General Stanley McChrystal is set to meet with President Obama today, who will decide if McChrystal gets to keep his job as Commander of US forces in Afghanistan. The General made several unflattering comments about the administration in a Rolling Stone interview.

Considering McChrystal himself believes he comprised the mission, it doesn't look good for the General.

Financial Times has an interesting article on growing frustration within D.C. with President Obama's persistent reliance on an inner circle of four people: David Axelrod, Robert Gibbs, Rahm Emanuel, and Valerie Jarrett. One equally interesting reaction.    Continues...

Georgia's House speaker has resigned after a suicide attempt and alleged affair with a lobbyist.

The United States only lost 11,000 jobs in November and no, that's not a typo. According to the nice bar graph at Washington Monthly, job losses have been slowing since January of 09 for the most part (there was huge lose in June).

NATO has pledged 7,000 troops to Afghanistan, in addition to America's 30,000. No specifics though on exactly what NATO are contributing troops.

In U.S. health care reform, the Senate is is chugging through amendments. Senator Ben Nelson doesn't have the votes to get strict abortion language inserted into the bill, while Senators Tom Coburn an David Vitter are trying to force Congressional members to use whatever health care plan is approved. Doesn't seem like it'll pass. Meanwhile, Senator Mary Landrieu, who is against the public option, has offered her own health care idea, which appears to be a federally financed, but state funded "competitive community option" which kicks in only if coverage isn't deemed affordable.

POTUS (President of the United States) will go on national tv at 8pm EST to outline and explain his plans for the US military in Afghanistan, including adding additional 30,000 troops. Bring lawn chairs.

Yesterday, Britain's Defense Secretary, Bob Ainsworth, criticized the Obama administration for not moving more quickly on the decision of whether to increase troops in Afghanistan. Yes, a close ally and partner of the United States in the Afghan war publicly critiqued the current administration's performance.

Today comes the announcement that President Obama will make a national address next Tuesday announcing and explaining his decision.

Is Ainsworth grandstanding or just out of his depth?

As the U.S. ambassdor to Afghanistan cautions against a troop surge in Afghanistan, President Obama is said to be dissatisfied with arguments both for and against adding additional troops to the country.    Continues...

Iran is reportedly close to making a deal on its nuclear program.

The U.S. House of Representatives have agreed to allow Gitmo prisoners to be transferred to the states to stand trial.

The U.S. Senate is again looking at ending the 100:1 sentencing disparity between crack and power cocaine.

The Afghanistan election is heading to a runoff, which may quell some of the accusations of fraud and vote tampering.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has unanimously approved the 2010 Pentagon budget. The bill has a price tag of $636 billion (PDF summary) and covers all the Pentagon expenses, including $128 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. A few notes:

* Adds 21,000 troops to Afghanistan, bringing total number to 68,000.

* Boeing Co. comes out nicely, with an orders for extra cargo planes and Navy jets which were not requested.

* $100 million requested by the Administration to close the Guantanamo Bay prison were strongly rejected and transfer, release or incarceration in the U.S. by any detainees is flatly forbidden.

On the heels of a NATO air strike in Afghanistan, which killed civilians, and declining support for the war among the American populace, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates argues that the administration's efforts in the region are just beginning.

"I think what is important to remember is the president's decisions on this strategy were only made at the very end of March; our new commander appeared on the scene in June," Gates said, adding that the extra troops Obama ordered are not even all there yet, nor is the "civilian surge" he wants on hand to help.

"So we are only now beginning to be in a position to have the assets in place and the strategy or the military approach in place to begin to implement the strategy," he said.

Ironically enough, the President may need GOP support to add additional combat troops to the war.

Ignoring Republican fears of national safety, Attorney General Holder has appointed special prosecutor John Durham to do a preliminary investigation of suspected CIA abuse of terrorism suspects.

Durham will be asked to examine a small number of cases, which sources pegged at fewer than a dozen, involving allegations that CIA employees broke anti-torture and other laws in connection with the agency's interrogation program in Iraq, Afghanistan and other possible secret sites. He will ultimately make a recommendation to Holder about whether a full-fledged criminal investigation should be launched.

Afghans head to the polls this week for Presidential elections. Though President Hamid Karzai is expected to win, he may be facing a run off, leading to several possibilities, from a runoff to violence.

President Obama has made a supplemental request of $83.4 billion(which will be added to this year's budget), for Iraq and Afghanistan, and asked that it be "clean" i.e. free of earmarks and expenses unrelated to the war. Congress may or may not behave.

The New York Times looks for signs of a grand strategy, while others weight the cost of a President traveling overseas as America seems to be falling apart. But the most welcome result, despite the lack of agreement on NATO troops or global stimulus packages was simply the remaking of America's image abroad.

Combat Outpost: As US and the UK forces struggle for a way forward in Afghanistan, John D McHugh's unique film from one of the US military's most dangerous outposts shows just how western forces are losing ground to the Taliban

Another in a line of How to Win in Afghanistan and Make Friends articles.
Reading it, the overlying situation of playing whack-a-mole with terrorists seems insurmountable if the key strategy is to kill people.

Obama May Postpone Afghan Surge; Severe Problems in Supply Routes Afflict Aghanistan War Effort

It's not just the members of Congress who seem reluctant to take the new kid in town at his word. Vice President Joe Biden starting laying out the program at the Munich Security Conference. The allies and the not-so-allied are listening, but cautious.

Get Afghanistan Right: Group of Liberals Question Ramping Up Forces

The Afghan Scam: The Untold Story of Why the U.S. Is Bound to Fail in Afghanistan

How Opium Can Save Afghanistan: "America's drug war in Afghanistan has been a miserable failure. So why not legalize opium production and let Afghanistan become the Saudi Arabia of morphine?"

Pretty screwed, according to Robert Baer, a former CIA officer and author of books on the War on Terror, unless we manage to make friends with Iran.    Continues...

From Great Game to Grand Bargain: The crisis in Afghanistan and Pakistan is beyond the point where more troops will help. U.S. strategy must be to seek compromise with insurgents while addressing regional rivalries and insecurities

Return to the Valley of Death. "With the Pentagon requesting $20 billion more for Afghanistan, and American casualties mounting there, the author rejoins the men of Battle Company at their Korengal Valley outpost. The war has changed them; have they changed the war?"