In Canada and in the White House_ a sense that we don't know where we're going in Afghanistan

[bigtree]

Thu, 2009-02-19 21:32.

OTTAWA - Michael Ignatieff, the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, bluntly told President Barack Obama that NATO's strategy for Afghanistan is confused and incoherent.

"I said Canadians have a sense of strategic drift there, a sense that we don't know where we're going, don't know what the plan is," Ignatieff told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with the rookie U.S. president.

"And the president said rather amusingly a lot of people in the White House feel exactly the same way."

Ignatieff said he told Obama he supports continued Canadian involvement in Afghanistan "on the development side, on the political side, on the diplomatic side, on the strategic side."

But he also "very directly" told the president that "you can't get us to re-up in a situation of strategic incoherence. Canadians don't know where this mission is going."

http://www.cjad.com/news/14/879418


my take:

Asking Our Allies for More in Afghanistan
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5089167&mesg_id=5089167

[nevergiveup]

1. I love my president

but he needs to hear this over and over and over again. This war scares the crap out of me. What will a victory in Afghanistan look like? How will we know when we have won? Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

[bigtree]

2. Liberal Leader Ignatieff gets 30 minutes with Obama

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090219/iggy_obama_090219/20090219?hub=TopStories

(good comments at the end of the article)

[JohnyCanuck]

3. How To Win Friends and Influence People The Obama Way,

turning out to be much the same as the Bush Way.

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) – Afghan authorities said Wednesday that at least 13 civilians, including women and children, were killed in a US-led air strike on militants, prompting the military to order an inquiry.

The latest charges of civilian casualties from foreign operations follow tensions on the issue between Kabul and Washington, its main military backer in an escalating fight against a Taliban insurgency.

The strike outside the western city of Herat on Monday targeted a "key insurgent commander" named Gholam Yahya Akbari, the US military said.

SNIP

....provincial authorities said teams sent to the area to investigate found that civilians were killed.

"The information we have states that 13 civilians have been killed in that air strike -- six women, two children and five men," said provincial government spokesman Naqibullah Arwin.

SNIP

Locals said the two others, whose remains were recovered near two gutted vehicles, were car mechanics from Herat city who were taken to the outlying Gozara district to fix a broken jeep.

At an emotional funeral in the city, Khair Mohammad said they were his brother and his assistant, and vowed revenge on the US soldiers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090218/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunresth

[bigtree]

4. I dunno

I like the fact that Pres. Obama gave the Liberal Leader his time. Harper is a Bush-clone and it must have stuck in his craw to have Obama in a one-on-one with his political rival.

I understand that Harper deferred to the Parliament in the decision on whether to stick by the announced 2011 Afghanistan exit.

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. they were his brother and his assistant, and vowed revenge on the US soldiers.

.
.
.

FIGHTING A GROUND WAR FROM THE AIR

It ain't gonna work

IF the USA is serious about overtaking Afghanistan,

They are gonna have to put 500,000 troops ON THE GROUND

otherwise

the USA might as well stay home

SEVEN YEARS the USA has been dicking around in Afghanistan

and losing

time to shit or get off the pot - -

this killing of civilians is just making more enemies

doh!

[bigtree]

6. practically no one actually believes that the Taliban will be defeated or al-Qaeda eliminated

. . . by military means alone.