[Peace-discuss] More war crimes

[C. G. Estabrook]

[It came as we knew it would -- quietly, mendaciously.  Helene Cooper has been a 
principal conduit in recent weeks for cover stores that "Obama is rethinking the 
war." The Obama propaganda operation has been preparing this announcement -- I 
don't think they were ever in any doubt about what they were going to do -- so 
that it could be dissembled in the most soothing way possible.  They're liars 
and killers.  --CGE]

	Obama to Send 17,000 More Troops to Afghanistan
	by Helene Cooper
	Published on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 by The New York Times


WASHINGTON - President Obama will send an additional 17,000 American troops to 
Afghanistan this spring and summer in the first major military move of his 
presidency, White House officials said on Tuesday.

The increase would come on top of 36,000 American troops already there, making 
for an increase of nearly 50 percent. In issuing the order, Mr. Obama is 
choosing a middle ground, addressing urgent requests from commanders who have 
been pressing for reinforcements while postponing a more difficult judgment on a 
much larger increase in personnel that the commanders have been seeking.

In a Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 file photo, Afghans are seen over the graves of 
family members allegedly killed on August 22, 2008 during a US led raid in 
Azizabad village of Shindand district of Herat province west of Kabul, 
Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Fraidoon Pooyaa)

In a written statement issued by the White House on Tuesday evening, Mr. Obama 
said that deteriorating security in Afghanistan demands "urgent attention and 
swift action" to address a problem that has not received the strategic 
attention, direction and resources it urgently requires."

White House officials said that 8,000 Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., will 
deploy in the next few weeks, aiming to be on the ground in Afghanistan by late 
spring, while an Army brigade from Fort Lewis, Wash., composed of 4,000 
soldiers, will deploy in the summer.

An additional 5,000 Army support troops and so-called "enablers" will also be 
deploying in the summer, administration officials said, which will bring the 
number of troops deployed as part of this presidential order to 17,000. The 
decision does carries some political risks for Mr. Obama, whose election was 
interpreted by many Americans as a mandate to bring troops home from Iraq. But 
Mr. Obama has now announced additional American troops are headed to Afghanistan 
before he has withdrawn any troops from Iraq.

But White House officials said both of the units being sent to Afghanistan were 
originally supposed to be going to Iraq.

"We have the ability to do this because we will be drawing down in Iraq," a 
senior White House official said.

Mr. Obama is under pressure from his military commanders in Afghanistan, who 
have been pressing for reinforcements of about 30,000 soldiers, almost twice as 
many as the president has so far decided to send. The commanders hope to have 
additional forces in place by late spring or early summer as part to help 
counter growing violence and chaos in the country, particularly in advance of 
the upcoming presidential elections, which are expected to take place in August.

Mr. Obama will still have to make a decision on the additional troops that are 
part of Gen. David D. McKiernan's standing request. Defense officials say that 
Mr. Obama cannot satisfy the full request from Gen. McKiernan, the top American 
commander in Afghanistan, without withdrawing a substantial number of forces 
from Iraq.

Richard Holbrooke, Mr. Obama's special representative to Afghanistan and 
Pakistan, who is on his way home from his first trip to the region, is helping 
to conduct the administration's review of policy in Afghanistan. Administration 
officials say the review needs to be completed before Mr. Obama makes his first 
overseas trip as president, when he attends the NATO summit in France and 
Germany in April.

Mr. Obama is expected to press America's European allies at the summit for 
additional troops for Afghanistan, along with more development help.

Copyright © 2009 The New York Times