Escalating the Surge
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon has agreed to a request from our man in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, to send an additional 2,200 military police. Gates said the number would not count against the 21,500 combat troops or the 2,400 support troops Bush plans to send. Earlier, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said the number of support troops could jump to 7,000.Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon has agreed to a request from our man in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, to send an additional 2,200 military police. Gates said the number would not count against the 21,500 combat troops or the 2,400 support troops Bush plans to send. Earlier, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said the number of support troops could jump to 7,000.
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Gates said that the request for extra MPs is in addition to the 21,500 combat troops that President Bush is sending for the Baghdad security plan and 2,400 other troops designated to support them.
Gordon England, the deputy defense secretary, told Congress earlier this week that the number of required support troops could reach 7,000.
“That’s a new requirement by a new commander,” Gates said of the request for more MPs by Gen. David Petraeus, who assumed command in Baghdad last month. He added that there were other troop requests still being considered in the Pentagon; he gave no specifics.
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Trump has lifted restraints on field commanders and let the military send more personnel to the Middle East.
Key to Barack Obama's surge is his expansion of targeted assassinations taking place under the guise of unmanned aerial drones operating in the Af-Pak region. Obama's senseless Afghanistan strategy will expand the use of targeted assassinations by aerial drones.
Something just doesn't add up about the stated logic of sending 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, says Jamal Dajani, who has a theory about the president's real reason for escalating the war.
Even if the surge works, why wouldn't al-Qaida -- or some like-minded group -- simply set up shop in Somalia? Or in Yemen, another failing state?
The other "peace candidate" in the 2008 Democratic primary isn't thrilled with the president's order to radically escalate the war in Afghanistan, no matter if there's an exit strategy: "What are we going to learn in 18 months that we haven't already learned in the last eight years?"Rep. Dennis Kucinich asks: "What are we going to learn in 18 months that we haven't already learned in the last eight years?"
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