July 12, 2009 08:50 PM UTC

Obama to add another 15,000 combat troops in Afghanistan

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• by: Barron X

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BREAKING NEWS!

The US Army announced Friday, 10 July, that it intends to add an additional 15,000 combat troops in Afghanistan, effective 1 January 2010.  

This is in addition to the recent increases of 17,000 and 4,000.  

President Obama doesn’t need any Congressional review or approval for this latest troop increase, which appears to be in response to General McChrystal’s assessment on Thursday, 9 July, that he doesn’t have enough troops.

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=op…

Talk about your quick response!

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The Defense Department doesn’t need to get Congressional approval for this troop increase because these combat troops will be Mercenaries.  Since Mercenaries are hired as contractors, and since the Congress has already appropriated the money to pay for them, the Army has de facto carte blanche to privatize as much of the ground combat as needed.    

If the Army was going to send additional active duty or reserve soldiers or Marines, the President still has effective authority to do that without consulting Congress, despite what the Constitution says.  Those in Congress could always cite Article I Section 8, but who among the Republicans is going to undermine the prosecution of a George Bush vanity war, and who among the Democrats is going to hold President Obama to the limits in that quaint old piece of paper ?  

This troop increase won’t put more uniformed military in Afghanistan, but will permit reassigning 15,000 who are now guarding FOB’s and convoys to get out and interact more directly with the local population, whether through presence patrols or firefights.

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Me, I don’t like having Mercenaries representing the USA in the most sensitive of all duties, wielding lethal force to influence the local population.  This indicates to me that General McChrystal has thrown in the towel on that whole notion of winning hearts and minds.  

But if we don’t bother to think through why we are fighting in Afghanistan, and if we don’t have any plan for achieving specific goals and pulling out, then I guess a move like this isn’t going to undermine a plan that doesn’t exist.  

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