And in uniform:
-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen
-Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine General James Cartwright
-U.S. Central Command chief General David Petraeus
-Special Assistant to the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan (formerly George W. Bush's Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan) Lieutenant General Douglas Lute
McChrystal, Eikenberry and Patterson appeared via video conference. [4]
It is unclear why Admiral James Stavridis, current NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe and European Command chief wasn't involved.
News reports, or more properly government leaks to the subservient press corps, indicate that Obama is to announce a new round of troops increases after the Thanksgiving holiday on November 26, a time when Americans gather for a day of family, food and football, and as such not to be spoiled by alarming or distressing news, such as deployment notices for service members currently Stateside.
For similar reasons the announcement cannot be delayed for long after that federal holiday as another one, Christmas, arrives 29 days later. American retailers estimate that between 25% and 40% of their annual sales occur in the interim and news that anywhere from 30-40,000 more of the nation's troops are headed to the world's largest and most protracted war zone would cast a pall over both the holiday and spending for it.
That the day celebrates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who in the Sermon on the Mount said "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God," and on the night before being brutally put to death said "Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword" will not deter Washington's war plans.
The timing of the escalation, which may triple the amount of American forces in Afghanistan from the 36,000 at the beginning of the year, is also synchronized with the December 3-4 meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. Hillary Clinton will then present the new U.S. plan and demand complementary reinforcements from the other 27 member states.
Obama is expected to deliver a televised message on December 1, two days before the NATO meeting commences.
If he announces that as many as 40,000 more U.S. troops are to be assigned for deployment to Afghanistan, that number, added to the 68,000 currently there, would almost equal the amount of Soviet forces in the nation at the time of the beginning of their withdrawal twenty years ago. [5]
There are also an estimated 42,000 non-U.S. soldiers from almost 50 nations serving under NATO in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). That number, part of NATO's first ground war and first armed conflict in Asia, is also being increased.
At a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Slovakia late last month the attendees "endorsed the ambitious counterinsurgency strategy for Afghanistan proposed by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, giving new impetus to his recommendation to pour more troops into the eight-year-old war." [6] McChrystal himself made an unannounced appearance to rally the bloc's defense chiefs for a full-scale Vietnam-style counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.
Since the meeting several NATO member states, particularly new ones in Eastern Europe, have pledged additional troops, even before Obama's speech of early next week and the NATO foreign ministers' meeting to follow it.
During a five-day session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Edinburgh, Scotland in the middle of this month, the 28-nation military bloc renewed its intention to, to quote Obama's later expression, finish the job in South Asia against the forces of "evil" and "barbarianism." [7]
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen vowed "In a few weeks, I expect we will decide, in Nato, on the approach, and troop levels needed, to take our mission forward.
"I'm confident it will be a counter-insurgency approach, with substantially more forces." [8]
