Rumsfeld was in Montenegro a few days ago and asked for troops for the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. When the boss of the mightiest military of the world from a country with 300 million inhabitants has to ask help from the 2,500 strong force of 650,000 inhabitant country, something must be in a dire state.
The U.S. is losing in Iraq and, together with NATO, has no chance to win in Afghanistan.
The only question left is to the degree of escalation (war on Iran, a draft, a fundamentalist coup in Pakistan, …) that will (need to?) happen before, under some excuse, defeat is conceded. If lucky, we will get rid of NATO during the process and imperialism under the false flag of freedom and democracy will be dispised for some time.
Some quotes on the status of the Global War of Terror:
Five years after September the 11th, 2001, … America is winning the war on terror.
President Bush Discusses Progress in the Global War on Terror, Sept. 2006
According to Woodward, insurgent attacks against coalition troops occur, on average, every 15 minutes, a shocking fact the administration has kept secret. “It’s getting to the point now where there are eight, 900 attacks a week. That’s more than a hundred a day. That is four an hour attacking our forces,” says Woodward.
via TPM
Afghanistan Attacks on American troops along Afghanistan’s eastern frontier have tripled since a truce between the Pakistani army and pro-Taliban tribesmen. That’s according to a U-S officer in the Afghan capital who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
U.S official: Taliban attacks triple in east Afghanistan since Pakistan peace deal
"New explosive devices are now used in Afghanistan within a month of their first appearing in Iraq," said the report.
Al Qaeda gains recruits from Iraq war: UN study
We assess that the underlying factors fueling the spread of the movement outweigh its
vulnerabilities and are likely to do so for the duration of the timeframe [5 years] of this Estimate.
Declassified NIE Key Judgements (PDF)
The Al Qaeda ideology has taken root within the Muslim world and Muslim populations within western countries. Iraq has served to radicalise an already disillusioned youth and Al Qaeda has given them the will, intent, purpose and ideology to act.
…
The West will not be able to find peaceful exit strategies from Iraq and Afghanistan – creating greater animosity…and a return to violence and radicalisation on their leaving. The enemy it has identified (terrorism) is the wrong target. As an idea it cannot be defeated.
Key quotes from a leaked Ministry of Defence think-tank paper