Struggling to understand the US military’s strategy in Afghanistan? This unclassified schematic of the plan obtained by MSNBC… probably won’t help, but it’s an amazing insight into the complex strategising and analysing that goes on behind the frontlines of war.
US Armed Forces
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Behind the surge: How Obama made the most important decision of his career
And extensive behind-the-scenes look from the NYT on the three months of meetings, analysis, debate and deliberation that led Barack Obama to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
The real costs of privatising war
It costs the US one million dollars to support one soldier for one year in Afghanistan. Why so much? The private contractors employed to do things like cooking and laundry are charging outrageous amounts — and whistleblowers are being kept under wraps.
Obama’s Afghanistan announcement ticks all the boxes
Obama’s speech today announcing a 30,000-troop surge for Afghanistan methodically ticked off all the boxes on the list of AfPak talking points, says Shakira Hussein.
Michael Moore: Dear President Obama…
In an open letter to Barack Obama, film maker Michael Moore pleads with the President not to send more troops off to Afghanistan in his speech at West Point tonight: “Stop the killing”.
How bin Laden slipped through America’s fingers
A new report from the US Senate claims that Osama bin Laden was “within [their] grasp” in 2001, but escaped because the task of capturing him was “outsourced” to a pair of minor Afghan warlords.
revealed The secret US “black jail” in Afghanistan
The US is holding detainees in isolated, windowless concrete cells at Bagram Air Base, sometimes for weeks at a time, without access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to former inmates and human rights workers.
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Obama’s secret Afghanistan plans
Inside sources tell The Daily Beast that Obama is planning a 30-35,000 troop surge for Afghanistan, plus a possible 10,000 on top of that, and a new mission objective: instead of trying to”defeat” Al Qaeda, he will aim to simply “dismantle and degrade” them.
CIA outsources its dirty work in Pakistan
The US is paying controversial private military contractor Blackwater to plan targeted drone-strike assassinations and run “snatch and grab” operations on key Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, according to an investigation by The Nation.
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The real cost of Afghanistan
Documents leaked to the LA Times show the Pentagon calculate the 40,000-troop surge in Afghanistan being pushed for by military commanders would cost $30-35 billion — at least $750,000 a person.
Life as a soldier in Afghanistan
A remarkable photo essay by AP photojournalist David Guttenfelder on the lives of American troops in Afghanistan gives a small insight into the fear and horror of the work, says W H Chong.
Crikey Clarifier: The JSF project … the J is for ‘joke’
The JSF or Joint Strike Fighter is a massively hyped, much-delayed defence project by which a single type of jet will supposedly defend the US and its allies from baddies. Think of a super duper X-box with wings. It has got everything. Or has it? asks Ben Sandilands.
The economics of war: 1 soldier = 20 new schools in Afghanistan
Nicholas Kristof crunches the numbers on the war in Afghanistan: the cost of every additional soldier stationed in the country could pay for 20 new schools there. It’s not just value for money, it’s a better investment, too.
Friedman: We simply can’t win
America simply does not have the Afghan partners, NATO allies, domestic support or financial resources to win in Afghanistan, says Thomas Friedman. Who knows: if the rest of the world stops meddling, the country might actually manage to sort itself out on its own.
Bring the troops home
Obama faces an “either-or” situation in Afghanistan, says Eugene Robinson: he either commits the 40,000+ troops requested by the US commander, or pulls forces out entirely to pursue a counter-terrorism strategy. The latter is the right choice to make.
The Pentagon’s secret Afghan war games
The US military has been testing new strategies for combat in Afghanistan in secret war games, an inside source reveals, including the possibility of adding 44,000 more troops for a full-scale counterinsurgency, or 15,000 more to target Taliban commanders.
VIDEO: Remote control warfare: the destructive double-life of drone pilots
By day, these US Airforce pilots fly combat planes over Iraq and Afghanistan; at night, they return home to their kids in Las Vegas. They’re the remote control navigators of unmanned “drone” planes whose lives are in America while their heads are in a warzone.
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How the Pentagon used PSYOPS on the US public
New evidence uncovered by Raw Story exposes how the US military’s propaganda arm used “psychological operations” tactics on the US public to sell them on the Iraq War.
US military bans photos of war dead in Afghanistan
The US military has officially banned embedded journalists from taking photos or recording footage of soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Is it press censorship, or just giving the deceased and their families the respect and privacy they deserve?
Shhh! Obama sneaks 13,000 extra troops into Afghanistan
The White House publicly announced that 21,000 more troops would be sent to Afghanistan this year — what they didn’t mention was that an additional 13,000 “support” troops were also being deployed. Sneaky semantics.
VIDEO: Obama vows to end “don’t ask, don’t tell”
Barack Obama delivered a passionate speech to America’s largest gay civil rights group on the weekend, pledging to end the US military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on homosexuals. Watch the full speech here.
Is the Pentagon funding the Taliban?
A US military aid program in Afghanistan that ensures local businesses score all contracts on projects and procurement is filtering money directly into the Taliban’s hands, says Jean MacKenzie. The Pentagon knows, but its hands are tied.
Obama vs. McChrystal: who’s really running the Afghan war?
Obama may be America’s Commander-in-Chief, but the US military’s commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has been making waves by publicly discussing his opinions on the military’s strategy. Just what is the chain of command here?
Stars and Stripes: keeping an eagle eye on the Pentagon
US military newspaper Stars and Stripes may be partially funded by the Pentagon, but its not afraid to hold the government and military to account. Editor Howard Witt talks independent investigative journalism, and why he gave Ann Coulter and Ariana Huffington the boot.
Former senior RAAF officers slam Australia’s defence plan
Three retired senior RAAF officers have published a review of the culture of learned failure in the administration of defence in Australia and the US, claiming Australia’s defence force will become largely irrelevant within decades.
