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General To Resign If Not Given Resources For Afghanistan
General Stanley McChrystal who commands all forces in Afghanistan is prepared to resign if President Obama fails to deliver the troops and resources needed to win the war.
I don’t blame him a bit. If the president is not willing to give the military everything they need to win then we should just come home.
Allowing our troops to get chewed up by the enemy simply because the president wants to play politics is outrageous.
Taliban Leader Baitullah Mehsud Believed Dead
This via ABC News:
"There is strong indication" that Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a CIA drone strike that targeted his second father-in-law’s house Wednesday, a senior administration official told ABC News.
If turns out that Mehsud is indeed dead it will be a major blow to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Kudos to Obama for being aggressive with the drone strikes.
Amazing New Photographs From Afghanistan
When it comes to war photography nobody does it like Michael Yon. This time he embedded with British, Lithuanian, and Ukranian soldiers in Afghanistan.
Yon posted some great pictures on Big Hollywood along with the back story for each.
Video: Inside A Firefight In Afghanistan
The majority of people at NBC are scumbags, but I have to hand it to Richard Engel. Despite the anti-war stance of his network, Engel usually does some great reporting from war zones.
He’s a ballsy guy who goes places the majority of the media wouldn’t dare.
Take a look at this amazing footage Engel captured in Afghanistan while embedded with Viper Company in Afghanistan near the Pakistan border.
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Vets For Freedom: Change We Can Believe In
U.S. Airstrikes Kill 11 Pakistani Soldiers
From the AP:
U.S.-led forces killed Pakistani troops in an airstrike along the volatile Afghan border that Pakistan’s army condemned on Wednesday as “completely unprovoked and cowardly.”
U.S. officials confirmed that three aircraft launched about a dozen bombs following a clash between Taliban militants and Afghan and U.S.- led coalition forces late Tuesday. Pakistan says the strikes killed 11 of its paramilitary troops.
The Pakistani army said the airstrike hit a post of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the Mohmand tribal region and was a “completely unprovoked and cowardly act.”
That is really unfortunate. We cannot afford to make mistakes like this. We need Pakistan’s cooperation and foolish incidents like this jeopardize our already strained relationship. A situation like this could cause riots to break out potentially put the entire Pakistani government at risk.
U.S. Missile Fired In NW Pakistan
An American unmanned Predator Drone is thought to have fired a missile at something or someone on the Afghan/Pakistan border today.
The missile was believed to have been fired into the Mohmand ethnic Pashtun tribal area in northwest Pakistan. This makes sense, because this same area has been hit by Predator drones on at least four separate occasions, resulting in the deaths of dozens of militants.
Unnamed Pakistani govt. officials confirms there was an attack, but won’t give any specifics as to what or who the targets may have been.
“There was an attack by a spy plane close to the Afghan border but we don’t have information about casualties or damage,” said the government official based in the region. He declined to be identified.
Neither U.S. nor Pakistani authorities usually confirm U.S. missile attacks on Pakistani territory, which would be an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty.
War Footage Of The Day: Afghanistan
Video: President Bush Gets Fired Up At Press Conference
Bush Accepts Petraeus Plan To Pause Troop Reductions
In a speech today President Bush ordered an indefinite halt in U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq after July, embracing the key recommendations of his top war commander. Bush said Gen. David Petraeus will “have all the time he needs” to consider when more American forces could return home.
The president also announced he will try and relieve the heavy strain on the Army by reducing the length of combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan to 12 months, down from the current level of 15 months.
-Samantha Giles
Pictures: Prince Harry At War
Here are some pictures of Prince Harry serving his country in Afghanistan:
(Click photos to enlarge)
Prince Harry Serving On Front Lines In Afghanistan
From the AP:
Prince Harry has been serving on the front line in Afghanistan with the British Army, calling in airstrikes on Taliban positions and going out on foot patrols, the Ministry of Defense announced Thursday.
Officials said the prince, a lieutenant in the Blues and Royals regiment, was still deployed in the country.
“His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary,” said the head of the army, Gen. Richard Dannatt. “He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battle group.”
Harry, who is third in line to the throne, has been in Afghanistan since December.
The planned deployment had been disclosed to reporters, with no specific date, and was not reported previously under a pool agreement between the Ministry of Defense and all major news organizations operating in Britain, including The Associated Press. The news blackout was intended to reduce the risk to the prince and his regiment.
The news embargo was broken, however, after reports of the prince’s deployment were leaked by an Australian magazine and a German newspaper, and then reported on a U.S. Web site, the Drudge Report.
Dannatt, the military commander, said he was “very disappointed” that the story had leaked.
Harry, 23, has been deployed in the restive Helmand province for 10 weeks, where most of the 7,800 British troops in Afghanistan are based, according to the military’s statement.
In a recorded interview, Harry said he was happy to be standing shoulder-to- shoulder with his colleagues.
“It’s nice just to be here with all the guys and just mucking in as one of the lads,” said Harry, who had expressed bitter disappointment when he was banned from going to Iraq with his battalion last year. Army chiefs said publicity surrounding his deployment could put him and his unit at risk.
Pooled video footage of Harry in Afghanistan showed the prince dressed in camouflage fatigues patrolling arid and dusty terrain and firing a machine gun.
Harry graduated from Sandhurst military academy in 2006 and trained as a tank commander. After the decision not to send him to Iraq, he retrained as a battlefield air controller, the job he has been filling in Afghanistan.
The fact that Prince Harry actually wanted to fight is a very noble thing. He has more honor and guts than a lot of people both in Britain and in America. He and his brother are a credit to their country and will make exceptional leaders one day.
-Chris Jones
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