[Peace-discuss] What they want you to know...

[C. G. Estabrook]

[AP channels official government propaganda on the war.  But there was a 
screw-up - or Frank Rich didn't read his email.  Here's what he wrote for the 
NYT today, before the DC boys got around to denying it: "58 percent of the 
country favors [Obama's] announced timeline, with its promise to start 
withdrawing troops in mid-2011. It’s hard to imagine what could change that 
equation now." Answer: the fact that Obama is lying about his government's 
intentions, as his lieutenants make clear. --CGE]

	US officials say war goals modest in Afghanistan
	By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer

WASHINGTON – As the war in Afghanistan faces a loss of public and congressional 
support and U.S. casualties rise sharply, the Obama administration is painting 
its goals for the war as humble and achievable while warning there is no quick 
fix [AS NAPOLEON SAID IN MOSCOW.]

"Nobody thinks that Afghanistan is going to be a model Jeffersonian democracy," 
President Barack Obama said in a television interview that aired Sunday. [WHEN 
THEY START USING THIS CLICHE, UNDERSTAND IT'S LIKE SAYING 'JEFFREY DAHMER WAS 
NOT A MODEL CITIZEN.']

"What we're looking to do is difficult — very difficult — but it's a fairly 
modest goal, which is: Don't allow terrorists to operate from this region. Don't 
allow them to create big training camps and to plan attacks against the U.S. 
homeland with impunity," Obama said in an interview broadcast by CBS' "Sunday 
Morning." [THEIR POLLS SHOW WHAT OUR INFORMAL ONES DO - THE OLD LBJ LINE 'WE'RE 
FIGHTING THEM THERE SO WE WON'T HAVE TO FIGHT THEM HERE' IS ABOUT ALL THAT'S 
WORKING.]

July was the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the nearly nine-year war, with 
66 troops killed. Military officials predict the toll will be even higher for 
several months to come, as U.S., NATO and Afghan forces intensify fighting in 
Taliban-controlled areas. [BUT THERE'S LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL, RIGHT?]

[IN SPITE OF WHAT YOU'VE HEARD, MAINLY FROM THE OBAMA ADMINSTRATION] ... Defense 
Secretary Robert Gates predicted that only a small number of U.S. forces will 
come home next summer, when Obama has said he will begin phasing out the U.S. 
combat mission in Afghanistan. [BURY YOUR LEDE MUCH?] A large number of U.S. 
forces will remain past the start of that drawdown, Gates said, and he gave no 
estimate for when all U.S. forces might leave [NOT IN HIS LIFETIME, HE MEANS.]

"My personal opinion is that drawdowns early on will be of fairly limited 
numbers," Gates said. "As we are successful, we'll probably accelerate."

Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, used 
television interviews Sunday to try to reassure Afghan and Pakistani leaders 
that the U.S. will not abandon the fight. [AND - OH, YEAH - WE GOT A PLAN TO 
BOMB IRAN, SAID MIKE, BUT THE AP NATIONAL SECURITY WRITER IS TOO POLITE TO 
MENTION IT.]

"I think we need to re-emphasize the message that we are not leaving Afghanistan 
in July of 2011 [IN SPITE OF WHAT THE GUY WITH THE BIG EARS SAYS.] We are 
beginning a transition process and a thinning of our ranks," Gates said, "and 
the pace will depend on the conditions on the ground" [SEE THE CORSICAN IN 
MOSCOW, ABOVE.]

Mullen acknowledged that time and patience are short, and that all the fighting 
so far has not neutralized the Taliban as a military force. Some military 
assessments from within Afghanistan conclude the insurgency is more potent. 
Whiffs of that conclusion emerged from tens of thousands of leaked secret war 
assessments that Mullen decried as an appalling breach of trust.

"I don't think that the Taliban being stronger than they've been since 2001 is, 
is news [EXCEPT FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE THE US PRESIDENT]," Mullen said, noting 
the insurgency regained momentum over several years.

The Taliban's firmer purchase on key areas of Afghanistan while U.S. and allied 
forces challenge that territory for the first time makes the coming year 
crucial, military officials and members of both political parties agree. [LAST 
YEAR WASN'T CRUCIAL, OF COURSE.]

"I certainly understand it is the ninth year, it is a long time, the sacrifices 
have been significant," Mullen said. "At the same time, I think the strategies 
are right." [WHO SAID, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but 
expecting different results"?]

Release of the nearly 77,000 secret military records from the war has done real 
harm but hasn't affected the U.S. war strategy, Mullen said. [KEEP BOTH POINTS 
IN MIND; IT'S DONE REAL HARM, BUT IT HASN'T MADE ANY DIFFERENCE.]

Gates accused the website WikiLeaks, which posted the material a week ago, of 
"moral culpability" for potentially deadly repercussions. The Taliban can glean 
a lot about U.S. tactics and sources from the documents, Gates said. [WE'D 
USUALLY APPLAUD NATIONAL RESISTANCE AGAINST A FOREIGN INVADER.]

"That's where I think the verdict is guilty on WikiLeaks," Gates said. [AND WE 
DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' TRIALS - THE PRESIDENT JUST ORDERS AMERICANS WITH THE 
WRONG IDEAS BE KILLED.] "They have put this out without any regard whatsoever 
for the consequences." [WHEREAS ALL WE DO IS THROW BOMBS AND BULLETS AROUND 
WITHOUT REGARD FOR THE CONSEQUENCES.]

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, acknowledged 
the slide in support for the war among congressional Democrats. "They have the 
impression that things are not going well now, at least the majority," Levin 
said of Americans. "But I think the public does want us to succeed," [AS THE 
GERMAN HIGH COMMAND SAID OF OPERATION BARBAROSSA.]

...A top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham of 
South Carolina, said he could foresee a collapse of congressional support next 
year if conservative Republicans yank their backing to make Obama look bad and 
if anti-war Democrats insist on a pullout. [HE KNOWS OUR PLAN!]

"I do worry about an unholy alliance with the right and left coming together 
next summer, if we're not showing progress, to basically de-fund this war," 
Graham said. [UNHOLIER THAN THOU, EVERYBODY!]

"Afghanistan is a work in progress," he said. "To lose there would be 
disastrous. To win there would be monumental. And I think we've got a good 
chance of winning, but by no means is the outcome certain."  [SO THESE BASTARDS 
CAN BE STOPPED.]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100801/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_afghanistan