‘Waste deep in the Big Muddy and the big fool says push on ..”
Pete Seeger
Which hearings will focus on the ‘civilan surge” and when can we realistically start to peel away the “ten dollar a day Taliban ” from the al Qaiada and Mullah Omar deadenders.? What infrastucture is being put into place for the amnesty and reintegration for the “GOOD ” taliban – especially against the back drop of Dostum and the American Special Forces massacering that estimated 7,000 surrendered pow’s back in 2001 ?
Will any atttention be given to closing Bagram as another black site torture chamber that the jihadis use as a propanganda tool for recruitment.
General Patreus is on record saying torture will not be tolerated -whats tokeep another Camp Nama from happening under Mc Chrystal ?

I don’t suppose there was (or will be) a single question from a Member of Congress, to this General and Ambassador representing the Executive Branch of government, that asked some version of:

1. Is the United States military still engaged in an armed conflict – which alone can trigger the law of war (AUMF or no AUMF), and thus the lawful ability to (humanely) detain enemy belligerents for ‘the duration’ and to charge a detainee with the commission of (legitimate) “war crimes” – in Afghanistan?

2. If so, is it a “non-international” armed conflict, or an “international” armed conflict?

3. If a “non-international” armed conflict exists, has it been continuously “non-international” ever since the 2001 Congressional AUMF?

4. Or, if a “non-international” armed conflict exists, did our conflict in Afghanistan at one time consist of an “international” armed conflict, that then transitioned to a “non-international” armed conflict, and, if so, when, exactly, did that transition take place?

5. Same questions, with regard to territory that’s a part of Pakistan.

This one! There was quite a bit about the “Agriculture-first” approach to getting rid of the *demand* for the Taliban (so to speak) and how the US will support a reintegration strategy. And there’s a ton about the civilian surge. The next three hearings will surely have more. Especially tomorrow, as that’s when both dudes will go before the House & Senate foreign relations committees.

Maybe those would be questions for administration lawyers?

Any questions regarding Gen McChrystal Iraq tenure at JSOC , SAP ‘s run by the Cheney OVP , and dead or tortured detainees at Camp Nama ?
And any hope that Gen McChrystal might actually come clean about his part in the death of Pat Tillman and the coverup of that murder?

No. Nor will you. At one point McChrystal referred to his JSOC tenure to make a point about the only real sustainable counterterrorism strategy being a governance strategy.

So Spencer should we not want transparency and accountability regarding Gen McChrystal , and if so should we then just simply advise the Tillmans plus the dead detainees families that their loved ones deaths are just the cost of fighting the Long War ?

And perhaps you can show me, with my quotes, where I said that?

No sir did not attribute that to you at all. What I was asking -in your opinion should we write off the Tillman’s and the others as collateral damage in the Long War/gwot -And if we are not to write these individuals off as collateral damage should we not demand more transparency from our direct chain of command particularly Gen McChrystal ?

Perhaps we should demand solid evidence before anything else.

Have been listening for the last couple of hours. Of course no mention of how the slaughter of SURRENDERED Taliban after the invasion fueled remaining Taliban. Can you imagine surrendering to occupying forces and then being transported in convoys and allowed to suffocate. They had surrendered for Christ sake.

And they the occupying forces just sweep the slaughter of these surrendered Taliban members under the rug.

When Obama turned to the camera during his speech and asked the Taliban to surrender and they would be treated fairly. Why the hell would you believe this after witnessing what happened to those surrendered Taliban in 2001

Documentary Convoy of Death
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3267.htm

We got some great views of Senator Levin’s comb-over today — in case no one else noticed.

macaquerman@10
Solid evidence -yeah like all the plowed fields of disturbed bones all around the Dostum compound…
But you are right solid evidence from a solid investigation .

Can you link the bones to McChrystal?

Certainly. If any are ever invited to publicly testify about the Afghanistan/Pakistan situation to Congress (invitations that’re becoming both increasingly voluntary for the Executive Branch, and increasingly self-directed and stage-managed by the Executive Branch).

On the other hand, if I was a General or any sort of commanding officer with troops in the field abroad, I’d damn well want to know, and better know, the law of war status as it pertains to my troops, and any “enemy” they kill or capture. You know, all that quaint “Command Responsibility” that used to obtain…

macaquerman@13
Please do not take my comments out of context – the bones are those of dead pow’s that appear to have been executed by the Warlord Dostum with the collusion of US Special Forces . My comment pertained to whether or not the new strategy of actively peeling away the ‘ten dollar a day Taliban” from Mullah Omar is credible given the apparent massacre of several thousand surrendered Taliban pow’s .
Now my belief is there are still open questions that need to be resolved regarding General McChrystal , Camp Nama and torture / death of detainees under JOSC chain of command -which by the way now apppears to have been outside the recongnized military chain of command.
Furthermore I am not anyway schooled in the ways of warfighting. However I am a very concerned citizen wishing to be better educated about what my Military is doing that certainly appears -at least in the last several years to be counterproductive to our current strategy in theater in Afghanistan . It appears we have pissed away the win we had in 2001 in Afghanistan in large part because we lost the hearts and minds struggle with the native population . I return to Dostum’s killing fields and the black site at Bagram . Do we not need full disclosure about lessons learned from Camp Nama , Pat Tilman’s death, the torture chamber ongoing at Bagram , and perhaps in ‘closed hearings’any ongoing SAP’S left behind by the previous administration that might be counter productive to the current strategy in what I guess we are still calling the Long War.
And did not General Paetreus promise us all there would be no more torture /black sites / or Cooper Green type outside the recongnized military chain of command ?