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DrMaddVibe
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

13 years ago

but you can't take the uniform out of the man!

McChrystal calls for enduring Afghan force

Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal said Monday he backs the White House's drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan slated for 2014, but added that the U.S. owes Afghans some sort of enduring security presence to support them.

"We have an emotional responsibility," McChrystal said of Afghanistan in an interview with The Associated Press. He commanded forces there before resigning over a controversial magazine article.

"We created expectations after 2001 in people" that the U.S. would be there to keep the country from sliding back into the chaos of the Taliban years, McChrystal said.

His comments come ahead of a visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to the White House, as the two nations try to craft a long-term plan for Afghanistan that will include a U.S. military presence whose size and scope have not yet been decided. The Afghan war commander, Gen. John Allen, has offered White House planners a range of troop numbers to choose from, from 6,000 troops, who would be devoted mostly to hunting al-Qaida, to more than 15,000, enough to continue much of the U.S. training mission and also back Afghan troops in the field with intelligence and logistical support.

McChrystal said Afghans don't want an occupying army, but they fear the U.S. will withdraw completely.

"Like a teenager, you really don't want your parents hanging around you, but...you like to know if things go bad, they're going to help," he said. McChrystal added that the Afghans are not children, but they need to know they can trust America.

The general gave interviews upon the release of his memoir, "My Share of the Task," published by Portfolio/Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Group USA. The book outlines his time from commanding the top military counterterrorism unit, the Joint Special Operations Command, to the contentious process of crafting the Afghan war strategy, and ends with his abrupt resignation over an article in The Rolling Stone.

McChrystal took full responsibility for the piece, by embedded reporter Michael Hastings, which anonymously quoted members of McChrystal's staff disparaging the White House over war policy. He would not confirm whether the article's quotes were accurate, saying only that he "cheerfully" offered President Barack Obama his resignation, as the article had created a perception of a rift that would hurt the war mission.

But his eyes watered at the memory of telling his wife, Annie, that his 34-year Army career was at an end.

"Annie said, Good. We've always been happy, we'll always be happy, and we have been, every day since," he said. McChrystal now teaches at Yale University, and runs his own consulting group.

First lady Michelle Obama later asked McChrystal to work on Joining Forces, the White House initiative for military troops and their families. He said he'd spoken to the president at several Joining Forces event, but had never again discussed the resignation with him.

Part of the friction between McChrystal's staff and the White House was over McChrystal's request for an extra 40,000 troops, which Obama chose over a proposal by Vice President Joe Biden to limit the mission to a small number of counterterrorism forces and trainers.

The retired general insisted the strategy known as counterinsurgency worked, saying the Afghans are much better able to stand on their own.

"If you had tried to bring big American forces in and do search and destroy, or do just raids, it would have been pointless. The Afghan people needed to buy into this," he said. "They needed to believe we were there to protect them...and we weren't just using Afghanistan as a place to fight our enemies."

He called the looming drawdown of U.S. forces "inevitable," and said that while Afghan troops still needed to "mature rapidly," being forced to work on their own would help.

"You are never ready to do something by yourself until you actually do it, and then you are surprised you can," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/mcchrystal-calls-enduring-afghan-force-185839504.html

I mean good googily-moogily we're STILL in Germany and that one ended in '45! We've gotta stay there!

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ZRX1200
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

It's in the Globalists constitution!

rfenst
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

"Emotional responsibility" is a military concept?
Screw him and Afghanistan.Neither have anything much to offer any more.

bloody spaniard
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

but you can't take the uniform out of the man!

McChrystal calls for enduring Afghan force

[i]🅱Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal said Monday he backs the White House's drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan slated for 2014, but added that the U.S. owes Afghans some sort of enduring security presence to support them.

"We have an emotional responsibility," McChrystal said of Afghanistan in an interview with The Associated Press. He commanded forces there before resigning over a controversial magazine article.

"We created expectations after 2001 in people" that the U.S. would be there to keep the country from sliding back into the chaos of the Taliban years, McChrystal said.

blah blah blah...

DrMaddVibe wrote:

Tell the jackass he can send his kids, friends, and Halliburton investors on HIS dime.[ram27bat]

DrMaddVibe
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

13 years ago

Screw him and Afghanistan.Neither have anything much to offer any more.

rfenst wrote:

Out of what?

Sorry...that one was just sitting there...like a house...standing by the side of the road...

No really...that place...ESPECIALLY...isn't worth one US serviceman's hangnail. It's a shame that we didn't just nuke the place. Guess we wouldn't have all of the heroin if we did that though!

rfenst
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

DrMaddVibe wrote:

A presence in Afgahnistan other than one solely limited to our contry's best interest- killing terrorists and staging to go in to pakistan- is worthless. No U.S servidce person should ie or be injured again. GTFO yesterday.

As to the heroin, just legalize the **** and keep the addicts from having to steal from the rest of us.

wheelrite
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

If the Afghans wanna live in the 11th century , I say let them,,,

we should've been out of there years ago...

That goes for Syria too...

DadZilla3
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

"We created expectations after 2001 in people" that the U.S. would be there to keep the country from sliding back into the chaos of the Taliban years, McChrystal said.

Yup, the Afghans should avoid sliding back to the chaos of the Taliban years and return to their unspoiled, pastoral cultural customs like jumping on a horse and dragging around a headless dead goat carcass.

http://www.afghan-web.com/sports/buzkashi.html

RICKAMAVEN
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

the only reason to stay in a foriegn country after we have won a war
or battle or a conflict is because the hookers are so cheap. some of
them even take monoply money

in the late 50's, ten years after the war with japan ended, you could
still get bed and board and a washed and pressed clean uniform for
the price of a pack of cigarettes.

Edited by user 13 years ago | Reason: Not specified

rfenst
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

#10

If the Afghans wanna live in the 11th century , I say let them,,,

we should've been out of there years ago...

That goes for Syria too...

wheelrite wrote:

Thankfully, we are not in Syria and probably won't be. But, the problem with Syria is that it has the means to be very disruptive- Lebanon, Turkey, the Kurds, Iraq, Jordan and Israel. When the rebels win, it is going to get worse in that region.

I know many here don't like support for Israel and that is fine, but the support has now become so ingrained that if taken away, Israel won't be influenced by the U.S. to the current, same extent. We will see a very messy enormous war with mass destruction inflicted by and on both sides. Not good for the Western World.

The only real value for the U.S. in the Middle East is the oil. some believe we don't need any of it for various reasons. Others believe we should make sure it gets used up before we tap into our own. Either way, the rest of the world DOES need that oil and I think we need to keep it flowing to enables a better degree of world-wide economic security. Once other countries don't get the oil they need, someone else (Russia, China, radicals, etc.) could move in and seize the oil, taking it for itself. That would be a very bad thing for the U.S. and world stability.

Anyhow, Syria's rebels will win by attrition or when someone else steps in to help them.

Now, back to Afghanistan. The people there weren't looking to change their form of government or get rid of a dictator. We jumped in to get Al-Qaeda/Taliban. The religion and culture of the people there aren't suited for our type of democracy and we are stupid to believe they ever will be for centuries, if ever. If it was nuked, we wouldn't miss a thing from there.

HockeyDad
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

#11

I know many here don't like support for Israel and that is fine, but the support has now become so ingrained that if taken away, Israel won't be influenced by the U.S. to the current, same extent. We will see a very messy enormous war with mass destruction inflicted by and on both sides. Not good for the Western World.

rfenst wrote:

Sometimes when the kids want to fight, you just gotta let them fight.

HockeyDad
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

#12

The thought of leaving Afghanistan is ridiculous. The US Navy is a global force for good. We need to find a way to have a port in Afghanistan but would need to annex a little bit or Iran. Hummm.

rfenst
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

#13

Sometimes when the kids want to fight, you just gotta let them fight.

HockeyDad wrote:

Yup. It's inevitable. Israel can't go on undefeated foreever. The Muslims can't stop themsleves either. Only question is when and how bad.

rfenst
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

#14

The thought of leaving Afghanistan is ridiculous. The US Navy is a global force for good. We need to find a way to have a port in Afghanistan but would need to annex a little bit or Iran. Hummm.

HockeyDad wrote:

With the world's and Israel's tough talk about Iran, I am still waiting to see if Israel will strike "first" and go nuclear from the outset. It will be a big game of: "He started it, not me!"

On the other hand, some country like Syria or Egypt could make a bonehead move and lob a few more missiles and that could "light the fuse". Was kind of waiting to see if that is what was up with the Syrian artillery shot into Golan. What a great way to distract the rebels from capturing and killing Assad and his family. After Saddam, Bin laden and countless other leaders assassinated or imprisoned, Assad will stupidly try to hang-on to the bitter end. The only question there is whether he has a secret deal somewhere else or will wait just a little too long...

HockeyDad
Herf-A-Holic

13 years ago

#15

Yup. It's inevitable. Israel can't go on undefeated foreever. The Muslims can't stop themsleves either. Only question is when and how bad.

rfenst wrote:

...but think of the arms sales afterwards during the reconstruction! Gonna need new roads....power plants....infrastructure in general. Business will be booming! (pardon the pun)