As soon as the news was reported that Gen. David Petraeus is succeeding soon-to-be-retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal as commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, the media narrative was set in stone: the super-Gen.ral who won the war in Iraq with the so-called surge can now work his magic in another theater.
It's hard to stop a locomotive meme-which is what the surge story has become. But the success of the surge in Iraq remains debatable to this day. Still, try injecting that point into media discussions of Iraq or Afghanistan. Yet with Petraeus taking over the Afghanistan war, it's worth noting the other side of the surge tale. So as a public service, here are a few analyses that question the surge hype.
Aynt Ullah Durrani State Min. for Indestries & Production, Gen. (R) Abdul Baloch Former Governor Balochistan, Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo Sec. Gen. National Party, Muhammad Abdul Basad, in Fresh episode of Capital Talk and discusses with Hamid Mir.
Lt Gen (R) Asad Durrani (Former DG ISI), Afzal Ali Shakri (Fomer IG Sindh), Gen (R) Abdul Qayyum (Analyst) in fresh episode of Off The Record and Discussing Current Issues With Kashif Abbasi.
Faisal Saleh Hayat PML-Q, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Lt. Gen. (R) Hameed Gull and Jahangir Badar PPP in fresh episode of Off The Record discussing current political situation and corruption issues with Kashif Abbasi.
Faisal Saleh Hayat PML-Q, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, Lt. Gen. (R) Hameed Gull and Jahangir Badar PPP in fresh episode of Off The Record discussing current political situation and corruption issues with Kashif Abbasi.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, In fresh episode of Meray Mutabiq Talk With Barrister Akram Sheikh, Gen. (R) Mirza Aslam Baig, Shamshad Ahmed Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Aitzaz Ahsan, Senator Safdar Abbasi.
Last June, when Rolling Stone published Michael Hastings' article which ended the career of Obama's Afghanistan commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal -- an article which was just awarded the prestigious Polk Award -- the attacks on Hastings were led not by military officials but by some of Hastings' most celebrated journalistic colleagues. The New York Times' John Burns fretted that the article "has impacted, and will impact so adversely, on what had been pretty good military/media relations" and accused Hastings of violating "a kind of trust" which war reporters "build up" with war Gen.rals; Politico observed that a "beat reporter" -- unlike the freelancing Hastings -- "would not risk burning bridges by publishing many of McChrystal's remarks"; and an obviously angry Lara Logan of CBS News strongly insinuated (with no evidence) that Hastings had lied about whether the comments were on-the-record and then infamously sneered: "Michael Hastings has never served his country the way McChrystal has." Here's Jon Stewart last year mocking the revealing media disdain for Rolling Stone and Hastings in the wake of their McChrystal story.
"Those who make peaceful evolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable."- John F. KennedyThere's one thing for sure: 2008 isn't anything like politics as usual.The corporate media (with their unerring eye for the obvious point) is fixated on the narrative that, for the first time ever, Americans will likely end this year with either a woman or a black man headed for the White House. Bloggers are telling stories from the front lines of primaries and caucuses that look like something from the early 60s - people lining up before dawn to vote in Manoa, Hawaii yesterday; a thousand black college students in Prairie View, Texas marching 10 miles to cast their early votes in the face of a county that tried to disenfranchise them. In recent months, we've also been gobstopped by the sheer passion of the insurgent campaigns of both Barack Obama and Ron Paul, both of whom brought millions of new voters into the conversation - and with them, a sharp critique of the status quo and a new energy that's agitating toward deep structural change.There's something implacable, earnest, and righteously angry in the air. And it raises all kinds of questions for burned-out Boomers and jaded Gen Xers who've been ground down to the stump by the mostly losing battles of the past 30 years. Can it be - at long last - that Americans have, simply, had enough? Are we, finally, stepping out to take back our government - and with it, control of our own future? Is this simply a shifting political season - the kind we get every 20 to 30 years - or is there something deeper going on here? Do we dare to raise our hopes that this time, we're going to finally win a few? Just how ready is this country for big, serious, forward-looking change?Recently, I came across a pocket of sociological research that suggested a tantalizing answer to these questions - and also that America may be far more ready for far more change than anyone really believes is possible at this moment. In fac
Senator Jhangir Badar Sec. Gen. PPP, Khuram Dastagir Khan PML-N, Hamid NAsir PML-Q, Ahmed Raza Kasuri Advocate SC, Raja Riaz Ahmed Sen. Provincial Min. Punjab, in Special episode of Live with Talat Discusses Currant Issue with Syed Talat Hussain and Khaild Jamil.
Dr. Moeed Pirzada bring fresh episode of Dunya Tv & talk with Lt. Gen. (R) Hamid Nawaz Khan,Zahid Hussaon Analyst, Syed Munawar Hasan, Haroon Rasheed Analyst.
Kaleem Saadat Former Chief of Air Staff, Lt. Gen. (R) Hamid Nawaz, Senator (R) Akram Zaki, in special episode of Kal Tak Disqualified with Javed Chaudhry.
Rana Sanaullah PML-N, Lt. Gen. (R) Amjad Shoaib Analyst, Masood Sharif Khattak, Nazar M. Gondal, in Special episode of Live with Talat Discusses Current Issue with Syed Talat Hussain.
Kamran Khan presents another fresh episode of Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath in Geo TV and talked with Lt. Gen. (R) Talat Masood Analyst, Justice (R) Tariq Mehmood Former PSCBA, Aftab Sherpao PPP, Shafqat Mehmood Analyst and Khurram Dastagir Khan.
Najam ud din Sheikh (Former Foreign Secretary), Lt Gen Talat Masood (Analyst) and Dr. Farooq Hasnaat (Analyst) in fresh episode of Islamabad Tonight & discusses current issues with Nadeem Malik.
Kamran Khan presents another fresh episode of Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Saath in Geo TV and talked with Asam Ali Rana, Naveed Ahmed, Lt. Gen. (R) Muhammad Tariq, Rahim Ullah Yousaf and Joti Malhotra.
Iftekhar Ahmed presents a fresh episode of Jawab Deyh and talked with Lt. Gen. (r) Nishat Ahmed and Dr. Hassan Askari Rizvi. discussing Malakand and Swat Operation.
A Must Watch with thrilling revelations by Major (r)Nadeem Dar exposing Army Elite.!!... Ahsan Iqbal PML-N, Fouzia Wahab PPP, Wasim Akhtar MQM, Brig. (R) Imtiaz Ahmed (ex-IB), Maj (r) Nadeem Dar (ex-ISI) and Lt. Gen. (R) Asad Durrani (ex-ISI) in an explosive Capital Talk on past Army Operations with Hamid Mir.