Ehsani said:

The Taliban boys will be marking on their calendars that 07/2011 date and starting their countdown tonight.

I hate to say it, but perhaps Obama should borrow from GWB’s playbook and NOT declare an end date. Just a thought.

U.S. withdraw from urban areas and decrease in violence

US Navy and US Coast Guard personnel stand guard onboard Al Basrah Oil Terminal in July 2009.The withdrawal of U.S. forces began at the end of June, with 38 bases to be handed over to Iraqi forces. On June 29, 2009, U.S. forces withdrew from Baghdad. On November 30, 2009, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials reported that the civilian death toll in Iraq fell to its lowest level in November since the 2003 invasion.[252]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War

It would be cheap and almost no lives lost if we (US) just dropped bails of $100 bills out the back of a plane. US dollar is sliding down so fast but still it would help family in the country. This just insane as is the 900+ base around the world.

Now the country’s government is looking to major global names to take its economy forward. Writer Brian Caplen

The above is a be careful what you wish for, the FM needs to get out more to see what’s happening around the world in the $ world.
jo6pac

I think President Obama in his speech is saying he wants to end the war in Afganstan,even if this means it is a war where there is no winning hope, HE IS SENDING MESSAGE TO THE GENERALS,you have one year to turn things around, nobody believes USA will win this war in one year,but to back away from listening to the generals have negative diolomatic effect and republicans may criticise him,he acted defensively.
50 billions is not too much for america,the troops in Iraq will decrease by 90,000 by august,2010,saving 90 billion,he will not increase tax,he can cut down in foreign aid, why do we have to aid Israel with billions of dollars, Netan is not listening to Obama.
I wish sometime in the future we discuss American foreign aid., I think once Americans know the truth,they will vote against Aid.
America sacrificed too much for Israel.sept 11 Iraq war and Afganstan war all done because of Israel.
Israel is the cause of all evil in the middle east.

This article by Pepe Escobar is worth printing in full. Before that some stats:
There are currently 60 000 US troops in Afghanistan and 68 000 contractors. The US forces were dropped by 16% in Iraq while the contractors were increased by 52%. The level of violence in Iraq dropped after Baghdad become 90% Shia and after Iran intervened to calm down tensions.
The US is in deep shit and this President turned out to be the Barack Hussein Bush I am the establishment guy through and through.

THE ROVING EYE
Vietnam-lite is unveiled
By Pepe Escobar

The United States is in the midst of the most serious unemployment crisis since the Great Depression, and US President Barack Obama is following George W Bush in lavishing trillions of dollars on a few big banks. American taxpayers got nothing. Now, they get the cherry in the cheesecake; Obama escalating his war in Afghanistan. A Vietnam-lite – with a tentative expiry date, July 2011, for the start of a withdrawal.

The much-hyped Obama speech on Tuesday night at West Point – edited by the president himself up to the last minute – was a

clever rehash of the white man’s burden, sketching a progressive narrative for US national security clad in the glorious robes of “the noble struggle for freedom”.

On a more pedestrian level, history does repeat itself – as farce. With Obama’s surge-lite, US plus North Atlantic Treaty Organization occupation troops in Afghanistan will reach in the first half of 2010 the level of the Soviet occupation at its peak in the first half of the 1980s. And all this formidable firepower to fight no more than 25,000 Afghan Taliban – with only 3,000 fully weaponized.

Each soldier of the new Obama surge (a word he did not pronounce in his speech except when he referred to a “civilian surge”) will cost US$1 million – though the Pentagon insists it is only half a million.

Real men go to Riyadh
Obama still says Afghanistan is a “war of necessity” – because of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Wrong. The Bush administration had planned to attack Afghanistan even before 9/11. See Get Osama! Now! Or else … Asia Times Online, August 30, 2001.)

“War of necessity” is a polite remix of the same old neo-conservative “war on terror”; blame it on the “towelheads” and exploit public ignorance and fear. That’s how al-Qaeda was equated with the Taliban and how Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, according to the neo-con gang.

For all his lofty rhetoric, Obama is still pulling a Bush, not making any distinction between al-Qaeda – an Arab jihadi outfit whose objective is a global caliphate – and the Taliban – indigenous Afghans who want an Islamic emirate in Afghanistan but would have no qualms in doing business with the US, as they did during the Bill Clinton years when the US badly wanted to build a trans-Afghan gas pipeline. On top of it, Obama cannot admit that the “Pak” neo-Taliban now exist because of the US occupation of “Af”.

Taking pains to distance his new policy from the Vietnam trauma, Obama stressed, “Unlike Vietnam, the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan.” Wrong. If the official narrative of 9/11 holds, the hijackers were trained in Western Europe and perfected their skills in the US.

And even while he still emphasizes the drive to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” al-Qaeda and deny it a “safe haven”, Obama is fully contradicting his own national security advisor, General James Jones, who has admitted that there are fewer than 100 al-Qaeda jihadis in Afghanistan.

The myth of al-Qaeda has to be exposed. How could al-Qaeda pull off 9/11 but be incapable of mounting a single significant attack inside Saudi Arabia? That’s because al-Qaeda is essentially a thinly disguised brigade of Saudi intelligence. The US wants to win “the war on terror”? Why not send special forces to Saudi Arabia instead of Afghanistan and knock the Wahhabis – the root of it all – out of power?

Obama could at least have noticed what notorious Afghan mujahid, former Saudi protege, former Central Intelligence Agency darling and current American public enemy, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, told al-Jazeera. He stressed, “The Taliban government came to an end in Afghanistan due to the wrong strategy of al-Qaeda.”

This is a graphic illustration of the current, total split between al-Qaeda and the Taliban, both “Af” and “Pak”. The Afghan Taliban, starting with their historical leader, Mullah Omar, have learned from their big mistake – and are not allowing al-Qaeda Arabs to fester inside Afghanistan. Equally, the rise of neo-Talibanistan on both sides of the border does not necessarily translate into a “safe haven” for al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda jihadis are harbored by a handful of selected, paid-up tribals which the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence, if it really wanted, could pinpoint in a flash.

Obama also bought in the Pentagon premise that America can re-colonize Afghanistan with counter-insurgency.

In General David “I’m always positioning myself to 2012” Petraeus’ own counter-insurgency doctrine, the proportion of soldiers to natives must be 20 or 25 per 1,000 Afghans. Petraeus and General Stanley McChrystal have now got 30,000 more. Inevitably the generals – just like in Vietnam, whether Obama likes it or not – will ask for a lot more till they get what they really want; at least 660,000 soldiers, plus all the extras. At present the US has about 70,000 troops in Afghanistan.

That would imply the reinstatement of the draft in the US. And that’s trillions of dollars more the US does not have and will have to borrow … from China.

And what would that buy in the end? The mighty Soviet red army used every single counter-insurgency trick in the book during the 1980s. They killed a million Afghans. They turned five million into refugees. They lost 15,000 soldiers. They virtually bankrupted the Soviet Union. They gave up. And they left.

What about the new great game?
So why is the US still in Afghanistan? Facing the camera, as if addressing “the Afghan people”, the president said, “we have no interest in occupying your country”. But he could not possibly tell it like it really is to American prime-time TV viewers.

For corporate America, Afghanistan means nothing; it’s the fifth-poorest country in the world, tribal and definitely not a consumer society. But for US Big Oil and the Pentagon, Afghanistan has a lot of mojo.

For Big Oil, the holy grail is access to Turkmenistan natural gas from the Caspian Sea – Pipelineistan at the heart of the new great game in Eurasia, avoiding both Russia and Iran. But there’s no way to build the hugely strategic TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline – crossing Helmand province, and then Pakistan’s Balochistan province – with Afghanistan mired in chaos, thanks to the pitiful performance of the US/NATO occupation.

There’s a hand in surveying/controlling the $4 billion-a-year drug trade, directly and indirectly. Since the beginning of the US/NATO occupation, Afghanistan became a de facto narco-state, producing 92% of the world’s heroin under a bunch of transnational narco-terrorist cartels.

And there’s the full spectrum dominance Pentagon agenda – Afghanistan as part of the worldwide US empire of bases, monitoring strategic competitors China and Russia at their doorstep.

Obama simply ignored that there is an ultra-high-stakes new great game in Eurasia going on. So because of all that Obama did not say at West Point, Americans are being sold a “war of necessity” draining a trillion dollars that could be used to reduce unemployment and really help the US economy.

We also know how to surge
The Taliban will inevitably come up with their own, finely tuned, counter-surge. Even surge-less, and up against tons of Petraeus’ counter-insurgency schemes, they recently captured Nuristan province. And remember Obama’s summer surge in Helmand province? Well, Helmand is still the opium capital of the world.

In his speech, Obama tried by all means to convey the impression that the Afghan war can be controlled from Washington. It simply can’t.

For all his pledges of “partnership with Pakistan” (mentioned 21 times in the speech) Obama could not possibly admit his surge-lite will destabilize Pakistan even more. Instead, he could turn over the whole war to Pakistan. Unlike the Obama-approved July 2011 date for the (possible) beginning of a withdrawal, subject to “conditions on the ground”, this real exit strategy would have to come up with a fixed timetable for a complete withdrawal attached. That would be the go-ahead for Islamabad to do what neither the Soviets nor the Americans could do – sit down with all the relevant tribal locals and negotiate through a series of jirgas (tribal councils).

Obama bets on what he calls “transition to Afghan responsibility”. That’s a mirage. The Pakistani intelligence establishment – which still regards Afghanistan as its “strategic depth” in the bigger picture of a conflict with India – will never allow it to happen strictly under Afghan terms. That may not be fair to Afghans, but these are the facts on the ground.

Virtually everyone in rural Afghanistan considers – correctly – that President Hamid Karzai is the occupation president. Karzai, who can barely hold on to his throne in Kabul, was imposed in December 2001 on King Zahir Shah by Bush proconsul Zalmay Khalilzad after a heated argument, and recently ratified in an American-style, blatantly stolen election. The American way is not the Afghan way. The tried-and-tested Afghan way for centuries has been the loya jirga – a grand tribal council where everyone joins, debates and a consensus is finally reached.

So the endgame in Afghanistan cannot be much different from a power-sharing coalition, with the Taliban as the strongest party. Why? One just has to examine the history of guerrilla warfare since the 19th century – or take a look back at Vietnam. The guerrillas who are the fiercest fighters against foreigners always prevail. And even with the Taliban sharing power in Kabul, Afghanistan’s powerful neighbors – Pakistan, Iran, China, Russia, India – will make sure there won’t be chaos spilling over across their borders. This is an Asian issue that has to be solved by Asians; that’s the rationale for a solution to be developed inside the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Meanwhile, there’s reality. The full spectrum dominance Pentagon gets what it wanted – for now. Call it the revenge of the generals. Who wins, apart from them? Australian armchair warrior David Kilcullen, an adviser and ghostwriter for Petraeus and McChrystal and who is a demi-god for Washington warmongers. Some light neo-cons – certainly not former vice president Dick Cheney, who’s been blasting Obama’s “weakness”. And overall, all subscribers to the Pentagon concept of the “long war”.

Two weeks before going to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, Obama sells his new Vietnam-lite to the world out of a US military academy. George Orwell, we salute you. War is indeed peace.

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. His new book, just out, is Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009).

Bomb hits Iranian bus in Damascus, dozens of casualties

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5B214820091203

Alex,

How does an over-inflated tire cause a fire in the rear of a bus?

Are there any pictures showing what happened?

Footage showed the bus badly damaged by what looked like fire. It was carrying Iranian pilgrims visiting the Sayyida Zeinab shrine for Shia Muslims.

At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8392369.stm

SNP said:

It was sheer diabolic evil when the various Christian Crusaders invaded and occupied the Middle East, Moslem and Jews were slaughtered like cattle. What the con-man managed to do is turn the Jews and Moslems at each other throat while he sat profiting for few decades.

I agree. Countries do not have the right to invade and threaten other countries, plain and simple.

Christians and Christianity is the cause of all evil in the world.

No. Evil is found in all societies and in all religions, including Jewish and Muslim societies. Point an accusing finger at one direction does not address the issue of evil sufficiently.

Poor Israeli Jews suffered as bad if not even worse than Arabs or Moslems and they do to this day.

For sure. However, Jews are severely at risk when Islamofascists (led by the Iranian regime) and their proxies threaten Israel and half of the world’s Jewish population as witnessed by their words and deeds.

The EU just starting to deny the Jew their rightful ownership to Jerusalem now, why, just to keep the conflict simmering that is all. What Christians did to Arabs (even those that look like one) since September 11 is beyond evil.

The world recognized and still recognizes Israel as a sovereign state since 1948. They also recognize Israel’s pre-67 borders which includes Jerusalem. The world and the EU recognize that the final borders have to be negotiated.

On 9-11-01, “Christians”, Moslems and Jews were all killed by moslem fanatics who were funded and aided by countries, organizations, and individuals who either turned a blind-eye to or out-right supported Islamic fundamentalists like al-Queda. That is the evil you should be discussing in context of what is plaguing the world today.

We pray that Israeli never succumb to the pressure and they use all within the power given to them to fend off the bad guys.

Sarcasm notwithstanding, Israel should not succumb to pressure that is unreasonable. Asking Israel to withdraw from the Golan or the West Bank without an excellent agreement and security guarantees is unreasonable.

Let’s declare Jerusalem the eternal capital of Israel and let’s have the wonderful Jewish nation restore their temple.

Why do you think Israel has not restored the Temple since they have controlled Jerusalem for the past 40 years?

It is an inhumane crime to deny them their rights and continuing the suffering and anguish of these people by the Machiavellian Christians.

Jew’s rights were also denied by Moslem countries, hence the need for an independent Jewish state.

Those who claim Israel is the cause of all evil in the Middle East are evil themselves…

No, just misinformed and brain-washed.

Comparing Mr. Obama’s (mis) adventures in Afghanistan to Vietnam Lite is somewhat fanciful. Its comical to accept the premise that the US and NATO are in Afghanistan to look for OBL;destroy AlQueda or the Taliban or to prevent further 9/11s.

The sole reason Afghanistan was invaded and presently is occupied is to the facts that “Every war results from the struggle for markets and spheres of
influence.” And the war in Afghanistan is certainly no different. several commentators on the internet make the claim that both the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan were instigated and promoted by Israel and its lobby in the US.

And that the Israelis where determined to use their influence in the United States
to advance their interests and influence in Central Asia while limiting those of
Russia and Iran.

In mineral-rich Turkmenistan, for example a Mossad agent supposedly was very successful in gaining control of that republic’s immense resources of natural gas.

And that as an agent of Israeli intelligence, he heads a network of Mossad-
controlled companies that serve Israeli interests.

He’s beeb described as “a leading miner” of Central Asian gas fields by the
Israeli news media. Given his control of the immense gas resources of
Turkmenistan, considered only second to Russia’s, he along with the Mossad will all profit if and when the U.S.-led coalition are able to “pacify” and control Afghanistan so that the proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline could be built allowing the gas of Turkmenistan to be sold to India.

The TAPI pipeline project profits would bring-in billions of dollars every year. And its the projected profits from the TAPI pipeline that is the real reason for the socalled “surge” in Afghanistan.

Thats the view of several European commentators and their politician’s hesitancy in sending any additional military to Afghanistan.

I don’t think one can or should make solid conclusions about the success or failure of authoritarian control in Syria … let us not forget that the very democratic United Stated only managed to admit a few thousand Iraqi refugees of the war it started … could not take more for security reasons.

Well, Syria immediately opened its doors to 1.8 Millions (peak) of Iraqis escaping the bloodshed … 1.2 millions are still there today.

So I suggest we do not over-analyze this once-a-year type of incident (a bomb against some Shia target in Damascus), considering that Syria admitted about a thousand times more refugees and took a thousand times more risk (you probably understand that they did not check the history of each of the 1.8 million Iraqis admitted … Shia, Sunnis, Mandians, Christians, Kurds … with loyalties to God knows who)

And don’t forget that we also have hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Syria … remember that Israel has a nice group of Fatah Palestinians spying on major Arab countries (starting with Syria):

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804

Some people just don’t understand the amount of risk that Syria, which usually likes to have everything under tight control, decided to take in order to help save the refugees from Iraq, Palestine, or Lebanon.

Nevertheless, there are 22 millions living in Syria today … They are not exactly living in constant fear. Syria is still the safest country in the region.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,569779,00.html