House Armed Services Chair Backs McChrystal's Afghan Strategy

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

In a hearing Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Ranking member Howard McKeon (R-Calif.) said they both strongly support General Stanley McChrystal’s proposed counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy in Afghanistan and have sent a letter to McChrystal requesting him to testify before the Committee.

Retired U.S. Army General Jack Keane echoed a similar sentiment during his testimony before the committee, saying the U.S. must “put in play a COIN strategy with the appropriate military, civilian and financial resources.”

Gen. Keane, who retired in 2003, described the U.S. attempt of counter-terrorism (CT) in Iraq between 2003-2007 and said during that period of time “we were failing and we nearly lost the country.” He says the situation in Afghanistan has "simply gotten worse” because of the CT strategy being used in currently. He believes CT strategies are valuable, but must be used as a compliment to a “fully integrated civil-military counterinsurgency strategy.”

Gen. Keane cautioned the use of a COIN strategy without the proper amount of troops or resources saying it will “fail and fail miserably.”

However, a voice of dissent came from Dr. Paul Pillar, former Deputy Directory of the CIA’s Counter-terrorist Center, who instead believes the U.S. should avoid bolstering its military presence.

"An expanded military effort in the cause of counterinsurgency in Afghanistan would be unwarranted," Pillar said. The former CIA official went on to say he believes the cost of counterinsurgency, U.S. equities, monetary resources and American lives, would outweigh the benefit.

"Last week the President told members of congress that his decision [on the war in Afghanistan] will be timely," McKeon said during the hearing's close. "My hope and expectation is that the President will make a decision on resources in the coming week and stick with it."

"Time is of the essence,” McKeon added.

Odierno Signals Faster Withdrawal From Iraq

By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

General Raymond Odierno, who commands U.S. forces in Iraq, told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday that improved security in Iraq may allow troops to withdraw sooner than anticipated.

Odierno says, 4,000 U.S. troops will leave Iraq this month, bringing the total number of American troops down to 124,000. He said the withdrawal would continue to increase rapidly.

“Eleven months from now, our combat mission will end,” Odierno said. “Success will be defined by our ability to support Iraq’s developing institutional capacity, from governance to economics.”

Still, Odierno told committee members that now the U.S. must be cautious with the pace of withdrawal.

“The important part is that we do not want to lose the security progress that has been made,” He added that too quick of a withdrawal would create instability. “We have to ensure that we don’t take enough risk that ethno-sectarian violence is able to continue.”

Odierno noted in his testimony that although there are still significant challenges facing Iraq, he is optimistic about the current situation.

“I believe we are now in reach of our goals,” he said.

Odierno added that attacks “of all types” are decreasing to levels not seen since the “summer of 2003.”

“You can honestly feel a difference amongst the people in Baghdad,” Odierno said.

Iraq is currently establishing diplomatic and economic ties with neighboring countries, and confidence in the operational effectiveness of Iraqi Security Forces is increasing. ISF has taken over security with U.S. forces merely advising, assisting and enabling operations.

Military Leaders Aim To Lower Post-Deployment Psychological Issues

Annie Berman - Talk Radio News Service

“The hardest thing about deployment is coming home,” said Rep. Patrick J. Murphy (D-Penn.), an Iraq War Veteran who served in Iraq in 2003, at a hearing Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

In an effort to ease the process of coming home from deployment, the military has developed a number of programs aimed at combatting military suicides. The Marine Corps in particular has developed a “family readiness” program that is intended to help soldiers and their families cope with all of the stages of serving in the military, from basic training to deployment, to coming home.

As the number of military suicides continues to rise, leaders in the armed forces have grown frustrated with programs that have been put in place to lower this figure.

“The reality of it is, the target for [these programs] needs to be the assimilation of those who have served back into the general population dealing with the day to day whether it’s families, their kids, their education, their bills, and the relationship stressors associated with it,” said Admiral Patrick M. Walsh, Vice Chief of Naval Operations at the U.S. Navy.

General Peter W. Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, explained that it’s not necessarily a matter of whether or not the programs are working, but rather a matter of finding ways to best match a specific program with an individual service member's needs.

The U.S. Army has commissioned the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct a study entitled: “Collaborative Study of Suicidality and Mental Health in the U.S. Army," a study that Chiarelli believes will help him and his colleagues understand what causes soldiers to commit suicide.

“[This is] the largest study of behavioral health ever undertaken by the Army.....[it] will examine behavioral health, psychological resilience, suicide risk, suicide-related behaviors, and suicide deaths across the active and reserve components over all phases of a soldiers career,” he said.

Another initiative to helping soldiers cope with the stresses of deployment and coming home is a web based program that would provide online counseling via video, email, live chat, or instant messaging.

“[There is] a stigma of seeking mental health help. We’re trying to do everything possible to try and get rid of that stigma...It’s been done in Australia. They’ve had tremendous success. The people have been more willing to open up online and that gets the geographically separated people who don’t have the cocoon of the military post,” said Chiarelli.

Ending IEDs

"As long as we have the most powerful military in the world, nobody will attack us directly. Asymmetric threats will be the order of the day," said Chairman Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on defeating the improvised explosive device (IED).

In response to threats like these the Department of Defense began a 'Manhattan project-like effort' to combat the rise of IEDs. This endeavor took the form of the Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), a 3,600-employee task force charged with eliminating the strategic influence of IEDs. This goal has been attempted through a variety of means, including going after the networks that provide the materials for IEDs in order to make them more costly to create, and bringing American police detectives abroad to more efficiently track down those who use them.

While the organization has met with success, there are questions about its future capabilities. The House Armed Services Committee is concerned over whether future asymmetric weapon use should be confronted by JIEDDO or if new organizations should be created as threats emerge.

One of JIEDDO's strengths is its ability to uniquely focus on IEDs.

"We have achieved our success because of that laser focus. If we open up that aperture too wide and too quickly we'll lose that laser focus," said JIEDDO Director Lieutenant General Thomas F. Metz, warning not to change the current structure of the organization.

However this this manner of of specialization has drawn criticism. Snyder replied,

"If we put on hold all things and changes that we think the government might need to do because we're involved in a war we could try to be declaring a time out for a long time. I don't think that's a very good reason not to want to do things more efficiently."

Albright says problems in Iraq not military's fault

Madeleine Albright says that the military has done very well in Iraq, but the mission has still hurt our moral authority. (0:50)