Escalation

Pentagon Assertions of "Progress" In Afghanistan Are a Bad Joke

Derrick Crowe | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Targeted Killings, Civilian Deaths, Gates, Petraeus, Pentagon, Coin, Propaganda, Obama, Troop Increase, Rethink Afghanistan, Robert Gates, Civilian Casualties, Escalation, Spin, Taliban, Insurgents, Afghanistan, Counterinsurgency, Politics News

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.

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Yes We Can! (Fix Our Trade Mess)

Ian Fletcher | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: U.S. Trade Deficit, Free Trade, Trade Deficit, Protectionism, China Economy, China, US China Relations, Trade, Escalation, Currency Inflation, Tariffs, Subsidies, Trading, Trade War, Business News

It's an utter mistake to think America is this big helpless giant with respect to its trade problems. The solutions are out there if we would but avail ourselves of them.

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On Anniversary of Marjah Push, Escalation Strategy Still Failing

Derrick Crowe | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Cnn, Gates, Petraeus, Rethink Afghanistan, Mcchrystal, Escalation, Marjah, Afghanistan, Obama, Counterinsurgency, Robert Gates, War in Afghanistan, Helmand, Civilian Casualties, Taliban, Politics News

Today is the one-year anniversary of the launch of the escalated military strategy in Afghanistan. It's clear from the last 12 months that the escalation strategy is a failure. It's time to come home.

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Axis of Agreement Watch: Joe Klein's "Lucky" Strategy

Josh Mull | Posted 05.25.2011

Obama would be wise to ignore Klein and decide not to play chicken with the numbers. Afghanistan will not magically right itself, particularly now as Petraeus can inflame the violence as much as he pleases.

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Petraeus and Co. Can't Keep Their Spin Straight on the Afghanistan War

Derrick Crowe | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Kandahar, Progress, Petraeus, Rethink Afghanistan, Civilian Casualties, Escalation, Isaf, Helmand, Afghanistan, Obama, War in Afghanistan, Brave New Foundation, Afghanistan War, World News

The spin by the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force reeks of desperation, and for good reason: The pushers of President Obama's escalations of the war over-promised and under-delivered.

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The Afghanistan War's Tenth Year Must Be Its Last

Robert Greenwald | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Afghanistan War, Troops, Petraeus, Coin, Rethink Afghanistan, War in Afghanistan, Mcchrystal, Escalation, Afghanistan, Obama, Amputation, Robert Greenwald, Counterinsurgency, Brave New Foundation, Troop Increase, World News

Can anyone name a single way in which this war still serves the national interest, if it ever did? We talked to a group of veterans of the conflict, and their answer was a very clear, "no."

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McChrystal's Revenge: Everyone Hates Karl Eikenberry

Josh Mull | Posted 05.25.2011

I am the Afghanistan Blogging Fellow for The Seminal and Brave New Foundation. You can read my work on The Seminal or at Rethink Afghanistan. The view...

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Rethink Afghanistan: Broken Government's Body Count

Josh Mull | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Out of Afghanistan Caucus, Anti-War, Primary, War Supplemental 2010, Pakistan, Jim McGovern, Broken Government, HR 5015, HR 248, Rethink Afghanistan, Vote, Escalation, Election-2010, Afghanistan, Joe Sestak, Media Narrative, Politics News

One of my biggest pet peeves about war coverage is the constant flow of quasi-racist stereotypes about Afghans. You know, Afghanistan is the "Graveyard of Empires," they're all xenophobic murderers, they're "tribal" and backwards.

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Election 2010: "Lefty Insurgents" and the Phony Revolution

Josh Mull | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Arlen Specter, Lefty, 2010 Primaries, Primary, Afghanistan, Pakistan, HR 5015, Anti-War, Insurgency, Rand Paul, Revolution, Escalation, Bill Halter, Election-2010, Rethink Afghanistan, Media Narrative, Joe Sestak, Politics News

No matter who you vote for, they have to be pushed for every inch of progress, every last line of policy. We can force an end to this bloody and expensive war in Afghanistan. But it takes a lot more than voting to achieve it.

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More Afghan Civilians Killed By US, NATO Forces Than Insurgents During Operation Moshtarak

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Civilian Deaths, Afghan War, Military, Afghan Casualties, Civilian Casualties, Afghanistan, Af-Pak, Escalation, Nato, Operation Moshtarak, Kabul, Helmand Province, Insurgents, Taliban, US, World News

According to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, U.S. and Allied forces have killed and injured more civilians than have the insurgents du...

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Size Doesn't Matter: Missing the Point Of ISAF's Failure in Marja

Josh Mull | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Corruption, Nato, Civilian Protection, Rethink Afghanistan, Gareth Porter, Coin, Escalation, Isaf, Civilian Casualties, Afghanistan, Civilian Deaths, Taliban, Marja, Karzai, World News

A man in his early 30s summarized the pragmatism of many Afghanis: "If the Taliban tap me on the shoulder, I will be with them, and if the government taps me on my shoulder I will be with them."

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Elections in Iraq and Escalation in Afghanistan: Paying For A "Violent Semi-Peace"

Josh Mull | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Corruption, Civilian Protection, Petraeus, Violent Semi-Peace, Coin, War, Isaf, Civilian Casualties, Obama, Iraq, Civilian Deaths, Elections, Nato, #iraq10, Escalation, Cost of War, Afghanistan, Rethink Afghanistan, General Mcchrystal, Holbrooke, Politics News

This weekend Iraqis turned out in the millions to vote in their 2010 parliamentary elections. By most accounts, it was a relative success. There were ...

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Is This Tom Friedman's "Walter Cronkite Moment" on Afghanistan?

Harvey Wasserman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: New York Times, Thomas Friedman, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Escalation, Walter Cronkite, Politics News

No one contends that Tom Friedman has the influence that Walter Cronkite did, but could Friedman's anti-Afghanistan editorial mark a similar war-time shift in thinking?

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Obama's Afghanistan Escalation: An Assessment

Phyllis Bennis | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Taliban, Afghanistan, Obama, Empire, General Mcchrystal, Escalation, Pakistan, World News

The White House has dropped the rhetoric. Now it's official. It's not about Afghanistan and Afghans at all -- it's all about us.

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Why I Changed My Mind On Afghanistan

Cenk Uygur | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Escalation, Matthew Hoh, Taliban, Barack Obama, Withdrawal, Afghanistan War, Al Qaeda, Afghan Election, World News

We don't have a viable partner in Afghanistan and we don't have the legitimacy that is essential to rebuilding the country. The Afghans don't view us as their saviors. They view us as the latest intruder in their valley.

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New Tools for Peace in Afghanistan

Jim Wallis | Posted 05.25.2011

Development and humanitarian assistance can no longer be an afterthought; they must be central to any strategy the U.S. government puts forward in Afghanistan.

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Up To 56,000 More Contractors Could Be Sent With Troops To Afghanistan

TPM | Justin Elliott | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Karzai, Afghanistan Contractors, Mercenaries, Afghanistan, Blackwater, Troop Surge, Escalation, Troop Levels, Afghan War, Crs, How Many Contractors in Afghanistan, Congressional Research Service, Xe, Politics News

Private contractors will make up at least half of the total military workforce in Afghanistan going forward, according to Defense Department officials...

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A Costly Mistake

Malou Innocent | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama Afghanistan, Afghanistan Surge, War in Afghanistan, Afghanistan, Afghanistan Escalation, Escalation, Afghan War, US Troops Afghanistan, Afghanistan War, World News

Barack Obama's announcement last night that he will deploy another 30,000 troops reminded me of what John Kerry said in 1971: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

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General McChrystal's War

Rick Ayers | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Stanley McChrystal, Pentagon, Afghanistan Surge, Vietnam War, Escalation, Afghan War, World News

A Newsweek cover story purporting to demonstrate how the US could have "won" in Vietnam turns out to be a stalking horse for General McChrystal and the Pentagon hawks.

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Uncle Sam in Afghanistan: Good Help Is Hard to Find

Norman Solomon | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan, Pentagon, Escalation, Vietnam War, Obama Administration, Abdullah Abdullah, Politics News

Unless the best and brightest who oversee Afghan war policy can rig up a coalition with the top two contestants, a runoff between Karzai and his rival Abdullah Abdullah will happen November 7.

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Civilian Casualties Soar; Key Afghan Metric Headed In Wrong Direction

HuffingtonPost.com | Ryan Grim | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Civilian Deaths, Women, Death Toll, Afghanistan Death Numbers, US Military, Children, Afghanistan, Obama, Taliban, White House, Surge, Nato, Escalation, Iasf, Matthew Hoh, Un Report, Un, Stanley McChrystal, Pashtuns, Video, Politics News

Civilian deaths in Afghanistan climbed in 2009 to their highest number since the fall of the Taliban, the United Nations says in a recent report. The...

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Obama's Unavoidable Cure for the Afghanistan Cancer

Bob Cesca | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Iraq War, Obama Afghanistan, War on Terror, Afghanistan, Pakistan Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Escalation, President Obama, George W. Bush, Vietnam, Barack Obama Afghanistan, Afghanistan War, Dick Cheney, World News

Are we willing to allow eight years of mistakes and mismanagement to go unmitigated, or do we risk more lives trying to at least clean up some of the mess before we bug out?

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The Hollow Politics of Escalation

Norman Solomon | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: President Obama, Timetables, Escalation, War, Benchmarks, New York Times, Afghanistan, I. F. Stone, David Obey, Jack Reed, Politics News

An underlying conceit of the new spin about benchmarks and timetables for Afghanistan is the notion that pivotal events there can be choreographed from Washington.

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The War Stampede

Norman Solomon | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Capitol Hill, President Obama, Karl Eikenberry, Escalation, Stanley McChrystal, Humanitarian Aid, Afghanistan, Veterans, Politics News

After 30 years of war, Afghans do not need more ingenious war efforts by the latest batch of best and brightest in Washington.

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General David Rodriguez: Afghanistan Troop Surge Will Take Longer

AP | ANNE GEARAN and AMIR SHAH | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: White House, Pentagon, Troop Surge, Escalation, Afghanistan Surge, David Rodriguez, Afghan Troop Surge, Afghanistan Troop Surge, Afghanistan Escalation, Afghanistan, World News

KABUL — The military may not finish its surge of 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan until nearly a year from now, a senior U.S. commander sai...

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