Mattis Faces CENTCOM Confirmation

Gen. James Mattis, the nominee to replace former Central Command head General David Petraeus, faced an amciable Senate panel Tuesday in the first step of what will likely be a smooth confirmation process.

Mattis, who will be tasked with overseeing the American presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, emphasized that although there will be a change in leadership, U.S. military policy, including the plan to begin the early transfer of additional power to the Afghan government in 2011, will continue uninterrupted.

Touching briefly on the recent Wikileaks scandal, in which thousands of classified documents were posted online, Mattis described the leak as “an appallingly irresponsible act,” but said that the release would have little effect on the war effort.

Little attention was paid to Mattis’s loose-lipped history, including comments made by the four-star General in 2005, in which Mattis, nicknamed ‘Mad Dog’ in some circles, told an audience during a speaking engagement in San Diego, that it was “fun to shoot some people” in Afghanistan.

“You got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain’t got no manhood left anyway,” Mattis said in 2005. “It’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them. Actually, it’s a lot of fun to fight. You know, it’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right upfront with you, I like brawling.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, noted that he admired Mattis’s propensity for “straight talk.”

Mattis’s eventual predecessor General Petraeus is currently serving as the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan following General Stanley McChrystal’s exit amid a controversial Rolling Stone article. Mattis is currently serving as the commander of U.S. Joint Forces. Before being tapped as Cent-Com head, Mattis was reportedly intending to retire.

We're Going to Have to Kill A Lot of Taliban, Says Expert

Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service

Dr. David Kilcullen told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday that in order to reach the point of reconciliation with insurgents in Afghanistan “we’re going to have to kill a lot of Taliban to get them to negotiate.”

Kilcullen , non-resident senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said bluntly that “when governments fight insurgents, they win 80% of the time, however, when governments fight insurgents in other countries, they are victorious 20% of the time.” 

Kilcullen said a government that is fighting insurgents at home has a political need to negotiate. Therefore, Kilcullen asserted that the United States will need to “negotiate from a position of strength,” and that the Taliban must believe that “they will have more to gain from talking to us than continuing to fight.”

Ryan Crocker, former ambassador to Iraq, agreed with Kilcullen saying that “reconciliation is only possible when insurgents are unsure if they are winning.”

Crocker also criticized the deadline for troop withdrawal in Afghanistan and the effects of publicizing will have on the attitudes of insurgents. While it is very complicated and nuanced, Crocker said he was concerned as to how the Taliban viewed the deadline, stating that they see it “as a date they need to hold out to, then they’ll be ok.”

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, briefly touched on the 90,000 leaked documents regarding the war in Afghanistan from the public whistleblower website WikiLeaks.

“It’s important not to overhype or get excessively excited about the meaning of those documents,” said Kerry. “To those of us who have lived through the Pentagon Papers… there is no relationship whatsoever between that event and these documents.”

Leaked Documents Do Not Reveal New Intel, Says Commander-In-Chief

President Barack Obama told reporters Tuesday that although he is concerned that the recent disclosure of sensitive information from Afghanistan’s battlefield may jeopardize operations, the leak of information does not reveal any new information.

“The fact is these documents don’t reveal any issues that haven’t already informed our public debate on Afghanistan,” Obama said. “Indeed, they point to the same challenges that led me to conduct an extensive review of our policy last fall.”

The President said that his change in policy is being reflected in the way the United States has continued its operations in Afghanistan. 

“We’ve substantially increased our commitment, insisted upon greater accountability from our partners in Afghanistan and Pakistan, developed a new strategy that can work and put in place a team that can execute that plan,” Obama said. “Now we have to see that strategy through.”

Obama urged the House today to pass legislation that would extend funding to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, legislation that has already unanimously passed through the Senate.

Pence: Leaked War Documents an Outrage

Philip Bunnell - Talk Radio News Service

Chairman of the House Republican Conference Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) expressed outrage Monday over the 90,000 leaked Afghanistan war documents.

The documents, Pence said, were “leaked in a clear violation of the law, it was an outrage and ought to be an outrage to every American.” 

The New York Times, Britain’s The Guardian, and Der Spiegel of Germany all agreed to publish a select number of the war documents which were made public on Wikileaks, a public whistleblower website. Pence criticized the news syndications for publishing the documents, saying that the “publication of those documents was wrong.”

“When we are dealing with national security some things need to stay classified,” Pence said. “I am a champion of reporters’ privileges, but leaking information that compromises national security should not be protected.”

Pence criticized the deadline that President Obama set on troop withdrawal in Afghanistan. “The Taliban are using the president’s deadline as a recruiting tool,” Pence said. “We need to finish the job.”

Pentagon So Far Quiet On Afghanistan War Leaks

Hours after three major newspapers published front-page stories based on thousands of classified documents that were obtained by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, the Pentagon has yet to issue an official statement.

Multiple attempts by the Talk Radio News Service to obtain a comment from spokespersons at the Pentagon have been unsuccessful. An official at the Pentagon did tell Talk Radio News Service this morning that there were no plans to brief the media on DoD’s response to the leaks.

Today’s editions of The New York Times, Great Britain’s The Guardian and Germany’s Der Spiegel all featured extensive reports on the leaked documents. According to The Guardian, the over 90,00 mostly classified documents reveal “threat reports from intelligence agencies, plans and accounts of coalition operations, descriptions of enemy attacks and roadside bombs, [and] records of meetings with local politicians.”

In an effort to get out ahead of the story, the White House yesterday released a statement from National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones, who condemned the leaks, calling them “irresponsible.”

“The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security,” he said.