR CRIMES!

[steamboat]

JFK/LBJ's war also costed 2 MILLION Vietnamese lives.

[joebaggadonuts]

At least LBJ gave us the "Great Society" programs. We got the invisible middle finger from Bush.