General David Petraeus and Afghanistan

Gen. David H. Petraeus ends his command in Afghanistan

Gen. David H. Petraeus relinquished his command of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan on Monday, handing the reins to Marine Gen. John Allen as the United States and its allies begin to withdraw troops from the country where they have waged war for nearly a decade.

The Obama Legacy

Must-see video:



Four more years OF THIS?

No, thank you.

July 4th, Afghanistan

God bless our troops, defenders of freedom.

Staff Sergeant Michael Kacer

Staff Sergeant Michael Kacer is a hero.

From the Wayne Independent, June 25, 2008:

Staff Sgt. Michael Kacer (Jr.), a native of Waymart, was seriously injured in a rocket battle in Afghanistan several days ago. Family members reported on Wednesday that Kacer was taken Sunday to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
A soldier with the 1st Battalion, 109th Infantry, Pa. National Guard, Kacer is a member of Bravo Company in New Milford.

Several soldiers from the 109th Infantry were wounded in the same attack, although it could not be confirmed by deadline their identities or companies. Captain Corey Angell, a spokesman for the Pa. National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap, stated that there are 700 Pa. National Guard in Afghanistan and some have been wounded in attacks, but could not confirm any details.

An attempt to contact Bravo Company headquarters was unsuccessful.

Sgt. Kacer’s uncle, Frank Kacer, who runs a kielbasa business in Waymart, and his sister Mary Andzulis, of Pittstown, NJ, provided information that had been related to them, from the soldier’s father, Michael Kacer, Sr. of Waymart. The father went to Walter Reed to be near his son. Sgt. Kacer’s mother, Betsey, of Atlanta, Georgia, had also arrived at the hospital.

A message left for Michael Kacer Sr. was yet to be returned.

Apparently, on Wednesday or Thursday of last week, Sgt. Kacer was on a mission assisting another company, and was on foot patrol. He and the about 15 other soldiers had entered a concrete building. A barrage of shoulder-launched RPG missiles rained down on them. Mary related that her nephew pushed one soldier on the floor out of harm’s way and took the brunt of injuries.

He was airlifted to Germany, where his left arm was amputated six inches from the shoulder. The soldier also suffered a severed colon and multiple facial fractures. On Sunday he was flown to Washington, D.C., and admitted to Walter Reed. His Uncle Frank stated that he is expected to be at Walter Reed six to 12 months.

Frank said his nephew, who is 26, was born and raised in Waymart and graduated Western Wayne High School. He joined the National Guard right out of school. He is an assistant manager of Turkey Hill Minut Market in Scranton. In November, Michael married Lauren Marie Worozilcak, prior to Michael’s deployment at the end of the year. They reside in Olyphant.

Michael was on his third deployment, having served in Bosnia and Iraq.

Kacer sacrificed so much for his country.

Life has changed for him since that rocket attack in 2008, but life goes on.

Watch video of Kacer making an incredible catch at Yankee Stadium.

Fantastic!

Obama: Afghanistan and Election 2012

Why did Obama choose to ignore his military commanders regarding Afghanistan?

It's Election 2012, stupid.

Ron Fournier, National Journal, writes:

Don't kid yourself. President Obama's decision to withdraw 33,000 troops from Afghanistan before he stands for re-election is not driven by the United States' "position of strength" in the war zone as much as it is by grim economic and political realities at home.

A sagging economy, a soaring national debt and an increasingly restive Congress pushed Obama to order troop reductions that are both deeper and faster than recommended by his military commanders.

"America," the president said in a prime-time address from the East Room, "it is time to focus on nation building here at home."

In announcing his decision, which still leaves 68,000 troops in the country after the 2012 election, Obama focused on a set of numbers that pander to a war-weary nation -- 10,000 troops out this year and another 23,000 in 2012, keeping a promise he made in 2009 to begin winding down the "surge" by the middle of this year.

By 2014, Obama said, "this process of transition will be complete, and the Afghan people will be responsible for their own security."

But the president's eye is set on numbers that have little to do with battlefield strategy and everything to do with his re-election hopes. They include:

Fifty-six percent of Americans say U.S. troops should be brought home as soon as possible, up from 40 percent a year ago (Pew Research Center).

Fewer than a quarter of people see signs of improvement in the economy and two-thirds say the country is on the wrong track. A clear majority of Americans say their children are destined to a lower standard of living (Bloomberg News National Poll).

The United States has spent $1.3 trillion in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past decade. Afghanistan alone is costing about $120 billion this year.

...The message as framed by the Obama political team: He knows it's the economy, stupid; he'll focus on it like a laser beam, even if it means "defying" his commanders and Cabinet.

...Obama does not to need to worry as much as past Democratic presidents about being labeled soft on national security -- not after giving the order that led to the assassination of Osama bin Laden. No, his biggest concern is being labeled tone deaf on joblessness and debt.

...In the end, Obama chose the clearest course to re-election.

In other words, Obama chose the course he believes suits his ends.

Fact Check: Obama Speech

Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post, "fact checks" Obama's speech.

The Bottom Line

The president’s speech had a ring of “mission accomplished” to it. The real test will come when Afghan forces begin to fully replace the U.S. troops who are leaving. That test will come soon enough, though given the timing of the troop withdrawals, the full impact of this announcement may not be apparent until after the 2012 elections.

Obama Speech: Afghanistan Troop Withdrawal (Video)

Here's the transcript, from the White House.

Here's reaction to Obama's speech.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.):

“America has been an exceptional force for good in this world and we should never apologize for it. At the same time, we are running a $1.5 trillion deficit, and we must re-think our spending in all areas. We have to re-evaluate, but we have to do it in a sensible manner. What gains have been made in Afghanistan – as tenuous as they may be – have been paid with a very high price, in terms of the sacrifice of the finest among us. We have to make sure those gains are consolidated, and not lost. The Afghan people are like folks everywhere. They want peace. They want freedom. At some point, they have to fight for it, and I am very encouraged that so many are willing do so.”

Obama, Prime Time Address, Afghanistan

Obama is commandeering prime time TV again.

Recently, his approval ratings have plummeted. I suppose he thinks talking to the American people will change that.

From CBS News:

President Obama plans to announce a substantial drawdown of troops from Afghanistan in a high profile speech in prime-time television Wednesday night, making good on his 2009 pledge to start bringing soldiers home by July 2011.

Mr. Obama coupled his decision to send a "surge" of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in 2009 with a promise to bring some of them home this summer.

"The president will keep the commitment he made in December of 2009 to begin the drawdown of U.S. forces from Afghanistan next month," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Tuesday.

The 8:00 p.m. ET speech will be the sixth address to the nation since taking office in January 2009, according to records kept by Mark Knoller of CBS News.

Carney told reporters Obama made a final decision Tuesday and informed a small circle of key advisers, though the spokesman was coy with reporters about the scope and pace of the drawdown.

More, from the Wall Street Journal:

President Barack Obama will announce Wednesday the first steps in a gradual plan to extract the U.S. from the Afghanistan war, including an initial withdrawal of as many as 5,000 troops next month, defense officials say.

Mr. Obama will announce the drawdown in a primetime address to a nation increasingly weary of wars overseas and caught up with economic troubles at home. The conflict in Afghanistan has left more than 1,600 Americans dead in almost a decade of fighting.

The pullouts are expected to commence in July when the first of the 33,000 so-called surge troops head home. Military leaders told Mr. Obama they envisioned having all of the surge troops out of Afghanistan around the fall of 2012, officials said.

Defense officials expected the president to pull a total of roughly 10,000 troops out of Afghanistan by year end. Such a plan is close to what Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, had recommended.

...The president decided the pace of the drawdown Tuesday and informed his national-security team in the Situation Room, an administration official said.

...Mr. Obama's address, at 10 minutes long, won't delve deeply into U.S. policy in the region, the senior administration official said, but will lay out for Americans a trajectory for winding down America's role in the war.

In 2001, President George W. Bush led an international coalition into Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime that had hosted Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda militants as they planned the Sept. 11 attacks. The Taliban fell quickly, but returned as the main element of an insurgency that now engages 100,000 American troops, 30% of them surge forces that Mr. Obama ordered deployed in 2009.

When he announced that escalation, Mr. Obama also promised to begin a "significant" withdrawal this July.

...After announcing his decision, Mr. Obama will travel on Thursday to Fort Drum, N.Y., where he will meet with troops. Fort Drum is home to the Army's 10th Mountain Division, which has been deployed numerous times to Afghanistan and Iraq. Mr. Obama first announced the troop surge in Afghanistan in New York, at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

In a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released last week, 54% of Americans said they approved of the way Mr. Obama is handling the war in Afghanistan.

But polls show Americans increasingly war-weary—particularly after bin Laden's death—and, with the federal deficit ballooning, wary of the cost of engagement.

A ten minute address by Obama is mercifully short. I hope that report is accurate.

I do get the feeling Americans are war-weary. U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan for nearly a decade.

Speaking of war-weary Americans, what about Libya?

Delta Airlines Military Baggage

Delta Airlines is trying to work its way out of a PR disaster.

The company saw heavy criticism on Wednesday when it charged 34 soldiers returning from Afghanistan as much as $2,800 in baggage fees. Delta changed the policy a day later following public outrage sparked by a video posted on YouTube by two of the soldiers.

Delta released a statement on Thursday publicly apologizing for any miscommunication regarding its policies and for any inconveniences it may have caused. After reviewing the situation, the airline decided it would allow troops to check four bags for free instead of three.

Here's a Delta commercial that sums up the situation, via the Tonight Show with Jay Leno:

Afghanistan: Memorial Day

Obama Bumps Trump

Tonight's episode of The Celebrity Apprentice was reaching a crescendo.

Who would be fired?

NeNe?

Star?

Hope?

NBC ran a crawl saying Obama would make an important statement at 10:30 ET. The network broke into programming about 10:45 ET.

Still no announcement from Obama, just babbling by Andrea Mitchell, Chuck Todd, David Gregory, and Brian Williams.

There was absolutely no reason to preempt normal programming at that time.

Osama bin Laden is dead.

Great!

Did the DNA tests positively identifying bin Laden come back tonight?

What happened in the boardroom?

In Memory of Clay Hunt

Iraq and Afghanistan.

These wars don't get a lot of attention anymore.

Why not?

Under Obama, our troops are still fighting and sacrificing. Our veterans are still suffering.

But the focus is off now. They're forgotten.

Where are the anti-war marches? Where are the Hollywood-types, speaking out against the killing and dying? Why have most Democrats, critics previously, gone silent?

All seems quiet, but it's not for those struggling with the realities of serving and returning.

From the Associated Press:

Handsome and friendly, Clay Hunt so epitomized a vibrant Iraq veteran that he was chosen for a public service announcement reminding veterans that they aren't alone.

The 28-year-old former Marine corporal earned a Purple Heart after taking a sniper's bullet in his left wrist. He returned to combat in Afghanistan. Upon his return home, he lobbied for veterans on Capitol Hill, road-biked with wounded veterans and performed humanitarian work in Haiti and Chile.

Then, on March 31, Hunt bolted himself in his Houston apartment and shot himself.

Friends and family say he was wracked with survivor's guilt, depression and other emotional struggles after combat.

Hunt's death has shaken many veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those who knew him wonder why someone who seemed to be doing all the right things to deal with combat-related issues is now dead.

"We know we have a problem with vets' suicide, but this was really a slap in the face," said Matthew Pelak, 32, an Iraq veteran who worked with Hunt in Haiti as part of the nonprofit group Team Rubicon.

...Friends and family say Hunt suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. But with his boundless energy and countless friends, he came across as an example of how to live life after combat.

"I think everybody saw him as the guy that was battling it, but winning the battle every day," said Jacob Wood, 27, a friend who served with Hunt in the Marines and in Haiti with Team Rubicon.

But some knew he was grieving over several close friends in the Marines who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"He was very despondent about why he was alive and so many people he served with directly were not alive," said John Wordin, 48, the founder of Ride 2 Recovery, a program that uses bicycling to help veterans heal physically and mentally.

...Hunt's friends say he was an idealist and voiced frustration that he couldn't make changes overnight. He also questioned why troops were still dying.

"He really was looking for someone to tell him what it was he went over to do and why those sacrifices were made," Wood said.

..."Clay was always a fighter," Wordin said. "He was always a guy to stick things out and he basically quit life, and I was mad that he felt he had to do that at that particular time."

Hunt's friends and family count him a casualty of war—just like his buddies who died in the battlefield.

Prayers for Clay's family and friends.

Prayers for our troops and our veterans.

Prayers of gratitude for their service to our nation.

God bless them.