More Troops, More Money Needed in Afghanistan

Jo Moore infamously decided to bury unpopular news by releeasing it when the rest of the world was distracted... In her case, shortly after the attack on 9/11. Click here to catch the latest news the government hopes you missed.

At 9:55 am (EST) on September 11th, just after the second World Trade Center was struck, Jo Moore, a former British press officer sent an email to her colleagues which read "It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury. Councillors' expenses?."  It is in her honor that I identify one story every Friday afternoon that our wonderful government tried (and failed) to bury. This week’s story: The White House didn’t want you to see what came off the wire at 4:30 pm on this fine Friday afternoon.  The Washington Post reports that the newly arrived leader of the Afghan war effort, General Stanley A. McChrystal believes that President Obama’s strategy to prevail in Afghanistan will not succeed unless there is a drastic increase in the level of Afghan security forces. What kind of increase are we talking about?  Senior military officials told the Washington Post that such an expansion would require “billions” beyond the $7.5 billion the Obama administration has already set aside each year to build up the Afghan security forces as well as “thousands more U.S. troops” to serve as trainers and advisors. How urgent is this?  One senior US official involved in training Afghan forces bluntly told the Post that “without significant increases…we will lose the war.” So to sum things up, the new general in charge (and I mean new… he hasn’t even been there 60 days) has basically said that America is either going to have to spend a lot more money and send even more troops… or lose the war in Afghanistan.  No wonder the White House wanted to bury this story.