[Peace-discuss] Operation Barbara-Ann

[C. G. Estabrook]

[On the anniversary of the German invasion of Russia ("Operation Barbarossa," 22 
June 1941) the Beach Boys of the Obama administration have to decide what to do 
with their own Drang nach Osten, the US Mideast War, which Obama inherited from 
several previous administrations but has made his own by continued and increased 
murder and brutality.  McChrystal the Assassin has given Obama the chance to 
reverse the policy and withdraw, but I'm willing to bet he won't take it.  I'd 
be glad to be wrong.  --CGE]


...Obama — whose appeal to the Democratic base is rooted in his opposition to 
the Iraq war — faces strong popular headwinds against the war in Afghanistan, 
with poll after poll showing a majority of Americans supporting some kind of 
withdrawal.

Many in the military still view the Afghanistan war as winnable and argue that 
the biggest threat is defeatism back home.

In the Rolling Stone piece, freelance reporter Michael Hastings illustrates the 
difficulty of selling a rapid drawdown to the Pentagon: “Facts on the ground, as 
history has proven, offer little deterrent to a military determined to stay the 
course.”

Such realism, Hastings adds, “doesn’t prevent advocates of counterinsurgency 
from dreaming big: Instead of beginning to withdraw troops next year, as Obama 
promised, the military hopes to ramp up its counterinsurgency campaign even 
further. ‘There’s a possibility we could ask for another surge of U.S. forces 
next summer if we see success here,’ a senior military official in Kabul tells me.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38852_Page2.html#ixzz0rdAQXgO2


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