Afghanistan will take longer to tackle than Iraq, General David Petraeus says

[laststeamtrain]

Source: Times

Afghanistan will take longer to tackle than Iraq, General David Petraeus says

Deborah Haynes, Defence Editor

The new American-led surge in Afghanistan will take longer to fight the insurgency than a similar injection of force in Iraq three years ago when violence fell sharply within months, the top US general in the region told The Times.

General David Petraeus, the head of Central Command, also warned that the fight in Helmand province, Afghanistan, where British and US forces are based, as well other areas, would become even tougher before the situation improved.

Frontline offensives will run alongside initiatives to reach out to Taleban elements. When the time was right, General Petraeus said, there was a possibility that Afghan officials would hold reconciliation talks with senior Taleban and other insurgent leaders, perhaps also involving Pakistan.

In 2005, the commander predicted that Afghanistan would be the longest campaign in the war on terror. “That turned out to be fairly prophetic,” he said, speaking at his headquarters in Tampa, Florida.

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7000868.ece

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General David Petraeus: full transcript of interview with The Times : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7000774.ece

[thunder rising]

1. Wait...Iraq is finished? Did I miss something?

[Gregorian]

7. Yeah. You missed that big Mission Accomplished thing with the codpiece.

Or maybe you just tried to forget it. Yes, it was over before it began. Ask Dr. Kelly.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Don't worry General Shitbag, the money will be there when you retire.

[New Dawn]

3. It already HAS taken longer than Iraq, General Einstein.

[EFerrari]

6. I'm going to start calling him General Quayle.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. His headquarters are in Tampa, Fla?

Isn't that special.

[jmowreader]

8. What's "special" about that?

MacDill Air Force Base is right outside of Tampa, and US Central Command (General Petraeus' command) plus US Special Operations Command have always been headquartered there. They also teach the Swamp Phase of Ranger School there because it's got the biggest government-controlled swamp in America right on the premises.

The logical thing to think is, "well, Petraeus should be in Iraq" or "Petraeus should be in Afghanistan" but that's not right--CENTCOM is responsible for both wars and it's easier to work on Afghanistan if you're not in Iraq or vice-versa. In the 1991 Gulf War, when we were only fighting one country, the CENTCOM commander was in Riyadh. But in a two-war situation, MacDill is the best place to run them.

Besides, I am very certain the sergeants major, colonels and lieutenant colonels who are actually running the thing are REAL happy to not have to deal with Petraeus' aide-de-camp on a daily basis.

[bemildred]

5. Notice he assumes that what he did in Iraq "worked".

I love the jargon too: "a similar injection of force". Is that anything like "precision bombing"?

[jmowreader]

9. Yeah, I noticed that too

I figure what actually happened is Khalid called Jalil and asked Jalil if he thought Allah really wanted them to keep burying their kids.

[bemildred]

10. I thought we bribed them and promised to leave.

But I suppose opinions will vary.

[jmowreader]

11. We DID bribe them...

but we promised to leave AFTER they mellowed the fuck out. I think they realized if they just mellowed the fuck out until the US left then went right back to killing each other there was nothing stopping the US from going back in, so they had to make at least some effort toward living together in non-violent antipathy.

We're not talking an Israel-Palestinian situation, where Moses and Allah are trying to smite each other, or Northern Ireland where Catholics and Protestants (both nominally Christians, natch) tried to prove who loved Jesus best. At the end of the day, every major player in the internecine struggle in Iraq is a Muslim--they say their prayers a different way, perhaps, but Allah wouldn't smite himself.

Who knows? They MIGHT just be mellowing out until we leave so they can go right back to shooting one another. I don't think that's the case.

[bemildred]

13. What's the difference?

We bribed them, withdrew to our bases, and promised to leave; and I'm still supposed to believe that it was our threats to not leave if they didn't calm down that intimidated them into calming down? Do you drink this sort of KoolAid all the time?

[booksenkatz]

12. LONGER than Iraq? What's longer than 'forever?' NT

[Mari333]

14. tackle? fuck that asshole

bring them all home now.

then get on your fucking knees, all you political hacks in power, and apologize to Iraq and Afghanistan for starting corporate wars of profit you lying sacks of shit.

and killing people for companies.

these people are sociopaths and psychotic assholes.