Facts and expert opinion otherwise be damned by Daniel N. White

by Daniel N. White
Guest Writer
Dandelion Salad
June 1, 2012

Image by World Can’t Wait via Flickr

No Shit, Sherlock. Or Duh! Or any other of those common expressions we all know so well when something obvious to everyone else is news to you because you were sleeping or in a coma or something equally incapacitating. The information in these two outstanding books–Intel Wars, by Matthew M. Aid, and The Operators, by Michael Hastings–at least the information that really matters is pretty damned obvious and has been for a very long time to me at any rate and that doesn’t change the sad fact that most people don’t know it. Or worse, won’t acknowledge it.

U.S.-Afghan Pact Won’t End War – Or SOF Night Raids by Gareth Porter + NATO needs Afghanistan as launch pad for regime changes

by Gareth Porter
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
crossposted at ISP
May 2, 2012

WASHINGTON, May 2, 2012 (IPS) – The optics surrounding the Barack Obama administration’s “Enduring Strategic Partnership” agreement with Afghanistan and the Memorandums of Understanding accompanying it emphasise transition to Afghan responsibility and an end to U.S. war.

But the only substantive agreement reached between the U.S. and Afghanistan – well hidden in the agreements – has been to allow powerful U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) to continue to carry out the unilateral night raids on private homes that are universally hated in the Pashtun zones of Afghanistan.

US Afghan Kill/Capture Campaign Targeted Civilians + How McChrystal and Petraeus Built an Indiscriminate “Killing Machine” by Gareth Porter

with Gareth Porter
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Sept. 28, 2011

TheRealNews on Sep 28, 2011

Gareth Porter: US used cell phones to track targets, but knowingly killed and captured civilians

Prolonging the Agony… And Then Honoring It? by Philip A. Farruggio

by Philip A. Farruggio
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
April 16, 2011

Orwell himself could not have written a more satirical piece. John Stewart could not have thought up a more outrageous situation for us to digest and regurgitate. Here we have the latest human interest piece coming from the Obama White House. Page 4A of April 13^th USA Today has a neat little story complete with a photo entitled ‘Michelle Obama, Jill Biden are Joining Forces ‘. The subtitle announces that the ‘project aims to lend support to military families ‘. Michelle is standing at the podium while her husband and the Bidens along with assorted military personnel look on.

The Empire and the Right to Life of Human Beings by Fidel Castro Ruz

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

by Fidel Castro Ruz
Global Research, October 28, 2010

In his latest reflections Fidel Castro refers to fragments of the text “The War Crimes of Stanley McChrystal, U.S. General” which, among other things, “reveals examples of how the Obama Administration continues walking in Bush`s footsteps”.

That’s terrific! So I exclaimed when I read down to the last line about the revelations of the famous journalist Seymour Hersh, printed in Democracy Now! and collected as one of the 25 most censored news items in the United States.

The material is entitled “The War Crimes of Stanley McChrystal, U.S. General” and it was included in Project Censored, put together by a university in California, including the essential paragraphs from those revelations.

The Civilian and the General: The Reality Behind the McChrystal Interview Fall-Out by Walter Brasch

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by Walter Brasch
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.walterbrasch.com
June 27, 2010

For a few days last week, the harpies of the extreme right assaulted the president of the United States for first considering, and then firing Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of allied forces in Afghanistan.

In a 10-day interview with Michael Hastings of Rolling Stone, McChrystal and his senior aides poked fun or criticized almost every civilian in the highest levels of the chain of command, including the President, Vice-President, and National Security Advisor James L. Jones, former Marine Corps commandant who, an aide told the magazine, was a “clown.” Another aide told Hastings that Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) “turn up, have a meeting with [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai, criticize him at the airport press conference, then get back for the Sunday talk shows. Frankly, it’s not very helpful.”

West’s Afghan Debacle: Commander Dismissed As War Deaths Reach Record Level by Rick Rozoff

by Rick Rozoff
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
Stop NATO-Opposition to global militarism
June 24, 2010

On June 23 President Barack Obama announced the dismissal of General Stanley McChrystal, commander of all foreign troops in Afghanistan, and within hours Associated Press reported that the Western military death toll in the country had reached at least 80 so far this month, making June NATO’s deadliest month in a war that will enter its tenth calendar year on October 7.

McChrystal, appointed on June 15 of last year as top commander of all U.S. and all NATO-led International Security Assistance Force troops in the South Asian war zone – currently 142,000 with thousands more on the way – was to have led the largest assault of the war this month in the province and capital city of Kandahar.

Dennis Kucinich on Afghan Strategy: Bring our troops home

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

by Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Washington, Jun 23

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today released the following statement after President Obama replaced NATO and U.S. Commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal with General David Petraeus:

“The counterinsurgency strategy is falling apart. The doctrine of counterinsurgency has broken down just as the chain of command has broken down. The Karzai Administration is broken by corruption. Our budget is broken. General Petraeus has served his country honorably, but we can’t expect a different outcome from a new general with the same old strategy. The only way to repair this mess is to get out of Afghanistan.

Officially FUBAR! by Cindy Sheehan

by Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
June 23, 2010

“If Americans pulled back and started paying attention to this war, it would become even less popular,” a senior adviser to head of NATO ops in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal (via Rolling Stone)

FUBAR: Military slang for: Fu#ked Up Beyond All/Any Repair/Recognition. FUBAR also has a close military acronym: SNAFU: Situation Normal All Fu#ked Up.

Dismiss McChrystal II by Michael Carmichael

by Michael Carmichael
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
PlanetaryMovement.org
June 23, 2010

Mr. President:

Eight and a half months ago, I published an open letter to you that critiqued General Stanley McChrystal’s plan for Afghanistan as well as his personal qualifications for his high position.

Noting that the General had produced an unsound plan and been insubordinate in making foolish statements to the international press and media, I advised you to dismiss him – in order for you to retain command authority over the armed services of the United States of America.

Robert Greenwald: General McChrystal Must Resign + Writer explains McChrystal article + The Runaway General By Michael Hastings

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

rethinkafghanistan

June 22, 2010 — For insubordination, for disrespecting the Office of the President of the United States and for allowing derision of the White House among his staff, General Stanley McChrystal must resign. Sign our petition and we’ll deliver your signature to the White House and the Pentagon:

http://www.facebook.com/rethinkafghan…

General McChrystal and his staff were caught being insubordinate and derisive of the President of the United States and our civilian leadership by Rolling Stone. His behavior again undermined the Office of the President of the United States, and another press-release apology isn’t good enough. He must resign.

McChrystal: Taliban leaders can join Afghan govt. + Secret talks held over Taliban ‘integration’

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

PressTV
26 Jan 2010 07:37:11 GMT

The commander of US forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has hinted at the possibility of placing senior Taliban militants in the new Afghan government.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Monday, McChrystal said that political negotiations with leaders of the Taliban could help foster security and stability in conflict-plagued Afghanistan.

[…]

via McChrystal: Taliban leaders can join Afghan govt

Lawrence Wilkerson: “Obama’s choice” pure politics

Dandelion Salad

TheRealNews
December 03, 2009

Lawrence Wilkerson: Obama’s campaign rhetoric and his generals put him in a corner on Afghanistan

more about “Lawrence Wilkerson: “Obama’s choice” …“, posted with vodpod

see

The Afghan Quagmire by Ralph Nader

Rachel Maddow: Erik Prince of Blackwater a CIA Spy +Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy by Adam Ciralsky

Message from Afghanistan

Examining Obama’s Rationale for Escalating the War in Afghanistan by Jeremy R. Hammond

Zoya: A Voice from Afghanistan: Waging war does not bring democracy

Dennis Kucinich: We’re Acting Like a Latter Day Version of the Roman Empire

Afghanistan on Dandelion Salad

Barack Obama’s Speech on Afghanistan Policy + transcript

Dandelion Salad

Propaganda Alert

C-SPAN
Dec. 1, 2009

President Obama delivered a nationally televised address from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He outlined the situation in the region and laid out his strategy and goals for international efforts in the war in Afghanistan, saying “the status quo is not sustainable.” To address the challenges ahead, he announced an order to deploy 30,000 more troops, detailed the Kabul government's changing role in the war, and called on the international community and American people to support the efforts.

If Iraq was ‘dumb,’ how smart is Afghanistan? What about ‘Never Subdued’ Don’t We Get? By Robert S. Becker

By Robert S. Becker
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
rbecker@cal.net
Dec. 1, 2009

Unlike campaign come-ons cast off, fudged or reversed, this president unstintingly commits to “finish the job” in Afghanistan, boldly gearing up a still mission-less, thus inexplicable “war of necessity.” Didn’t Vietnam forever teach both generals and voters no foreign occupation force, however fortified or plentiful, defeats indigenous, ferocious insurgents posing as “freedom fighters”?  Ditto Iraq.

What a nasty irony, to discover the erstwhile, anti-Iraq war candidate, at home more cautious than Scaredy Cat, strictly keeps his word, proactively ordering a high-risk second surge in this “graveyard of empires.”  What’s disheartening isn’t only the ominous magnitude, but that this bright newcomer is so much the conformist: 1) unwilling to escape historic quagmires, or 2) why no army has ever subdued or centralized Afghanistan while 3) buying whole hog into hawkish delusions outsiders can resolve inside tribal-religious wars.