The Barack Obama War Strategy Thread

[Piece Train]

"Liberty or death, what we so proudly hail
Once you provoke her, rattling of her tail
Never begins it, never, but once engaged...
Never surrenders, showing the fangs of rage

Don't tread on me

So be it
Threaten no more
To secure peace is to prepare for war
So be it
Settle the score
Touch me again for the words that you'll hear evermore...

Don't tread on me

Love it or leave it, she with the deadly bite
Quick is the blue tongue, forked as lighting strike
Shining with brightness, always on surveillance
The eyes, they never close, emblem of vigilance

Don't tread on me

So be it
Threaten no more
To secure peace is to prepare for war
So be it
Settle the score
Touch me again for the words that you'll hear evermore...

Don't tread on me

So be it
Threaten no more
To secure peace is to prepare for war

Liberty or death, what we so proudly hail
Once you provoke her, rattling on her tail

So be it
Threaten no more
To secure peace is to prepare for war
So be it
Settle the score
Touch me again for the words that you'll hear evermore...

Don't tread on me..."

So goes the words of Metallica's hit song Don't Tread on Me. And so we begin another four years of Bush-Obama war policy. Now, as we start out, we might think simply that it's a matter of pulling all the troops simply out of Iraq...and plugging a few more thousand into Pakistan, Afghanistan and other parts of that zone climbing with Al Qaeda worms. That's right, worms.

And as the coalition forces move in and we continue to defeat the Taliban on their own soil, eventually, in Mr. Obama's words, to capture and/or kill bin Laden, al Zawahiri, etc., let's think a bit about what the new President of the U.S. might be thinking and/or being told by his advisors...after all, the last say will likely be in his hands as the new Commander in Chief position. A position which states that one must know when to give the command to attack (and capture, and if necessary, kill) the forces of evil that harm the innocent people of the world.

During the preliminary debates between Obama and McCain, Obama had stated his desire to "invade Pakistan," something which McCain had judged was not a good thing to say as it gave away an intention (the enemy must never know intention). A bit after these debates we saw in the news some new bombs and missiles going into Pakistan which were the result of U.S. led coalition forces, something that Pakistan was warning the U.S. against doing. So, who do we think ordered these...was it Bush trying to make a last statement and "soak up the unpopularity heat" that might fall onto Obama, or was it something else?

Make no mistake friends and neighbors, there's still a war going on...

Here's one of the latest news flashes...

Official: US-Afghan operation kills 20 insurgents - Yahoo! News


Official: US-Afghan operation kills 20 insurgents

By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer Amir Shah, Associated Press Writer (Monday, December 22nd, 2008)

KABUL, Afghanistan – A joint U.S.-Afghan operation along the border with Pakistan has killed about 20 insurgent fighters over the last month, an Afghan governor said Monday.
The Afghan and U.S. forces taking part in Operation Lion Heart are trying pressure militants along the border between Afghanistan's Kunar province and the Bajur region in Pakistan.
Pakistani forces are conducting their own operation in Bajur in coordination with the U.S. and Afghan forces.
The Ministry of Defense said Monday that dozens of militants have been killed and wounded over the last month. A spokesman said he couldn't give more precise numbers.
However, Kunar Gov. Sayed Fazeullah Wahidi said around 20 fighters have been killed over the last month, including two Arabs and two Pakistanis.
Foreign militants from Uzbekistan, Chechnya and Arab countries have joined the fight with Taliban militants who operate in the Afghan-Pakistan border region. Al-Qaida fighters also operate along the border.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a car bomb with two attackers exploded Monday near an Afghan governor's compound, killing one Afghan civilian and wounding seven. The two attackers also died, said Sayed Ismail Jahangir, the spokesman for the governor of Ghazni province in central Afghanistan.
Shops around the governor's compound were damaged, and shattered glass littered the ground around the bombing.
Violence has spiked around Afghanistan the last two years. More than 6,100 people have died in insurgency related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count of figures from Afghan and Western officials.

It doesn't seem as if The Peace can ever be put back into Cat Stevens' old Peace Train...what's your take?

[stfranalum]

when the al quaeda guy just recently was saying on video really derogatory stuff about obama, you know that they are a bit scared. like trying to egg on an opponent to put them on tilt.

hopefully we'll see the fruits of his administration's policy in 3-4 years time. i doubt we will see major progress before then.

[Piece Train]

Latest breaking news...

Obama wins Russian support on Afghanistan - Yahoo! News



by Alexander Osipovich – Mon Jul 6, 1:30 pm ET

MOSCOW (AFP) – US President Barack Obama on Monday won Russian support for the war in Afghanistan with a breakthrough agreement allowing a dozen flights a day to transit US troops and weapons over Russian territory.
"This is a substantial contribution by Russia to our international effort," Obama said at a joint press conference at the Kremlin with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Underscoring the deal's strategic value for Russia, Medvedev said: "We value the efforts by the United States and other countries to deal with the terrorist threat that came from and continues to come from Afghan soil."
The deal marks a victory for Obama as he seeks to intensify the faltering campaign against the Taliban and "reset" US-Russian relations that were badly strained under his predecessor, George W. Bush.
It allows the use of Russian airspace for the transit of US troops and weapons. Previously Russia had only allowed the United States to ship non-lethal military supplies across its territory by train.
The need to diversify transit routes into Afghanistan has become more acute in recent months because of instability in Pakistan, which currently serves as the main transit route into the war-torn country.
The agreement was signed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Undersecretary of State William Burns, who was standing in for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she recuperated from an elbow injury.
A senior US official said that the deal permits up to 4,500 military flights per year -- or about 12 per day -- which can be loaded with troops, firearms, ammunition, military vehicles and spare parts.
The US official said the military flights would not be charged overflight fees and that they would not stop on Russian territory.
The agreement takes effect 60 days from its signing and is good for one year and then may be renewed automatically by mutual consent, the official said.
The official added that the agreement would bring Washington annual savings of 133 million dollars (95 million euros) thanks to quicker transit.
Cooperation on Afghanistan proves that Russia and the United States can get along on some issues despite bitter disputes in recent years, said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs.
"This is an issue with which the Americans and the Russians have found a way to improve their relations. It is one of the rare problem where their interests are very close -- indeed, identical," Lukyanov said.
Moscow, which has grim memories of its own war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, views the US military presence there as protecting its southern flank, said independent Russian defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer.
"Russia is not really a friend of the Taliban. It already has problems with the Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus, and the big risk is that the Islamist menace will infect Central Asia as well," Felgenhauer said.
"There is a consensus in Russia on the fact that the US operation in Afghanistan is lost already, but the longer the Americans stay there, the more they will put off the danger to our borders," he added.
Tens of thousands of international troops are in Afghanistan struggling to put down a tenacious Taliban insurgency.
Since his inauguration in January, Obama has sent thousands more US troops to the country in a bid to crush the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, making the campaign there a central element of his administration's foreign policy.