8/28/08 

Yesterday Marine Corps Commandant, Gen. James Conway, reaffirmed the fact that we need to focus more aggressively on Afghanistan instead of Iraq saying that “the economy of force is not necessarily working.”  Conway is just the latest in a long line of senior military officials who have taken this position, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mullen.  Progressives have been warning about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan for years while the Bush administration and John McCain have neglected the real terrorist threat and instead focused on Iraq.

Marine Corps Commandant, Gen. James Conway said yesterday that “the economy of force is not necessarily working,” and called for additional troops.  “While pointing to security gains in Iraq, Conway voiced concern over increased violence in Afghanistan, where he said insurgent attacks and U.S. troop casualties have increased since 2004.  ‘The Taliban are growing bolder in their tactics and clearly doing their best to exploit security gaps where they exist’…  Conway made a strong pitch to send thousands of additional Marines or other U.S. troops to Afghanistan, voicing agreement with U.S. commanders there who have said for years that they have too small a force and have called for as many as 10,000 more troops. ‘The economy of force is not necessarily working,’ Conway said.  [Washington Post, 8/28/08]

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Michael Mullen says that the Iraq war is hindering crucial troop deployment to Afghanistan. Admiral Michael Mullen has asserted that more U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan to help control an increasingly active insurgency but, due to the war in Iraq, insufficient forces are available for such action. "I don't have troops I can reach for, brigades I can reach to send into Afghanistan until I have a reduced requirement in Iraq," Mullen said. "Afghanistan remains an economy of force campaign, which by definition means we need more forces there. We have the ability in almost every single case to win from the combat standpoint, but we don't have enough troops there to hold. That is key to the future of being able to succeed in Afghanistan." [Washington Post 7/2/08]  

Progressives have long warned of the dangers of neglecting Afghanistan while conservatives have consistently ignored it.  Barack Obama called for a change in strategy more than a year ago and promised to send additional forces to Afghanistan to address the deteriorating situation.  John McCain has a long history of ignoring Afghanistan.  He didn’t even have any position on Afghanistan until the middle of July of this year and had in previous years consistently called it a success saying “Afghanistan, we don’t read about anymore, because it’s succeeded.” [Senator Barack Obama, 8/01/07.  John McCain.com, Accessed 7/15/08.  PBS, “The Charlie Rose Show,” 10/31/05]

Quick Hits

The United States has handed over security responsibilities to Iraqi forces for Anbar Province, “once a stronghold of the Sunni insurgency and one of the most violent regions in Iraq.”

China and Iraq have reached a $3 billion oil deal giving China’s biggest national oil company the contract for the Ahdab oil field.

A car bomb hit a prison bus in the Pakistani Tribal Areas, killing at least nine people and multiple policemen as Pakistan’s government remains fragile and lawyers protested for the return of judges ousted by Pervez Musharraf.  Meanwhile, U.S. and Pakistani strategists discussed plans to gain control over the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area in a high-level meeting convened by the Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his Pakistani correspondent.

Russia’s decision to recognize the Georgian separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has provoked a new round of condemnation of Russian aggression from the west.

The Economist shows how the decreasing price of heroin is actually a sign of too much supply showing that the “battle against the opium poppy in Afghanistan is not being won.”

The United States has begun to describe its assessment of the airstrike that Hamid Karzai claims killed approximately 90 civilians including 60 children; the U.S. is instead claiming that 25 militants and 5 civilians were killed.  The strike has caused a major political uproar in Afghanistan.

Violence in Kashmir continues as gunmen with alleged ties to Pakistan attacked an Indian Army depot before taking a family hostage in a prolonged standoff, in a rampage that left ten dead.

On the eve of the Republican National Convention, officials may evacuate New Orleans as Hurricane Gustav bears down, in a horrifying reminder of the disaster of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.