There are calls for McChrystal to resign. Wattafah? This whole war is moronic. Wouldn't you want to keep as many morons as possible engaged in such a moronic endeavor? Between this endless war and apparently endless oil super spill, why don't we all just do ourselves a favor, bend over as far as we can and kiss our asses good-bye?

Senior military official sez: "There's a possibility we could ask for another surge of U.S. forces next summer if we see success here."

***
Another surge of U.S. Taxpayer dollars, is more like it.

Anyone who thinks they can afford to win a war is nuts.

Heard already, McChrystal has offered his resignation to the POTUS. This war was a bad idea from the beginning. Evidently not thought out very well at all. When you continue to kill civilians, you continue to build reinforcements of insurgants/freedomfighters/terrorists. If the goal was to establish pipeline routes thru Afganistan, as seems to be the preivious throttle for this war, not one man OBL, I doubt the price was this high. Just recently they announced the trillian dollar mineral deposits that they have known about since the 70s, well this just seems like a propaganda stunt to further validate our presence and occupation of a foreign land. Change we can beieve in is change we can't see. Now we are hoping for change, even in our pockets. GET OUT while we still may at least try to maintain some dignity.

The article on the front of Common Dreams thinks that what McChrystal said may somehow crystallize the antiwar movement into action. I somehow doubt that what the general said will now suddenly push the antiwar movement into organizing hundreds of thousands of protesters to march onto D.C. in order to rival the antiwar demonstrations that took place some forty years ago. Many liberals still believe that because Obama is a Democrat he cannot be nearly as bad as that Republican named G.W. Bush apparently totally forgetting the fact that a Democrat named Lyndon Baines Johnson ultimately sent over 500,000 soldiers into Vietnam.

As Gore Vidal once noted, another example of the United States of Amnesia rearing its ugly head.

"Hey, hey O-bomb-a
How many kids did you kill today?"

McChrystal is not a man of honor. The attacks on Afgans are not honorable.

There is no honor in killing hundreds of thousands of women and children, there is no honor in creating millions of refugees.

Wars on Iraqis and Afgans were based on a pack of lies pushed by government and military people with dual citizenship.

The Likud wanted the US military to invade all of Israel's neighbors. Sharon and the Israeli ambassador said so on national TV even before the US invasion of Iraq. And now the new Likud leader, Nit-wit-yahoo, is trying to get the US to destroy Iran.

Obviously, Obomber and the military-industrial complex are entering disorientation zone, what with the catastrophic oil spill, the economic meltdown, the massive indebtedness of the government and the country at large, and the foundering occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Something's happenin' and you don't know what it is, Mr. Jones..."

Folks, you had better get your compasses while they are still available.

This is a never ending war on the entire Pashtun ethnic races.
There are lots of them and they are very mad at us.
The US will blowup any peoples to save the US dollar faces.
So the world takes US printed money to avoid a US mid-life crisis.
It also pays the enemy just to get the foodstuffs into US bases.

To stop or retreat is to be weak, not willing to stay the course.
The war goes on because the US fears to appear weak.
If the US can no longer punish the poorest of nations with its mighty force
The mighty US dollar will fall as other currencies all nations seek.

So when I see the US flag, I see dollar signs and not heavenly stars.
And those red stripes that flow are the rivers of blood.
Across the bones of a once living green earth, soon like the planet Mars.
The dollar wars soldier on in vain, and do the world no good.

Disengaged dilettante: I think that is the prefect description of Obama.

The USA will withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq when the USA goes bankrupt.

Good Grief.

I agree with whoever said this is some sort of publicity
stunt for some sort of reason we will never know.

to me , I believe it is all a part of the
makeup for the remake for the elections coming up

we will do doubt see many press stories where
Obama looks like the in charge , tough guy
between now and November.

There are only a couple press stories I take
seriously which is a shame in itself.

Why did McChrystal lose it? An answer: neither side is winning, aka stalemate. He doesn't want to be stuck with a war that can not be won. He decided to get fired or resign.

"the military want "to ramp up its counterinsurgency campaign even further..." well, sure. the military is not supposed to make policy. it is controlled by civilians. at any given time if you ask the generals if they want to stop killing people and bring the troops home, they are sure to say "oh we wanna keep shooting" it's all they know how to say.

Now if i may i'd like to take us back for a moment to september 01. after the 2 passenger planes crashed into the 2 towers, and as washington would have it "knocked them down" usans were understandably annoyed.
so much they were like raging bulls- they'd go charging after anyone the president pointed at. he pointed a Afghanistan. using his well known powers as a clairvoyant,
he told us somebody over there was responsible. the citizens took his word for it then, and went off to start murdering Afghans, a terrible habit they can't seem to break. after nine years killing Afghans has become just one of those things usans do. nobody knows why. they did not ask questions when the bombing started so long ago, and they don't ask questions now. when obomber was running for president he told us he would make murdering Afghans
the centerpiece of his exciting new presidency. Still even after all the murders already committed upon some of the most abused, bombed, hungry, people on earth, nobody said "But mr obomber sir, why would you want to do that?" he still did not need a reason. he did once say something about people in Afghanistan wishing us harm. well this is certainly true- most of the world wishes us harm- but Afghanistan is the last country in the world capable of invading the u.s..

but the generals have found some "insurgents" they want to kill.

when you invade any country there will be resistance. it's called "defending one's country from invaders". you can never stop anyone from doing that.

To compare 0bama with Lincoln is absurd:

Truman made some bad decisions, but he did have a war to finish that did actually bear some relation to national security and even to individual liberties - though that relation may have been incidental.

Not even Truman or Roosevelt HAD to fight. There was no hard need for Roosevelt to provoke the Japanese, less to leave those ships at Pearl as bait, accidentally or otherwise. But to compare Truman's motives to 0bama's is absurd. 0bama is just killing people to control hydrocarbon access and, as recently surfaced, mining rights.

Lincoln could have let the South secede, and maybe he should have, but there were a lot of reasons not to do so. It would have made no guarantee for peace, since England might have banded with the South to reconquer the North, especially given that the West would have been an ongoing provocation. And again, as incidental as the issue was to most of the combatants and, probably more so, the politicians, the issue of slavery had been broached.

Still, the South fired on the North, and Lincoln eventually freed the slaves, sort of. And there were questions of civil law involved, if one happens to respect that sort of thing.

Lincoln's is a far from spotless record, but nothing like 0bama's. Lincoln held a country together, for better or for worse. 0bama is tearing at least three countries apart, and ordering summary executions -- a style of murder, to drop the damnable pretence of authority.

I have very little good to say about McChrystal in general, but if he disagrees with 0 about the war, he can't be all bad. 0bama's in the war to smooch up to the contractors that will pick up all that new-printed money to spread uranium through the desert and cook up creative accounting. The US government isn't full of apple-pie schoolboys just certain that Afghan women want Christ and Pepsi and GI Joe. This is not just a simple mistake. It's a scam - scam, fraud, and murder, just like when Cheney did it.

The problem 0bama has with McChrystal is not half the problem the people under McChrystal have with 0bama.

(On the need to fight WWII and the Civil War, google Zinn and "Good War" or read Human Smoke, by Nicholson Baker - a novelist, but this is not a novel.)

McChrystal's history with JSOC, a black-ops outfit which routinely has assassinated as part of its mission, should be a clue to what his real interests, values and standards are. I think he could legitimately be diagnosed as a psychopath. He doesn't want a resolution to the conflict. He only seems to want to ramp it up. Time to go, Stan.

when those inherent imperial antagonisms come to be too antagonistic 'tis coz the ship of "state" be sinking!

Could the american empire get any more evil?

Could our 'leaders' get any more clueless?

Here is a great video , lot of truth, some humor

http://tv.globalresearch.ca/content/meaning-austerity

Obama's real McChrystal problem is that Afghanistan will forever be a thorn in his side without killing every Afghan man, woman and child.

Sun Tzu said, when waging war, " ... if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength."

"Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain."

"Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue."

"There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare."

The concept of perpetual war is Fascist. Mussolini said, "War is the normal state of the people. "

The bigger question is why ten more years in Afghanistan? Why can't Obama just leave? Why could Johnson not just walk away from Vietnam? Why could Bush not bring the troops home from Iraq?

It has always been about the money.

Riddle me this: Putin said, "(the new Russian T-50 fighter)...will be superior to our main competitor, the F-22, in terms of maneuverability, weaponry and range." and will cost one third what similar western fighters sell for.

There is something really wrong here. How can Russia sell a jet for one third what we pay Lockheed Martin/Boeing? Think about it. To what extent have we been gouged all these years by private defense contractors? We have been giving defense contractors blank checks in form of cost plus contracts since WWII. Of course the MIC believes in perpetual war. To them it is not about "guns and butter", it is about their "bread and butter".

We have become the Soviet Union. The irony is that Ronald Reagan made it so. We have become what we despise. The MIC is not capitalist because it has no risk of loss. Spend a dollar, get a dollar and ten cents back guaranteed by the US Treasury - that's cost plus contracting. Our major industries are all too big to fail and that is Soviet style economics. Again, no risk of loss - no capitalism. Our major corporations are all good party members. They pay their party dues in the form of campaign contributions come election time. Welcome to the USSA.

We need some stategy

In the November elections,
I am not worried about voting for a winner.(never havebeen)
so probably make a write in for congressman..even though
this is the first time in twenty-five years that a
Democrat has even challenged for this position in this
district.....Don't care , Dems are not getting my support.

In the primaries of 2012, I am a little puzzeled what
I am going to do,, first , the democrat presidential
primaries are rigged. I know in the General Election I will
vote green. But how I am going to influence the primaries
is my question...I am pretty sure the Dems are going to
get thumped, and rightfully so. So , should I , even though
I won't vote for him in the GenElect.. switch and registar
republican and vote in the primaries for Paul to make sure
one of the other Rupublican asses don't get the nomination.
That crap about Ron Paul being a racist is mostly
democrat journalism,,the Democrats have a dismal track
record on race themselves, so their finger pointing to Paul
is meaningless to me , all politicians are prejudice, to us
Or I could stay registared Democrat, and vote for the
candidate that I believe has the least chance of winning
the general election.
Anyway, we need to start strategizing......if it is at all
possible now to turn this around, that is what we need to
use this internet for,,,,besides our bitching , which is nice
but how are we at all going to turn the tables on these
criminals is what most of our discussions on the internet
should be right now......otherwise, what the fuck good is
the internet????????????????????????????????????????????

If Common Dreams is not going to support this idea, then
I guess there is no need for me posting here either....
Probably many might like that.

But if Common Dreams is going to wrap itself around another
Democrat and not let a third Party be discussed , I will
find somewhere.

The Democrats deserve no support whatsoever from any press
outlet. They are criminals just like the Bush Administration.

I know the Democrats have many, many tricks up their sleeves
Ther are liable to pull, Whitehouse, or Feingold out of their
bag in 2012. They will be just the same as Obama no matter
what rhetoric they use. They are first and foremost
Democrats and will do what the Party bosses tell them.

The 2012 presidential elections offer the best opportunity
for a third party in my 61 year lifetime..
Remember, you don't have to win an election to win many
battles...That is what Debs, Bryon, LaFollet all did, they
used their poplar support to get reforms, even though the
never won an election. We would not have many of the reforms
we have today without the influence of third parties,
In this culture , everyone feels like they have to vote for
an winner...you don't....but you can still win battles.
And who knows,,,,,maybe , just might, win the 2012 pres.

Obama wanted this war- God knows why, I guess, no one else does.
Are these the military guys who are upset with our policy with Israel, especially our uneven policy? Policies have a way of interlocking at this level-

Afgan war is a Sisyphian task. Always was. remember the USS LIBERTY

Rolling Stone is going to save the dormant antiwar movement?

If you believe this, I've got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

People need to get back in the streets. This is definitely not happening and certainly not being encouraged by the likes of Rolling Stone. Until(or more properly stated, if) this happens, not a thing will change.

Bring America Back !!!!

**Team Obama was elected specifically to END this WAR !
They have failed completely and have proliferated it on all
fronts, as well as creating the Drone Crusade.

**This is and always was an illegal, immoral, war which King
"W" Bush lied us into ! The only "victory" in an illegal
war is to END it !

**You cannot campaign on CHANGE then keep in power the same and identical Neocon warmongering criminals who started it:
i.e. Robt Gates and his boots on the ground, including General McChrystal.

Get out of Iraq; Get out of Afghan; stay out of Iran !!!
END this WAR NOW !!! Wake up America !

Billy McChrystal, your act is no longer funny. Killing women and children for Dick Chaney's Halliburton and the Peace Prize Preznit. Shame on you. Oh, the Pat Tillman cover up?: nice try, you get an E for effort.

For a pertinent look at the character of McChrystal, see Seymour Hersh's damning article here on CD in May 2009:

"McChrystal was Cheney's Chief Assassin" [...And now, Obama's]

"Seymour Hersh says that Dick Cheney headed a secret assassination wing and the head of the wing has just been named as the new commander in Afghanistan."

http://www.commondreams.org/print/42178

"On July 22, 2006, Human Rights Watch issued a report titled "No blood, no foul" about American torture practices at three facilities in Iraq. One of them was Camp Nama, which was operated by the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), under the direction of then Major General Stanley McChrystal..."

"...An interrogator at Camp Nama known as Jeff described locking prisoners in shipping containers for 24 hours at a time in extreme heat; exposing them to extreme cold with periodic soaking in cold water; bombardment with bright lights and loud music; sleep deprivation; and severe beatings."

"When he and other interrogators went to the colonel in charge and expressed concern that this kind of treatment was not legal ... the colonel told them he had "this directly from General McChrystal and the Pentagon that there's no way that the Red Cross could get in."

"...When Human Rights Watch asked whether the interrogator knew whether the colonel was receiving orders or pressures to use the abusive tactics, Jeff said that his understanding was that there was some form of pressure to use aggressive techniques coming from higher up the chain of command...
'We really didn't know too much about it. We knew that we were only like a few steps away in the chain of command from the Pentagon, but it was a little unclear, especially to the interrogators who weren't really part of that task force.'"

So McChrystal is now Obama's man. But now that things are falling apart and the wheels are coming off, Stanley is throwing Barry under the bus, or so it seems. It may all be part of the stagecraft toward renewed escalation (Vietnamization).

Judging Obama by MLK's standard, not "by the color of [his] skin, but by the content of [his] character", he fails miserably. His Nobel Prize should be revoked. He has completely betrayed voters for change.

Anyone who read candidate Obama's published interviews with the Chicago Tribune in the spring of 2008 and had followed the so-called "debates" could have firmly predicted the mess our current president has created in Afghanistan/Pakistan. I did and was berated for my "audacity" to call him an imperialist. It was totally predictable after I had considered the unbelievable naivete/amateurism of candidate Obama who glibly divided wars into "dumb wars" and "not-dumb wars". In his opinion Iraq was in the first category and Afghanistan in the second. He did not explain why that was so nor did he explain how he was going to "win" the not-so-dumb war in Afghanistan other than promising that he would invade Pakistan if that was needed, the second to the abhorrence of the other candidates which included the now Vice-President Biden and Mrs. Clinton. I firmly conclude that general McChrystal is not the problem but president Obama is. Afghanistan is Obama's abysmal failure from the day he announced his candidacy hence he should abdicate and allow Mr. Biden to try to clean up the mess he created, stop the wars and bring the troops home if Biden dares. Also must-stepping down: secretary Clinton, secretary Gates, and the president's additional bevy of war-mongering advisers. This Augias-stable calls for another Hercules. Unfortunately I don't see any such person in Washington.

McChrystal knew what he was doing. He and his staff made disparaging and insubordinate remarks about their bosses because McChrystal did not want to be stuck with an unwinnable war. He wanted OUT.

Regardless of why the good general did what he did, it's obvious why the U.S. is still in Afghanistan; IT'S THE MINERALS STUPID! All the b.s. about the Taliban, democracy was another Bush lie and now Obama's lie.

A trillion dollars worth of cobalt, copper, gold, iron and lithium... how many Afghan and American lives is this all worth? Our economy is in a major tailspin, our schools are laying off teachers, our states are cutting back on badly needed social services... when does the madness stop?