In Afghanistan, Panetta Says Mission Continues

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http://www.wbur.org/npr/148576740/in-afghanistan-panetta-says-mission-continues

At Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urged U.S. military personnel to not be deterred from their mission and continue "to make life difficult" for the Taliban and al-Qaida, says NPR's Larry Abramson, who is travelling with Panetta.

The Pentagon chief's words come, of course, in the wake of the murders Sunday of 16 Afghan civilians — allegedly by a U.S. Army staff sergeant. And they follow the burnings by U.S. forces last month of some Qurans, which set off protests and led to the murders of at least four U.S. military personnel. American officials have apologized for the burnings and say they were unintentional.

According to Larry, while there have been reports that some U.S. officials hope to speed up the planned withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan (most are scheduled to be gone by 2014), Pentagon officials traveling with Panetta say the game plan is not changing. Panetta is due to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday. "You can be certain that the Quran burning incident and the shooting on Sunday are going to come up," Larry tells our Newscast Desk.

Panetta's visit, while unannounced until he landed in the country for security purposes, had been scheduled before the murders.

[hifiguy]

1. We have always been at war with WestAsia

We will always be at war with WestAsia

Until we are at war somewhere else.

[pscot]

2. The beatings will continue

until morale improves.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. Each week we stay is $2 billion more down the crapper.

Except somebody is making money off it, aren't they?

$2 billion. What could you do with $2 billion?

Well, you could hire 20,000 teachers at $100,000 each for one year.

Any other examples? And remember, that's with just one week of the Afghan war's cost.

[xchrom]

4. +1

[sad sally]

5. Ditto from the President - no matter how deranged the mission, no matter how many people

must die or be forever mentally or physically injured, no matter how much it costs, the mission will continue until it's done. At the end of 2014 Afghanistan will be another stable, secure, prosperous, democratic state just like Iraq is today - thanks to America military/CIA power. All bow to the power of the war gods.

from this a.m.'s news conference with Cameron:

“I don’t anticipate at this stage that we are going to be making any sudden additional changes to the plan that we already have,” Mr. Obama says of the scheduled withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“The vast majority of the American people and British people understand” why the wars are being fought, he says.

(interesting the use of "wars" vs war)

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6. +1