Patrol Base Jaker Movie

Patrol Base Jaker Movie--In Theaters, Summer 2010

The Hidden Dangers of Helmand Province, Part I

 

Helmand Province, Afghanistan (NEW YORK TIMES) - Since last summer, the Marines have expanded their presence along the Helmand River, and as more troops flow into the country the momentum is pushing them farther into territory long out of Afghan government control.

They now operate a web of outposts and patrol bases that dot the farmland and the steppe of Helmand Province, and they patrol regularly around and between them. Their sustained presence in many districts, along with the decrease in vegetation that followed fall harvests and the onset of cold Afghan weather, has left Taliban fighters with less ability to hide in a gunfight. Winter has brought a decrease in small-arms attacks.

This is especially true at night, when the Marines’ thermal sights and night-vision equipment, along with their better marksmanship skills, give them a distinct advantage over Afghans they face. The Marines also have weapons on vehicle turrets and in bunkers at outposts — .50-caliber machine guns and MK-19 automatic grenade launchers — that provide lethal stand-off against lightly equipped men, the more so on January’s relatively bald terrain.

full article atwar.blogs.nytimes.com

REVIEW: ‘Brothers at War’ Deploys on DVD Tuesday

BREITBART (Hollywood) - The moment I saw that long line of soldiers making their way down the tarmac and watched as Joe waved goodbye from the steps of the plane, I knew that I had just witnessed something very important and very special.   I had just seen an early cut of Jake Rademacher’s amazing Brothers at War.

I knew Jake from seeing him around the William Morris Agency (they’ve since merged with Endeavor) where we are both represented as voiceover actors.  While sitting in the waiting room one day, preparing to read our copy, we got into a conversation about current events and the subject of Iraq came up.  It came out that I’m a former Marine and, although I served years ago, Jake was interested to hear my take on things.  Soon after, he invited me to watch his film and give him some feedback.  Of course, he prepared me by giving me a few disclaimers (it’s still a little long, there’s no music, yet, etc.) but otherwise just let me watch it uninterrupted in a tiny editing room in Burbank.

When it was over, I was blown away.

full story at bighollywood.breitbart.com

"Brothers at War" Live Video Q & A with Director Jake Rademacher on Tuesday, January 12, 2010

This Tuesday, as "Brothers at War" debuts on DVD, filmmaker Jake Rademacher will host his first LIVE ONLINE VIDEO EMBED — a Q & A with top military bloggers.  Future embeds will feature Gary Sinise, Major Isaac Rademacher, and others with the film that “get” the military front-liners and their families as few films ever have.

Join us at 1:15 p.m. EASTERN (12:15 p.m. Central; 10:15 a.m. Pacific). Top military bloggers will interview Rademacher, while a cast of listeners text in comments and questions.

Hillary Clinton: All nations must play a part in Afghanistan mission

This week, President Barack Obama reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to our core goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and prevent their return to either country. The US is sending an additional 30,000 personnel to Afghanistan, significantly increasing our civilian aid to the Afghan people, and broadening our partnership with Pakistan.

Today in Brussels, I will discuss the way forward with our allies. And I will thank those nations that have pledged additional troops. This is a crucial test for Nato. After September 11, the alliance invoked Article 5 of its charter for the first time, affirming that the terrorist attacks planned in Afghanistan and perpetrated in the US were attacks on every Nato member. The members of the alliance have paid a steep price in lives, but we must remain firm in our resolve.

For countries in the region, the stakes are particularly high. Civilians of every faith have been murdered, but Muslims have paid the highest toll. Troops from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and other Muslim-majority nations are fighting extremism in Afghanistan and their participation is vital to our mission.

Along with the extra American troops, more international forces will help to deny al-Qaeda a safe haven; reverse the Taliban’s momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government; and strengthen the capacity of the Afghans to take responsibility for their own security.

full article at www.telegraph.co.uk

Accelerated Troop Surge in Afghanistan Faces Logistical 'Challenge'

It took four months to plan and now will take six months to deploy 30,000 more U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a timeline whose pace surprised some in and outside of the Defense Department.

One senior defense official said bringing that many troops into the country in that short a time creates a logistical "challenge" that won't be easy. But it won't be impossible either.

Deploying troops to Afghanistan in the next six months will be met by the country's harsh winters. Fighting drops dramatically over the winter months as roads become impassable and the U.S. will be forced to fly everything in, which takes considerable time, sources told Fox News.

full article at www.foxnews.com

Obama Plans Accelerated Troop Deployment for Afghan Mission

 

President Barack Obama has ordered an 18-month "surge" of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan, after which the administration will review the war's progress and set a withdrawal timetable, a White House official said Tuesday.

At least some of the U.S. forces will begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2011. That timetable suggests the troop commitment, which will take U.S. forces to nearly 100,000, won't be the sort of open-ended increase requested by top U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Ahead of Mr. Obama's high-stakes speech to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., tonight, administration officials are stressing the speed of the deployments, and the potential speed of withdrawals, if all goes well. U.S. troops will be teamed with Afghan security forces in an effort to speed the transfer of security duties to the Afghan army and police. That plan closely resembles the surge of forces into Iraq in 2007, a plan Mr. Obama, then a senator, opposed.

After a three-month review of the war effort in Afghanistan, the White House is now looking ahead to another review -- after the additional troops have been in place 18 months. White House officials say the president will lay out a series of dates tonight to map out what they say will be the orderly winding down of a war now in its ninth year.

full article at online.wsj.com

UK Special forces leading fight in Afghanistan

 

Gordon Brown took the unusual step today of announcing that just over 500 special forces soldiers are spearheading Britain's fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

On the eve of Barack Obama's statement on Afghanistan, Brown praised the special forces for "taking the fight directly to the Taliban", as he confirmed that a further 500 regular troops would be deployed within days. Those troops, all of whom will arrive in Afghanistan by Christmas, are Britain's contribution to the new international military and political surge that will be announced by Obama tomorrow night.

full story at www.guardian.co.uk

Michael Moore to Obama: No more troops in Afghanistan

 

Activist filmmaker Michael Moore has penned an open letter to President Obama, cautioning the commander in chief against increasing troop levels in Afghanistan.

"When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has," Moore wrote in the letter posted on his official Web site, michaelmoore.com.

Obama is expected to formally unveil his military strategy in Afghanistan at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, on Tuesday night.

full story at edition.cnn.com

Doubts linger over US civilian surge in Afghanistan

 

The Obama administration is forging ahead with its civilian surge in Afghanistan but some experts say thousands more are needed while others fear the security situation is making the push ineffective.

In unveiling his first Afghanistan strategy in March, President Barack Obama called for increasing the number of experts to 1,000 in order to help the Kabul government serve its people and wean the economy off opium production.

Obama, due to unveil a revamped strategy on Tuesday that is expected to include some 30,000 to 35,000 more troops, stressed again last week the importance of sending civilians to accompany the military push in Afghanistan.

"It's going to be important to recognize that in order for us to succeed there, you've got to have a comprehensive strategy that includes civilian and diplomatic efforts," he told reporters.

full story at news.yahoo.com

Selling realism in Afghanistan

 

As President Barack Obama prepares to make the case for sending more troops to Afghanistan, some allies are urging him to return to a line of argument little heard since the Bush years: the United States has a moral obligation to protect the Afghan people, particularly women, from the Taliban.

Obama ran on a promise to restore cold-eyed calculations of national interest to American foreign policy, a reaction against President George W. Bush’s tendency to cast a confrontational foreign policy in terms of the freedoms it would achieve for nations that did not have them. And he has governed without the public appeals to human rights that marked American foreign policy ventures from Kosovo to Iraq.

But realism has proved, at times, a hard political sell. Bloodless talk about “engagement” has left the Obama administration without a compelling story to tell or argument to make. And its emphasis on process has only increased the pressure for more tangible results.

In Afghanistan, the White House was reluctant to play up the Taliban’s excesses and the plight of Afghan women while it considered withdrawing from an active role in the country’s governance. But as Obama moves toward sending additional troops – reportedly more than 30,000 more – to the country, supporters of the policy are urging him to stress human rights in an effort to revive support for an increasingly unpopular war.

full article at www.politico.com