ianstone
07-26-2010, 04:58 PM
Any Worse Than We Thought?
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Greg Milam (http://blogs.news.sky.com/profile/Greg%20Milam) July 26, 2010 3:28 PM
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No American administration likes leaks – but what Wikileaks has dropped on the world’s breakfast tables is just about as big as they get.
The White House is outraged and has condemned it.
Most of what is contained in the 90,000 documents will hardly come as a surprise to anyone who has read a newspaper in the last two years.
The scale of the leak – the biggest since the Vietnam War – is probably the most troubling aspect for government and public alike.
But the reaction of John Kerry, chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, is telling.
Yes he condemned what he described as the ‘illegal’ leaking but he also went on to comment on the policy implications contained in the documents.
He said they raised ‘serious questions’ about American policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A senior Democrat questioning where America is heading in a war being led by his president is a significant statement.
Of course, Democrats have always been less keen on a conflict started under the previous administration.
But Barack Obama was seen as making Afghanistan ‘his’ war with his troop surge announced last year.
For the public, the impact of the Wikileaks documents might be a little more mundane.
The six-year blow-by-blow account tells us that a war we always knew was a struggle is way more difficult than that.
The frustrations of troops, the bloodshed and growing strength of the Taliban – none of it paints a pretty picture.
But what did they expect?
And as for the secret task force ‘373’ killing high value Taliban targets, most Americans would be surprised if there WASN’T one.
Maybe more significant for Americans is this – last month was the deadliest for their forces in the nine years of this war.
July is shaping up to being even worse.
If they’re talking about Afghanistan, that is what they’re talking about.
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Your Comments
Sort comments by: Newest Oldest (http://blogs.news.sky.com/americanpie/Post:94eabc61-f039-459e-b080-26ff44b7ffb0#) Recommended (http://blogs.news.sky.com/americanpie/Post:94eabc61-f039-459e-b080-26ff44b7ffb0#)
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The US has a Knack for losing wars of its choosing. In WW1 it waited to see who was going to win then came in. In WW2 it waited till Japan attacked it. Korea was a Stalemate due to Truman firing McArthur who wanted to drop the Bomb & win the war. Since then It lost the Indo China wars in Viet Nam, Cambodia & Laos. First Gulf war fought to make the Saudis happy was a Loss since it merely liberated Kuwait & left Saddam in power. 2nd Gulf War ie Iraq war is an Ongoing Loss since it Made Muslim Terror grow to Epedemic Proportions & is still growing worldwide & the Afghan War undertaken to ensure the flow of Narcotics by the Drug Lords on both sides is likewise an Ongoing Loss since it will bleed Nato forces dry without any tangible gains since the Afghanis Don't want Democracy anyway. The latest leaks will merely harden US public opinion against the war in the same way Viet Nam was lost in the Media & Obama will try desperately to blame Bush whilst the US suffers another Defeat
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Maybe there are more casualties in Afghanistan due to more operations designed to eradicate the insurgents?
Similar in fact to the situation in Iraq before the U.S/U.K purged Al Qaeda out of the power struggle and ultimately beat that insurgency!
Why are the press convinced that a war can be fought without any casualties and then go onto think that any casualties must mean the war is lost? Wars take time (and sadly lives) to achieve an outcome, sometimes wars are born out of necessity! Sometimes victory is not always obvious...Can America afford it? Well the final year of WW2 had 35per cent of U.S GDP spent in winning that War, the smaller wars in Iraq and now Afghanistan are running at 1.2 per cent of GDP! Afghanistan is a lot more than just Afghanistan...Time for the press to read about Geo-Politics and take their thinking away from the pre-pubescent thinking often on display! Afghanistan is a War that needs to be a success...
The UK press.
Don't you just love'em,
preferably barbecued !
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Greg Milam (http://blogs.news.sky.com/profile/Greg%20Milam) July 26, 2010 3:28 PM
Recommend post (2) (http://blogs.news.sky.com/americanpie/Post:94eabc61-f039-459e-b080-26ff44b7ffb0#)
http://sl.sky.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/5/7/f540e39b-7de5-497c-972b-f391b53477c0.Full.jpg
No American administration likes leaks – but what Wikileaks has dropped on the world’s breakfast tables is just about as big as they get.
The White House is outraged and has condemned it.
Most of what is contained in the 90,000 documents will hardly come as a surprise to anyone who has read a newspaper in the last two years.
The scale of the leak – the biggest since the Vietnam War – is probably the most troubling aspect for government and public alike.
But the reaction of John Kerry, chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, is telling.
Yes he condemned what he described as the ‘illegal’ leaking but he also went on to comment on the policy implications contained in the documents.
He said they raised ‘serious questions’ about American policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
A senior Democrat questioning where America is heading in a war being led by his president is a significant statement.
Of course, Democrats have always been less keen on a conflict started under the previous administration.
But Barack Obama was seen as making Afghanistan ‘his’ war with his troop surge announced last year.
For the public, the impact of the Wikileaks documents might be a little more mundane.
The six-year blow-by-blow account tells us that a war we always knew was a struggle is way more difficult than that.
The frustrations of troops, the bloodshed and growing strength of the Taliban – none of it paints a pretty picture.
But what did they expect?
And as for the secret task force ‘373’ killing high value Taliban targets, most Americans would be surprised if there WASN’T one.
Maybe more significant for Americans is this – last month was the deadliest for their forces in the nine years of this war.
July is shaping up to being even worse.
If they’re talking about Afghanistan, that is what they’re talking about.
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united_states (http://blogs.news.sky.com/editors/tags/united_states) barack_obama (http://blogs.news.sky.com/editors/tags/barack_obama) Afghanistan (http://blogs.news.sky.com/editors/tags/afghanistan)
Your Comments
Sort comments by: Newest Oldest (http://blogs.news.sky.com/americanpie/Post:94eabc61-f039-459e-b080-26ff44b7ffb0#) Recommended (http://blogs.news.sky.com/americanpie/Post:94eabc61-f039-459e-b080-26ff44b7ffb0#)
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The US has a Knack for losing wars of its choosing. In WW1 it waited to see who was going to win then came in. In WW2 it waited till Japan attacked it. Korea was a Stalemate due to Truman firing McArthur who wanted to drop the Bomb & win the war. Since then It lost the Indo China wars in Viet Nam, Cambodia & Laos. First Gulf war fought to make the Saudis happy was a Loss since it merely liberated Kuwait & left Saddam in power. 2nd Gulf War ie Iraq war is an Ongoing Loss since it Made Muslim Terror grow to Epedemic Proportions & is still growing worldwide & the Afghan War undertaken to ensure the flow of Narcotics by the Drug Lords on both sides is likewise an Ongoing Loss since it will bleed Nato forces dry without any tangible gains since the Afghanis Don't want Democracy anyway. The latest leaks will merely harden US public opinion against the war in the same way Viet Nam was lost in the Media & Obama will try desperately to blame Bush whilst the US suffers another Defeat
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Maybe there are more casualties in Afghanistan due to more operations designed to eradicate the insurgents?
Similar in fact to the situation in Iraq before the U.S/U.K purged Al Qaeda out of the power struggle and ultimately beat that insurgency!
Why are the press convinced that a war can be fought without any casualties and then go onto think that any casualties must mean the war is lost? Wars take time (and sadly lives) to achieve an outcome, sometimes wars are born out of necessity! Sometimes victory is not always obvious...Can America afford it? Well the final year of WW2 had 35per cent of U.S GDP spent in winning that War, the smaller wars in Iraq and now Afghanistan are running at 1.2 per cent of GDP! Afghanistan is a lot more than just Afghanistan...Time for the press to read about Geo-Politics and take their thinking away from the pre-pubescent thinking often on display! Afghanistan is a War that needs to be a success...
The UK press.
Don't you just love'em,
preferably barbecued !