The Great Deception -> Gates Replaces Top General In Afghanistan With

Gates Replaces Top General In Afghanistan With, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal Special Ops?

Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

jofortruth

Posted: May 20 2009, 11:58 AM

Administrator

Group: Admin
Posts: 31,418
Member No.: 1
Joined: 1-May 07

http://edition.cnn.hu/2009/POLITICS/05/11/...iref=newssearch

QUOTE

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States replaced the top allied commander in Afghanistan on Monday, deciding "fresh eyes" are needed to reverse the course of the seven-year-old war there, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

Gen. David McKiernan is being replaced as commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Gen. David McKiernan, who has held the post for less than a year, will be replaced by Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a former special operations chief, Gates announced. He told reporters there was "nothing specific" behind McKiernan's removal, but that "new leadership and fresh eyes" were needed in a war that Washington admits it is not winning.

"We have a new strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador. I believe that new military leadership also is needed," Gates said.

McKiernan will remain in place until the Senate confirms the appointments of McChrystal and his designated deputy, Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez. Both have previous experience in Afghanistan and more history with counterinsurgency operations than McKiernan.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in March that the Afghan war "is winnable, but we are not winning." Since taking office in January, President Obama has committed an additional 21,000 troops and trainers to Afghanistan in an effort to battle a resurgent Taliban and signed off on McKiernan's replacement, the White House said.

"The president was grateful for and impressed by the leadership that Gen. McKiernan demonstrated in calling for additional resources for the fight in Afghanistan," the White House said in a written statement. "This change of direction in Afghanistan in no way diminishes the president's deep respect for Gen. McKiernan and his decades of public service."

And in a statement of his own, McKiernan said the U.S. military "must remain committed to the great people of Afghanistan."

"While the Taliban and other terrorist groups offer only lies and fear, our continued efforts promote freedom and hope," he said.

The United States invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 in response to the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington. (which btw we now know was a lie) � It quickly displaced the ruling Taliban, which had allowed al Qaeda to operate from its territory, but the top al Qaeda and Taliban leaders slipped the noose and remain at large.

A total of 1,135 allied troops, including 678 Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan since the war began. The Taliban. meanwhile, has taken root in neighboring Pakistan, which launched a new offensive against the militants last week.

McChrystal and Rodriguez "bring a unique skill set in counterinsurgency to these issues, and I think that they will provide the kind of new leadership and fresh thinking that the admiral and I have been talking about," Gates said.

Gates' announcement came less than a week after Obama met with the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan and pledged a more coordinated effort to defeat the insurgents. Afghanistan, meanwhile, has been complaining about civilian deaths in U.S. airstrikes, including one last week that killed dozens of people.

But Gates said civilian casualties are down in Afghanistan compared with last year, while U.S. and allied casualties are up by 75 percent.

"There is a tremendous effort going on, on our part to try and avoid civilian casualties," he said. "But figuring out how to come out better on the strategic communications side of this is an ongoing challenge for us."

Attached Image (Click thumbnail to expand)

jofortruth

Posted: May 20 2009, 12:05 PM

Administrator

Group: Admin
Posts: 31,418
Member No.: 1
Joined: 1-May 07

So, who is Stanley? Will he be more obedient and do what the corrupt big brass wants him to? You bet he will. He was trained at Ft. Bragg and is CFR indoctrinated!
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/...1897542,00.html
http://www.cfr.org/publication/19396/biogr...0%2Fafghanistan
http://www.jcs.mil/biography.aspx?ID=15

QUOTE

Tuesday, May. 12, 2009
Stan McChrystal: The New U.S. Commander in Afghanistan

By M.J. Stephey

With violence and anti-American sentiment on the rise, it's plain to see that military operations in Afghanistan are not going well. But if Defense Secretary Robert Gates is right, three-star Army Lieut. General Stan McChrystal is just the guy to turn things around. On May 11, Gates announced plans to install the former Green Beret as the top U.S. and NATO commander for the troubled nation. Some analysts hailed the surprising overhaul as proof that the U.S. is rethinking its conventional approach to combat, especially given McChrystal's background as commander of the military's clandestine special operations in Iraq.

"Nothing went wrong and there was nothing specific," Gates said of asking General David McKiernan, the outgoing commander, to step down just 11 months into a two-year post. "The focus here is simply on getting fresh thinking, fresh eyes on the problem." But McChrystal's role in the friendly-fire death of former NFL star Pat Tillman � as well as prisoner abuses allegedly committed on his watch at Baghdad's Camp Nama � mean his Senate confirmation might not go as smoothly (or swiftly) as Gates hopes. (Read Joe Klein's take on McKiernan's Afghan exit.)

Fast Facts:

� Graduated from West Point in 1976 and began training at the Special Forces School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, two years later.

� Moved to South Korea in 1981 to work for the U.N. Command Support Group.

� During the Persian Gulf War, served as an Army briefer and commanded the 75th Ranger Regiment in Saudi Arabia.

� Completed yearlong fellowships at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1998 and in 2000 at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, where he reportedly ran 12 miles every day from his Brooklyn home to his Manhattan office. (OH, he's most definately indoctrinated with ELITE THINK, and will be obedient)

� In 2001, was appointed chief of staff of military operations in Afghanistan. Two years later, he was selected to deliver nationally televised Pentagon briefings about military operations in Iraq.

� From 2003 to 2008, led the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which oversees the military's most sensitive forces, including the Army's Delta Force. McChrystal's leadership is credited with the December 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein.

� Oversaw a task force that was criticized in 2006 for abusing detainees and harsh interrogation methods at Baghdad's Camp Nama.

� Praised (and inadvertently outed as a commander) by President George W. Bush in June 2006 after his special-ops team located and killed Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. McChrystal reportedly accompanied his men to the bombed-out hideaway in Baquba where al-Zarqawi lay to help identify the body.

� Singled out in a March 2007 report by the Pentagon inspector general for his role in the death of ex-NFL star and U.S. soldier Pat Tillman. Though the two-year investigation cleared McChrystal of any official wrongdoing, it faulted him for failing to immediately notify Tillman's family of the military's suspicions that Tillman's death was the result of friendly fire.

� As commander of special-operations forces in Iraq, he sent troops returning to the theater back to their original neighborhoods � a system he has suggested for general infantry soldiers in Afghanistan as head of a recent task-force review.

Attached Image (Click thumbnail to expand)

0 User(s) are reading this topic (0 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)

0 Members:

« Next Oldest | Military / Iraq / Afghanistan, High Tech Weapons and Other Travesties & Other Needless Wars | Next Newest »

DealsFor.me - The best sales, coupons, and discounts for you