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AFGHANISTAN UPDATE: NATO Forces Face The Resistance Of The Taliban (Associated Press News – Salon.com)
It could take weeks to reclaim the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, a top Marine commander said Sunday as thousands of U.S. troops and Afghan soldiers fought for a second day in NATO’s most ambitious effort yet to break the militants’ grip on Afghanistan’s dangerous south.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean an intense gun battle, but it probably [...]
TESTING THE OBAMA WAR STRATEGY: Marines Launch Offensive In Southern Afghanistan Town (L. A. TIMES)
The long-discussed operation against the Taliban in Marja is one of the biggest of the war. Along with targeting the insurgents’ grip on Helmand province, it’s a test of the Afghan army’s abilities.
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and The Outskirts Of Marja, Afghanistan — Thousands of U.S., British and Afghan troops moved to seize the Taliban [...]
THE MOST IMPORTANT STORY OF THE DAY: Mr. Obama, The Next Jimmy Carter? (Foreign Policy)
Neither a cold-blooded realist nor a bleeding-heart idealist, Barack Obama has a split personality when it comes to foreign policy. So do most U.S. presidents, of course, and the ideas that inspire this one have a long history at the core of the American political tradition. In the past, such ideas have served the country [...]
G.O.P. May Be Obama’s Only Hope In Continuing Afghan War
As President Obama prepares to decide whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan, the political climate appears increasingly challenging for him, leaving him in the awkward position of relying on the Republican Party, and not his own, for support.
The simple political narrative of the Afghanistan war — that this was the good war, in which [...]
7 U.S. Troops In Afghanistan Are Killed – Americans Should Brace Themselves For Mounting Causalties
The daily death toll is the highest in months. Observers warn that Americans need to brace themselves for mounting casualties in the conflict as more U.S. troops enter it.
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Washington — As U.S. troops in Afghanistan suffered the largest one-day death toll in months Monday, military officials and experts warned Americans [...]
U.S. Marines Launch Major Operation in Afghanistan
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan, July 2 — Thousands of U.S. Marines descended upon the volatile Helmand River valley in helicopters and armored convoys early Thursday morning, mounting an operation that represents the first large-scale test of the U.S. military’s new counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan.
The operation will involve about 4,000 troops from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, [...]
OVERLOOKED STORY OF THE DAY: WAR SPENDING BUDGETS ‘OUT OF CONTROL’
This is one Christmas gift U.S. taxpayers don’t need. Construction of a $30 million dining facility at a U.S. base in Iraq is scheduled to be completed Dec. 25. But the decision to build it was based on bad planning and botched paperwork.
The project is too far along to stop, making the mess hall a [...]
Varying Responses to Speech in Mideast Highlight Divisions
President Obama’s carefully balanced message was greeted warmly by his immediate audience in Cairo on Thursday and in some other parts of the Mideast, but there was also dismissiveness and frustration. And among Israelis and Palestinians, reactions to a message designed to open each side up to the other seemed rather to reflect the fractures [...]
William Bradley/Opinion: Repositioning America: Obama’s Cairo Speech As the Ultimate in Event Marketing
In the biggest example of event marketing that comes to mind, President Barack Obama used his ballyhooed speech today at Cairo University to reposition America in the Muslim and Arab worlds.
“I have come here,” he said, “to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest [...]
US Soldier Kills 5 Fellow Marines, Has Been Taken Into Custody
A U.S. soldier opened fire at a counseling center on a U.S. base Monday, killing five fellow soldiers before being taken into custody, the U.S. command and Pentagon officials said.
The shooting occurred at Camp Liberty, a sprawling U.S. base on the western edge of Baghdad near the city’s international airport and adjacent to another facility [...]
