Watching hour after hour of talking heads continue the fiction of the success of "The Surge", I have been waiting for some one, any one to state the most obvious failure of "The Surge".

Well I've just gotten home from the Obama rally, followed by a stop at the movie theater at Sony Center.  I want to diary my experience at the rally and share some eyewitness details for all of you who were not able to attend.  I do apologize that I don't have photos, but by the time I got there it was too dark to use my iPhone camera...

I just got an email about Senator Obama's recent trip to Afghanistan and I'd like to share it with you guys.  The alleged author of the email is a CPT Jeffery S. Porter.  According to Cpt. Porter, Obama blew off the troops there and didn't take the time to thank any of them for their service.

The text of the email is below the fold.

There is one more John McCain gaffe that the media missed from the now famous CBS interview with Katie Couric.

This is the same interview in which McCain claimed the surge led to the Anbar Awakening, which is demonstrably false. But watch below for another gaffe when McCain says Iraq was the first major conflict after 9/11.

The New York Times is running a story documenting an administration officials journey into the reality of the Afghan economy here. (Registration and login required).

The author takes a while to come around to the gist of the story:

"There was no coherent strategy to resolve these issues among the U.S. agencies and the Afghan government. When I asked career officers at the State Department for the interagency strategy for Afghan counternarcotics, they produced the same charts I used to brief the cabinet in Washington months before. "There is no written strategy," they confessed."

(Note: This is a followup to my post yesterday.

U.S. commanders are asking the Pentagon for up to 10,000 more troops for Afghanistan.

The request was a subject of discussion when President Bush met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

But getting more troops to the increasingly violent battle zone is unlikely to happen before Bush leaves office in January, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

Clark: Well, they didn't bring more troops out to Anbar. What they did is the Saudis, basically in 2005, gave up on the U.S. policy, and they started working directly with the tribes. I went through the region in 2004 and 2005. I went through each of the Gulf States. I talked to the leaders and they said, 'You Americans are crazy. You're ignoring the tribes.' The Saudis put money behind it. They worked the tribes, and that helped bring the condition which made the Sunni Awakening possible.

Scarborough: So, so General, you are crediting the Saudis with success in Western Iraq. You're crediting Iran with success in Eastern Iraq. I think that's giving short shrift for what the troops did.

Clark: No, I don't think so. I think the troops are a very, very important part of this, but I think you have to look at whole situation in there, Joe.

Source: http://securingamerica.com/...
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  We Shall Keep the Faith  

      Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
      Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
      We caught the torch you threw
      And holding high, we keep the Faith
      With All who died.

      We cherish, too, the poppy red
      That grows on fields where valor led;
      It seems to signal to the skies
      That blood of heroes never dies,
      But lends a lustre to the red
      Of the flower that blooms above the dead
      In Flanders Fields.

      And now the Torch and Poppy Red
      We wear in honor of our dead.
      Fear not that ye have died for naught;
      We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
      In Flanders Fields.

   by Moina Michael, November 1918

Tonight we remember a marine who was killed in Iraq and a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan

In September 1940 at the height of the London Blitz, King George VI decided to institute a new medal to reward the many acts of civilian courage. The George Cross is awards for conspicuous acts of bravery by civilians. It is also given to military personnel but is "confined to actions for which purely military Honours are not normally granted" (for example when not under fire or engaging the enemy). It has equal status with the highest military award, the Victoria Cross.

Today it was announced that a 24 year old Royal Marine reservist has been awarded the medal for actions in Afghanistan. His story is one of amazing, instinctual courage and even more staggering luck.

Following what has been going on in Iraq and trying to follow Afghanistan, with the little, until recently, we get about that theater, I've had a growing uneasy feeling.

We all know that the bush doctrine has been a total failure and I need not go into the whole extreme mess these power hungry idiots have made. There is one thing I do see they succeeded in, creating an enemy and building that into a fear for Perpetual Conflict, replacing the Cold War Mentality to justify Huge Defense Contracts, Huge Profits, and the needed fear factor in the populace of not only the U.S. but the western world, the rest already have their problems from the wests continuing failed policies towards them, of which helped create this enemy.

It's has been rather hard to follow the news on Afghanistan, but it can be done if following overseas reporting.

Than this tragedy happened:

As Barack Obama ends his landmark trip to the Middle East and Europe, he has proven his grasp of the critical issues facing the US and the world.  He has also proven that he is ready to fill the role as leader of the free world left vacant for so long by the mismanagement of conservatism and the Republicans under Bush.

At the same time, John McCain has proven time and again that he lacks the most rudimentary understanding of geopolitics, not to mention geography, history, and military science.
 
In an interview on CBS with Katie Couric, McCain proved that he does not have even a remote grasp on the factual history of the Sunni Awakening or "the surge".  This amounts to a threat to our vital interests in the region.  Specifically, his demand for a continued focus on Iraq implies a clear weakness on Afghanistan.  He would continue battling for political advantage, while choosing to deny our troops in Afghanistan the resources necessary to emerge victorious in our struggle there.  
 

As Barack Obama traverses the Middle East and Europe, there has been a lot of talk back home about the effectiveness of the surge and what it means to presidential politics.  If you will indulge me, I would like to share with you my views as to why the surge alone has been ineffective and why Obama must continue to fight the media narrative about the surge.  

It's been the conventional wisdom among the beltway types and the media that the Republicans "own" the foreign policy issue. George W Bush and John McCain have based their campaigns on their supposed strong foreign policy credentials. But in 3 days this week, Obama has turned the issue of foreign policy into a weakness for McCain and strength for him. He has shifted the debate from Iraq to Afghanistan and in the process, has caused McCain to reveal his complete lack of understanding of what's really going on in the Middle East.

Summary: This diary might be a waste of time in that I could see some more enlightened Kossack answering my question within five minutes of me posting.  But I need to know the answer nonetheless.

What, precisely, is Mr. Obama shooting for with his "we have to focus on Afghanistan" thinking?

There is NO competition at all between Obama and McCain when it comes to understanding the middle east, and the world for that matter.

Time has just released the latest interview from Obama, after visiting Iraq and Afghanistan, were he explains the daunting task in both Iraq and Afghanistan, BUT ESPECIALLY Afghanistan. His answers prove that indeed he was there to listen and understand the situation, not just a photo-op.

And I'm willing to bet that General Petraeus was impressed with Obama.

*OH! and he take a brilliant jab at McCain by the way!

This little bit of gold could not be more buried in an otherwise excellent WaPo piece for tomorrow entitled "Obama Shifts the Foreign Policy Debate". But two shockers from the piece:

1. Mullen -- the same Joint Chiefs Mullen who made news on Sunday for telling Fox that a timeline is "dangerous" -- told PBS today that he agrees with Obama that Afghanistan is a major problem and the only way to get more troops there is to take them from Iraq.

and

2. He said that he has strict priorities from the Commander-in-Chief to focus on Iraq first and foremost. Afghanistan is second.

Passage from WaPo:

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke with Jim Lehrer on tonight’s News Hour. He reinforced much of what Obama has long been saying -- as well as what Obama said today about the need to factor recommendations from military leaders into a larger strategic vision.

Mullen repeatedly took pains to indicate that his military perspective is an expression of his role as a facilitator of President Bush's stated mission. "Right now I’m working for the current commander in chief."

Key points:

1. The situation in Afghanistan is "precarious and urgent."

2. We need three additional brigades there.

3. Our commitment in Iraq has not allowed us to put the necessary troops in Afghanistan.

4. The existing Bush mission treats Afghanistan as a lower priority than Iraq (a prioritizing that McCain so far has supported).

5. The job of military leaders is to focus on carrying out missions set by civilian leadership -- not to argue strategic priorities.

6. Mullen would have no trouble or hesitation executing a new mission by a new commander in chief.

McCains many gaffes have finally been getting attention in CBSNEWS and in Politico.com.
Critics Pile On As McCain Gaffes Pile Up: Verbal Blunders Bring New Attention To Sensitive Issue Of His Age by Politico.com and Repeated in CBSNews sums it up nicely.

Do these consistent gaffes reflect poorly on America?

McCain said "Iraq" when he apparently meant "Afghanistan" on Monday, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition.
Just in the past three weeks, McCain has mixed up Iraq and Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, and even football’s Packers and Steelers.
Ironically, the errors have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise - foreign affairs.