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Afghanistan
Top U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Is Linked to Petraeus Scandal
2012-11-13
Gen. John Allen, the top American and NATO commander in Afghanistan, is under investigation for what a senior defense official said early Tuesday was "inappropriate communication'' with Jill Kelley. In a statement released to reporters on his plane en route to Australia early Tuesday, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said that the F.B.I. had informed him on Sunday of its investigation of General Allen. General Allen told Pentagon officials he had done nothing wrong.

Although General Allen will remain the commander in Afghanistan, Mr. Panetta said that he had asked President Obama to put on hold General Allen's nomination to be the commander of American forces in Europe and the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. General Allen is now in Washington for what was to be his confirmation hearing as commander in Europe. That hearing will now be delayed.
Erdogan of Turkey has stripped the top levels of the army of anyone who shows signs of old-fashioned guarding Turkey's secularism, Morsi is starting to do the same in Egypt. A paranoid Might wonderif the same kind of thing is happening here -- it's not been long since General McChrystal was summarily booted out for speaking his mind to that Rolling Stone reporter.
Erdogan will discover as Stalin did that armies are led, not ordered. If you remove or execute your best generals then your army won't fight very well. Stalin had his Finland, and Erdogan may yet have his Syria.
Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418

#13  No kiddign - is the admin fearful of some type of coup or other such military take-over. Are they crushing (reputationally) potential adversaries in future political contests? Meanwhile, the band plays on while the public gets sweaty over talk of zipper failure.
Posted by: Rob06   2012-11-13 15:46  

#12  In the last month, we hear about:
CIA Director and former General -- resign
General under investigation
General relived of duty
Admiral relieved of duty
Commander relieved of duty

Does kinda make one wonder....

Posted by: Sherry   2012-11-13 11:28  

#11  You have a day job. I suspect pushing papers _is_ a general's day job.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2012-11-13 11:09  

#10  Disregard: 1,400 pages in two years, not 5,000. Sorry...
Posted by: badanov   2012-11-13 11:05  

#9  Writing Mexican news between April 2010 and April 2012, I have probably averaged 5,000 pages for the two year period, but is it just a guess. All this parttime, between two and four hours per day. So it is possible he wrote 30,000 pages in two years. But as I read it, the original article said 30,00 pages of emails and other documents, the documents may not have been written by him personally, so that I well within his capability.
Posted by: badanov   2012-11-13 11:01  

#8  Tom Ricks will be the big winner. Should drive sales through the roof.
Posted by: Creresing Barnsmell5798   2012-11-13 10:51  

#7  ...well, they don't call it CYAWP for nothing.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2012-11-13 10:42  

#6  John, I do academic writing for a living, and I'm not sure I've written 30,000 pages the last ten years.

Criminy. If you're writing that much you're not doing your day job. No wonder we're screwed in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve White   2012-11-13 10:19  

#5  I'm looking at the number of times I have posted here over about ten years. It is a few thousand and I tend to be verbose at times. I don't know how many times others have posted here. Some of the regulars may have posted a few thousand times also.

That said, when do top ranking generals in Afghanistan have time to run the military and send some 30,000 emails to women such as Paula Broadwell or Jill Kelly? BTW, is Broadwell a name or an advertisement? Kelly was a "sort of an ambassador to the military (as reported in the media)" so maybe she might have a few emails going back and forth. What relationship would a civilian "sort of ambassador" have to military?
Posted by: JohnQC   2012-11-13 08:24  

#4  Matching black trousers and shirts with black pancake beret, boots unlaced.... optional tire-iron and Obamafone. (standard NBP uniform John)

Thanks for asking.
Posted by: Besoeker on the road again   2012-11-13 08:01  

#3  Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Gen. Petraeus,Gen. John Allen? Old fashion communist purge? Who's next?
Posted by: JohnQC   2012-11-13 07:59  

#2  Ja. Der Konzept. Prior to Obama's first election, he talked about a civilian force, er, er, er supplementing the military. I wonder what their uniforms will be, brown shirts or black shirts?
Posted by: JohnQC   2012-11-13 07:57  

#1  Ah, yes, once again, the plan is on schedule.

Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) could not be reached for comment.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2012-11-13 07:45  

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