War On You: Breaking Alternative News

“Talk of an exit strategy is exactly the wrong way to go,” Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. The Senate’s second-most powerful Republican wants President Barack Obama to defer to the generals’ wishes in Afghanistan without announcing a strategy to end the war.On Tuesday December 1, Obama will deliver a major Afghanistan speech at West Point, nine days before picking up his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.

“As I understand it we’re going to go with 30 to 35 thousand American troops,” Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) said on the program. “We’re going to try and make up the difference with NATO. They’re probably not as good and effective as American troops but I think its good that we have some burden-sharing. After all the American taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for this whole thing if our allies are wiling to step up and do their part.”

The U.S. has approximately 68,000 troops in Afghanistan. NATO members have approximately 55,000 troops there. According to reporter Jeremy Scahill there are even more U.S. contractors (armed and unarmed combined) in Afghanistan than U.S. troops.

British PM Gordon Brown said Saturday that countries backing Afghanistan’s government are going to demand that it meet specific security benchmarks, outlining a plan to let foreign troops gradually hand control to local forces. Brown is expected to announce plans to send 500 more British troops next week.

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