[Peace-discuss] McChrystal's 40,000 Troop Hoax

[Robert Naiman]

It's a time-honored Washington tradition. If you want to bully the
government into doing something unpopular and the public into
accepting it, manufacture a false emergency. Iraq war? If you don't
approve it, mushroom cloud. Banker or IMF bailout? If you don't
approve it, financial collapse. Social security privatization? If you
don't approve it, the system will go "bankrupt." Our brand is crisis,
as James Carville might say.

General McChrystal says that if President Obama does not approve
40,000 more U.S. troops for Afghanistan, and approve them right away,
"our mission" - whatever that is - will likely "fail" - whatever that
is.

But even if President Obama were to approve General McChrystal's
request, the 40,000 troops wouldn't arrive in time to significantly
affect the 12-month window McChrystal says will be decisive. So
McChrystal's request isn't about what's happening in Afghanistan right
now. It's about how many troops the U.S. will have in Afghanistan a
year from now and beyond.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/mcchrystals-40000-troop-h_b_318691.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/13/123924/24

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/369

--
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

Withdraw from Afghanistan with a Public, Negotiated Timetable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWk2aapaywk