http://news.antiwar.com/2012/03/16/karzai-us-not-cooperating-in-massacre-probe/
“This has been going on for too long,” Karzai insisted, “this is by all means the end of the rope here.” The US has promised its own investigation of the attack, but has removed the accused from Afghanistan.
They didn’t hold the square for long, being chased away shortly thereafter by a militia in favor of autonomy. The message however, was another clear indication that any attempts to establish autonomy will be resisted, violently.
The reality that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) isn’t going to conquer the country on its own, however, is having another effect.The public rallies organized by the opposition are increasingly focused on demanding foreign invasions.
“Obviously Israel is an independent country, and they’ll make whatever decisions they make on their own based on what they think is in their national interests,” Panetta said, adding that “if they should make that decision, that obviously the United States would take action” to protect its interests in the region.
Karzai: US Not Cooperating in Massacre Probe
Delegation Rejects Single Shooter Narrative
by Jason Ditz, March 16, 2012
Speaking today in a meeting with tribal elders and other top officials, Afghan President Hamid Karzai angrily condemned the US for its refusal to cooperate in the ongoing investigation into last weekend’s massacre of civilians in Kandahar Province.
“This has been going on for too long,” Karzai insisted, “this is by all means the end of the rope here.” The US has promised its own investigation of the attack, but has removed the accused from Afghanistan.Karzai went on to say that his delegation rejected the current US narrative of a single shooter, and that “this was not carried out by one man and was a deliberate and intentional act.”
This isn’t a completely unwarranted claim. While the official US story is that a single staff sergeant committed the massacre all by himself and wandered back to base to turn himself in, multiple witnesses reported that several US soldiers were involved in the attack.
While the massacre has outraged Afghans, leading to calls for those responsible to face a public trial in the nation, the US has repeatedly sought to downplay it, saying that it mustn’t change the strategy of the occupation at all.
Officials have also tried to placate Afghan concerns by insisting that the still unnamed staff sergeant could face major punishment under US military law for the massacre, though since the Haditha massacre ended with myriad dropped charges and one man facing reduced rank, that pledge has little credibility.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/03/afghanistan-withdrawal-debate/
Nobody Wants to Stay in Afghanistan Any More (Except a Few Generals)
- March 15, 2012 |
- 11:11 am |
- Categories: Af/Pak, Military Life, Paper Pushers, Beltway Bandits, Politicians
Army Sgt. David Banks helps conduct a cordon and search operation in Pana, Afghanistan. Photo: U.S. Army
These are the emerging contours of the Afghanistan debate. Backing a quicker withdrawal: the White House; NATO; two out of three major Republican presidential candidates; Afghan President Hamid Karzai; and (um) the Taliban. Against a quicker withdrawal: the U.S. military and a handful of GOP legislators.
Widespread local protests may not have emerged after Sunday’s massacre of 16 Afghan civilians. But the shootings, the latest in a series of crises, have reopened a debate about the wisdom of sticking with President Obama’s 2014 timetable for bringing (most) troops home. And it’s occurring at an opportune moment: NATO and the White House are currently determining just how fast and how deep the withdrawals should be over the next two years.
The military wants to slow Obama’s roll. In his only interview since the massacre, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John Allen, argued that the “solid” war plan “does not contemplate at this time, any form of accelerated drawdown.” After the surge troops leave in October, Allen, who will testify to Congress next week, reportedly wants to delay additional cuts to the 68,000-troop force until late 2013.
He has few allies for that argument.
President Hamid Karzai on Thursday called for Allen’s forces to turn over combat duties to Afghan soldiers and police next year. The U.S.’ NATO allies want that to happen: at NATO headquarters in Brussels, several alliance officials believe all the heavy lifting for the transition can be done by mid-2013. For its part, the Taliban announced on Thursday it’s suspending peace talks until the U.S. clarifies its positions on departing.
The White House publicly says that it’s content to stick with the plan to turn over combat to the Afghans in 2014. But several White House officials, led by Vice President Joe Biden, believe the large U.S. presence has become counterproductive and the residual tasks for Americans — training Afghans, counterterrorism strikes and raids — can be accomplished with fewer troops. Oh, and there’s a presidential election coming up in a climate where 54 percent of Americans want out of Afghanistan faster than Obama has proposed.
There’s an opportunity for Obama, NATO and Karzai to tweak the withdrawal. NATO will meet in Chicago — which just happens to be the nexus of Obama’s reelection campaign — in May. There, the alliance will decide how to structure the drawdown through 2014, and what a residual commitment to Afghanistan of troops and cash will look like afterward. The buzz is that the alliance is unlikely to announce its schedules for troop withdrawal. But look to see if NATO describes 2013 as the crucial year for the transition, which will herald a front-loaded withdrawal.
If so, NATO may have to look for a new commander. But Allen doesn’t have many allies outside of the military and the Pentagon to bolster his call for a slower withdrawal. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is one. On the Hill, he can rely on Rep. Buck McKeon, the GOP chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; McKeon’s Senate counterpart John McCain; and McCain’s ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, who told Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin, “If I gotta pick between Joe Biden and General Allen, I’m picking General Allen.”
Not many others will. The Democratic Party reluctantly embraced the Afghanistan war as a cudgel against President Bush and the Iraq war; both of which are memories now. The Republican Party never turned the Afghanistan war into an ideological issue, which helps explain why the two conservative alternatives to Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, feel free to envision a faster withdrawal.
Romney has little political choice but to oppose whatever Obama decides. But Romney doesn’t emphasize Afghanistan on the campaign trail, except to say that he wants “victory,” something that few in Washington have ever bothered to define during a decade of war.
The generals don’t actually embrace “victory.” At this late hour, all they want is to delay troop reductions — not reverse them, which would retain U.S. ownership of the war. All commanders want more troops to prosecute their campaigns. Allen just doesn’t want fewer, for as long as possible. That says a lot, barometrically, about the contours of the Afghanistan debate.
The military was able to rally a reluctant president to triple troop levels in 2009 and 2010. But judging from its paltry support, the brass may not be able to slow the drawdown.
and...
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/03/16/one-killed-as-cyrenaica-autonomy-rally-attacked-in-benghazi/
One Killed as Cyrenaica Autonomy Rally Attacked in Benghazi
'Freedom Square' Captured by Armed Group
by Jason Ditz, March 16, 2012
A public rally in favor of an autonomous Cyrenaica today in the region’s planned capital of Benghazi ended on a sour note when armed men from an unknown faction attacked the demonstrators, killing one and occupying Freedom Square.
They didn’t hold the square for long, being chased away shortly thereafter by a militia in favor of autonomy. The message however, was another clear indication that any attempts to establish autonomy will be resisted, violently.This was the same message as Libyan NTC chairman Mustafa Jalil, the Western-backed ruler of Libya, who responded to the call for autonomywith a promise to unite the nation “with force.”
And the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi has definitely not united the country, with the same effort to form an autonomous Eastern Libya that sparked the anti-Gadhafi civil war likely to lead to another war, with the NTC this time trying to keep oil-rich Benghazi from breaking off.
and...
and...
| Former Gaddafi spy chief held in Mauritania | |
Internationally wanted Libyan war crimes suspect Abdullah Senussi was arrested at Nouakchott airport. Last Modified: 17 Mar 2012 13:49 | |
Senussi was the right-hand man and brother-in-law of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi [AFP] | |
| Libya has confirmed that Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi was arrested in Mauritania, government spokesman Nasser al-Manee said. "[Senussi] was arrested this morning in Nouakchott airport and there was a young man with him. We think it is his son," Manee told a news conference on Saturday, adding that he was carrying a passport from Mali. "Calls are under way by Libyan authorities to request his extradition," Manee said.
and ...... |
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/03/16/as-syrian-rebellion-flounders-more-calls-for-foreign-invasion/
As Syrian Rebellion Flounders, More Calls for Foreign Invasion
Clashes Reported on Damascus Outskirts
by Jason Ditz, March 16, 2012
Syria’s full scale civil war seems to be rapidly quieting down, with the routs of rebel forces leaving fewer and fewer major battles left to be fought. Small clashes were reported on the outskirts of Damascus, but overall it has been one of the quietest Fridays in recent memory.
The reality that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) isn’t going to conquer the country on its own, however, is having another effect.The public rallies organized by the opposition are increasingly focused on demanding foreign invasions.“The people want military intervention, the Free Syrian Army to be armed, and the fall of the regime,” the protesters chanted. The FSA’s operations have slowed across the nation with the group’s leadership claiming a major shortage of ammunition.
But while the rebels are still able to muster decently large crowds in some major cities, the regime has also put on its own pro-Assad rallies, particularly in Damascus, celebrating the survival of the current government.
and..
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/03/16/panetta-confirms-us-involvement-in-potential-israeli-war-on-iran/
Panetta Confirms US Involvement in Potential Israeli War on Iran
'Obviously' the US Would Take Action
by Jason Ditz, March 16, 2012
Confirming what has always been the implicit way in which the US is going to get sucked into its next major war, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta confirmed that the US would definitely involve itself in a war on Iran if Israel decided to launch one.
“Obviously Israel is an independent country, and they’ll make whatever decisions they make on their own based on what they think is in their national interests,” Panetta said, adding that “if they should make that decision, that obviously the United States would take action” to protect its interests in the region.Though Panetta has sought to duck the question in most interviews, insisting only that there was “common cause” with Israel before going on about how the time to attack Iran has not yet arrived.
President Obama has repeatedly made similar statements about “having Israel’s back,” but the reality of what this entails, a commitment to another massive war and potential open-ended occupation, seems to have so far been carefully kept out of the conversation.
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