But instead Congress will fork over the $33 billion for the current war funding bill and the war will continue on with no end in site. It's that simple.

Most congressmen are corrupt. War is a racket and they are playing the game, without trying to fix it.

Thanks to the USA's invasion & occupation, over a million Iraqi's & Afghans have been killed - including hundreds of thousands of children and women,and another million have been crippled. Many flagrant & horrendous crimes against humanity, but there is no open admission, nor is there any remorse for all that needless misery that they created.

Luckily, WikiLeaks will soon make it rain on the military industrial complex's parade, when they post a classified film of the bombing of Granai village in Afghanistan, May 2009 that killed ~140 civilians, including ~92 children, when the US Military dropped 500lb and 1,000lb bombs on them.

don't miss the Wikileaks Hitler parody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_k7WPv2EvY

Next year, President Obama is going to need hallucinatory money to pay for a hallucinatory buildup in Afghanistan. There aren't any more real resources to go around. The President just called for a 5% cut in all programs including, apparently, the military.

Fortunately two million Afghans hallucinate on the cheap black tar made from opium, so this ploy might just possibly work.

Support HR 5353 -- war is making you poor act

The Trillion++ dollar total military-corporate complex and perpetual war profiteering budget is the huge money black hole that must be plugged. Pentagoon brass have bankrupt our country over the last 60 years. Exceedingly bloated and wasteful military contracts and profiteering from perpetual wars on small countries is the big reason the US has borrowed 13 Trillion. The bush administration could not even explain where Trillions went in that military-corporate hole.

HR 5353 -- war is making you poor act - would start to plug the military spending black hole by restricting the pentagon to its 549 billion regular budget (That alone more than all the rest of the world combined spends on military). 159 billion of extra military spending would be returned to taxpayers by making the first $30,000 of each person's earnings tax free. And there would be 16 billion left over. The entire afgan gdp is 13 billion -- We could win friends by doubling all their incomes with less than a tenth the 159 billion now spent on war profiteering pentagooners who win friends by dropping bombs on them.

"Now that the McChrystal side-show is over, it's time for Congress and mainstream media to focus on the main event: the deteriorating war in Afghanistan."

Congress? Except for a handful, they all consider their bribes from War Profiteers, Inc. to be much more important than the lives of U.S. soldiers and Afghanis.

Mainstream media? They are part of War Profiteers, Inc. and would like the profits to keep rolling in. And they have a responsibility in our "democracy" to keep us informed about which celebrity got arrested last night, which Congress Critter cheated on his wife, and the latest diet fad.

Besides, we have to "fight terrorism" and "spread democracy" (translation: maintain/expand The Empire). We can't let all the sacrifices of our heroic troops be in vain now, can we?

It's inevitably tragic - the mainstream media's coverage of a newly appointed general as a result of some schoolyard name-calling. We should be replacing foreign policy and global hubris with better foreign policy - not worried about McCrystal....

to hear from an ex-Marine and about the real issues facing conflict abroad, check out this video:

http://www.livestream.com/freespeechtv/video?clipId=flv_f58a7f76-9e46-4bb2-896b-395e96eb089e

If McChrystal secretly believes (and probably for good reason) that Afghanistan is going to end up like Vietnam then, if I were him, I'd want to be let go before it comes to that conclusion too.

I'd 'accidentally' tell reporters something that would force the administration to remove me from this situation so as to not let my name go into the history books as a military failure. Especially, when the military is my entire life.

Given the terms that they define victory by this entire 'war' was un-winnable from the very beginning.

(No one 'confides' damning information to reporters without having either ulterior motives or a bottle of tequila. And I don't think there's any tequila here.)

Look at it like this: so many Americans are so unhappy that they are willing to go to places like Iraq and Afghanistan to wage war against poor people who have never done anything to harm America, while the vast majority of people from Iraq and Afghanistan who go to America only want to study, learn and/or work - and they have no desire to wage war against the US.

I don't know about anyone else, but I am sick and tired of hearing about what Congress can do, is supposed to do, and might do.

What the Congress does is collect a check, lie to the public every time they open their mouth, then make back room deals for their friends, and it ain't us.

Good Grief.

Don't vote. There is nothing to believe in around here.

Tom Friedman asked a good question in his column today. Part of the U.S. strategy is to train the Afghan army. Friedman wondered why that was necessary. "Who is training the Taliban," he asked. Why are they able to stymie the Afghan army and our army?

I wonder what "counterinsurgency" means. It sounds good on paper, but it does not seem to work in reality.

The New Westmoreland, same as the old Westmoreland.

And you expected something different this time?

War is a vampire virus that becomes an epidemic every so many decades. While some wars take a short time to satisfy the blood lust. Other times it becomes a pandemic. In recent times another virus has attached itself to the vampire virus. It's the wealth virus, and it's much more deadly. It won't stop as long as the money flows with the blood.

Obama is a dweeb, a twerp. He is the head of a homicidal Cub Scout troop made up of the children of Mensa. Or perhaps more accurately, he and his administration ilk are like the minister's children in the film "White Ribbon" who caused all the murder and mayhem in that blighted German village. "Can we help?", he goes around asking, when, in fact, he means "Can I kill you?" He absolutely believes he can "win" in Afghanistan. He has no doubts. They will name a flavor of Kool-Aid after him and call it Obama Red.

"While President Obama has been assuring Congress and the American public

that US troops will begin leaving Afghanistan next July,

his senior military leaders believe that if they are successful, next summer could see a surge of troops, not a withdrawal. And the military should be careful not to reveal what is really going on in Afghanistan because the more Americans know about the war, the more they will be against it."

Just read here that Australia won't be withdrawing for at least another 2 years, and 'probably' three. Who think Australia doesn't know about 'next summer' and 'a surge of troops'.

AS IF Australia would stay on to fight after the US has withdrawn!

I suspect that Mc Chrystal understands that the neo-con Biden ,Hollbrooke ,Lieberman zionist leaders
and their followers ( you name them) in the US are the real enemy.
I suspect that he hates all of America's grovelling "leaders".
I suspect he'd love to Black-Op them all.
Perhaps starting the waterboarding with Bud Light Lime.
Oh well, enough.
The point today:
America's Elite starts to eat it's own creations... Rummy would
have a pithy time with this.

" Thars' GOLD in dem' hills' and them towelheads dont need it as much as we do, this is a case of savin' Afghanistan from the Afghanis sometimes genocide is justified if it means we get what we want, hell them chinks are making inroads,. We better get a puppet we can trust.

"Congress needs to step up now and start demanding answers"

If ever I heard a moronically utopian thing this year, this was it!

This article highlights the point that Obama will likely break a promise about withdrawing troops next year. It's good to remind people of that since I can't even recall him making the promise in the first place.

Oddly, the article doesn't ask the public to do anything. It just raises a hypothetical that Congress should refuse the new funding for the war on Afghanistan. Well, that's not particularly effective. Both the Dems and Repugs are totally in favor of all of our pointless wars.

Given that circumstance, the only hope for ending the wars is mass resistance by the public, refusal of orders by the troops, or both. I rather think that we'll just run out of money before either happens. I sure hope I'm wrong since the debt already is crushing.

-TIA

These twin US imperial occupations are continuing because US corporations have struck gold: US taxpayer dollars, millions and millions, being given to them in both Iraq and Afghanistan, with secretive no-bid contracts and other easy-money contracts for doing little if anything real.

This is the 21st century gold rush, Bush style, Cheney style, Rumsfeld style and Obama style. These imperial occupations will end shortly after the American taxpayers force Congress to turn off the money faucet going straight into the pockets of large American corporations.

We now have three vile destructive gushers: 1. BP's oil gusher disaster destroying the Gulf of Mexico, 2. Iraq's US government money gusher and 3. Afghanistan's US government money gusher.

samo-samo, in two weeks nobody will remember general whatzizname who will be gleefully harvesting millions of dollars ala Colin Powell, Sarah Palin, ect. ect. on the right-wing rubber chicken circuit. I'm sure a book is in the offing. Bold New Initiatives (hohum) will issue forth from the White House outlining Bold New whatevers to be directed by the Bold New Czar (a Bold Repackaging of some dependable lickspittle) and the war will do what it is supposed to do which is go on and on. Congress will do what it does best which is to kiss the hands and feet of its corporate masters and the American lumpen proles will go on getting by with less and less ever fearful of more and more.

Strange, how a Rolling Stone article they had not yet formally published sacked a general so quickly! And got picked up by everyone...

Something doesn't feel right.

-30-

Hmmm
The war is going badly and Obama needed a scapegoat. The war is clearly in need of an immediate exit strategy. Obama is desperate to keep the war going as long as possible. This fake "resignation" kills 2 birds with one stone. Does anyone really believe that a General of this caliber who made book on maintaining OPS at all times as he progressed up through the ranks would allow something this gross to occur. It wasn't just him, but much of his staff. No way no how.

And look who is in charge now. The "new" old guy is basically a slash and burn general. Instead of "surgical" precision he prefers carpet bombing and "rebuilding"

What the heck is the US doing in the Middle East after nearly 10 years? The answer is simple, our military is at the beck and call of the government---and it isn't the United States.

McChrystal ran the NAMA prison - closed to everyone --

Red Cross, Human Rights -- where TORTURE took place.

McChrystal is unfit to serve on any basis.

Haven't read the Rolling Stone article myself, but seems

that the journalists were delayed by the volcanic ash and

more and more drinking parties took place with McChrystal

and aides. McChrystal and buddies are juveniles running

this war on testerone for the barbaric maniacs who profit

from war and imperialism.

And we should celebrate his replacement?

Something really wrong with all of these people --

Something really wrong with war and imperialism --

Something really wrong with the Democrats still funding

this crap.

.
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"

There's no plan to leave Afghanistan any more than to leave Iraq, Pakistan, or Colombia or many, many other places.

But how often do we see articles about the ongoing occupation of Iraq these days?

We do not read about Iraq because the war in Afghanistan is hotter and because 0bama has more firmly fixed his name to it.

That is the plan, then: to make some noises about reducing troops, like when the US supposedly "moved troops out of Baghdad" by redrawing the city limits of Baghdad -- apparently far simpler and more comfortable than setting up a bivouac outside the Green Zone. Then they shift the focus to another war.

Clearly, the US wishes to encircle and capture more or less all of the Middle East, at least insofar as is useful to start or stop the flow of oil at will.

I do not believe that General McChrystal is out of control; I think President Obama and his staff's lack of military experience is the main cause for the outburst that McChrystal voiced. General McChrystal is a professional soldier with special forces training and experience and hence, he is used to winning and successfully carrying out the assignments he is given. If he truly believes that the current policy and strategy is not going to be successful, then he should have been taken seriously. I believe the Rolling Stone's article was his "out" from a potentially and looning disasterous war strategy.

I wish General McChrystal and his family and staff the very best in the future. He has served this country honorably and for a very long time and deserves a lot better than he has gotten. Now maybe, he can spend some time with his wife and family.

Follow-up by Michael Hastings:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/120620

“President Obama, in announcing the replacement of Gen. Stanley McChrystal moments ago, sought to reassure the American people about the war in Afghanistan. "This is a change in personnel," he declared, "but not a change in policy."
That's precisely the problem.
Changing generals isn't likely to resolve the real trouble in Afghanistan: the fundamental flaws in the U.S. strategy of counterinsurgency.
So why did the president pick David Petraeus, the most political — and media-savvy — general of his generation, to replace McChrystal? Petraeus makes sense. He's considered the hero of Iraq, and he has the public's trust. He won't be caught dead calling the offensive in Marja a "bleeding ulcer," as McChrystal did. His appointment neutralizes him as a potential (though highly unlikely) political rival for 2012. He literally wrote the book on counterinsurgency, drafting the Army field manual on the U.S. strategy that is being pursued in Afghanistan. Above all, he is a master at crafting a narrative that Americans are eager to hear. He has almost single-handedly convinced many Washington insiders that his "surge" in Iraq resulted in some kind of major victory in Mesopotamia — a notion that is right up there with thinking that Pizza Hut has good pizza.”
“Petraeus represents a change in style, not substance.”

I thought capturing Osama Bin Laden was the reason USA troops went in to Afganistan?
Can anyone tell me when, why, on whose orders the US Army took their eyes off Osama Bin Laden.

What is the new reason for USA waging war on the Taleban - given that USA were the ones who armed the Taleban in order to remove Russia from Afganistan.

There has to be some worthwhile resources in Afganistan; resouces rich enough to be worth so many soldiers' and citizens' lives.
Any sign of Bechtel or Haliburton in Afganistan yet, or have the soldiers not managed to secure the country firmly enough with their blood, for the big companies to roll in and rip the resources out of Afhanistan!

Karzai will also need his share of the booty.

There is no WAR policy other than a never ending occupation to keep the military industrial complex well oiled in money.

Osama Bin Laden, CIA ghost will never be caught and will be 250 years old hiding in the mountains.

He has had a face change and lives very well in Saudi Arabia with his relatives.

Stop the bullshit, end these occupations for pipeline and oil resources.

Welcome to the United Stupid of America, soon to become the United Stazi of America.