Lawmakers Brace for Fight Over U.S. Troop Surge for Afghanistan

Who is Congress and President Obama like President Bush trying to kid?  The nature of  US neoconservative foreign policy and the political contributions from the military industrial complex will ensure  a US presence in Iraq and Iran for years to come. We can’t afford, We’ve been there for EIGHT YEARS and we’re starting at square one? Working on a plan?

Where is the ‘genius’ Gen. Petraeus who had it all figured out?

Empire is folly.

Lawmakers Brace for Fight Over U.S. Troop Surge for Afghanistan

By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Bloomberg.com

Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) — Lawmakers are taking sides in a debate unfolding at the White House and on Capitol Hill over the wisdom and cost of deploying thousands more U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan.

Senator Carl Levin, the Armed Services Committee chairman, yesterday joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other prominent Democrats in expressing opposition to sending more combat forces. He urged the Obama administration instead to focus on expanding Afghan security forces and persuading insurgents to abandon anti-government militias, as was done in Iraq.

Senator Joseph Lieberman, meanwhile, lined up with leading Republicans calling for a boost in U.S. forces akin to the 2007 troop surge that has been credited with improving security in Iraq. Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, heads the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

The reluctance of prominent Democrats to back an expected request by U.S. military commanders for more troops in Afghanistan reflects waning public support for the eight-year war, and debate in policy circles over how best to confront the Taliban insurgency.

Levin, a Michigan Democrat who returned from a trip to Afghanistan last week with fellow Democrats Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Edward Kaufman of Delaware, said while the situation is “serious” and security has deteriorated, an Afghan troop surge — not an American one — is the solution.

A “significant number” of Americans “have questions about deepening our military involvement,” Levin told reporters, echoing a similar comment by Pelosi this week. Levin raised his concerns with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and said he plans to take up the issue with Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, retired General James Jones.

Obama’s Order

Obama has ordered 21,000 extra U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year, 4,000 of which are dedicated to train Afghans, bringing the total to a record high of 68,000 by the end of the year.

Levin said he came away from a meeting with General Stanley McChrystal with the impression that the U.S. commander in the war will seek more American combat troops.

Senator John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Armed Services panel who also met McChrystal in Afghanistan, said he would support an appeal for additional U.S. forces. McCain, an Arizona Republican, said in an interview he expects the request to be “substantial” and “controversial.”

Some Democrats, including Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, have called for a timetable to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan, where Americans casualties have risen to record levels as U.S. forces have gone on the offensive.

Bracing for Battle

McCain, who briefed Clinton on the trip he made with Lieberman and Republican Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine, said he is bracing for a battle with lawmakers who oppose sending more forces, and is confident his side will prevail.

Democrats “were wrong about Iraq and they’re wrong about Afghanistan,” McCain said.

“I have every confidence that the president will recognize the validity” of a McChrystal request for more troops, McCain said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Sept. 10 he has urged fellow Democrats to “take it easy” and wait until Obama “makes up his mind” about what should be done.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates in an Aug. 31 interview predicted “a very tough fight in front of us” in Afghanistan. “There are many challenges,” Gates said. “But I think some of the gloom and doom is somewhat overdrawn.”

Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said his visit to Afghanistan convinced him reinforcements would be beneficial.

Iraq Experience

“We know that numbers matter in counterinsurgency; based on our experience in Iraq and my visit to Afghanistan last month, I believe that a significant increase in U.S. forces will be necessary to turn the tide in our fight against the Taliban,” Lieberman said in an e- mail.

In remarks on the Senate floor, Levin argued that by enlarging the Afghan army and police and intensifying efforts to bring in low-level insurgents to the government’s side, “we can ensure that Afghanistan does not revert to a Taliban- friendly government that could once again provide a safe haven for al-Qaeda.”

Levin, Lieberman and McCain have advocated doubling the target size of the Afghan Army to 240,000 and the Afghan police to 160,000 by 2013. The trio, along with most of their colleagues on the Armed Service Committee, wrote Obama in May urging him to speed the expansion of Afghan forces.

Levin yesterday called for the target date to be moved up to 2012, saying that step is “both possible and essential.” He also said more U.S. military trainers for the Afghan Army and police will be necessary.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl, co-author of the U.S. Army/Marine Counterinsurgency Field Manual, estimates as many as 12,000 U.S. trainers will be needed to support the doubling of Afghan forces.

To contact the reporter on this story: Indira Lakshmanan in Washington at ilakshmanan@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aRpS5f3cuCes#