Obama Admin Trades Troop Lives for Votes

There’s this publication of methods and means in the Washington Post (read to see what I mean) with the campaign payload buried close to the end of the story: Obama caught these guys.

The disruption of the threat also indicates that the CIA and other agencies have gained significant traction on their target two years after President Obama began deploying more spies, eavesdropping equipment and armed drones to the Arabian Peninsula.

via CIA unraveled bomb plot from within – The Washington Post.

At the time of the bin Laden killing, the Pentagon was opposed to the loose lips approach the administration took:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates expresses dismay that the Situation Room pact not to talk about the details of the SEAL Team Six operation ‘lasted about 15 hours.’ Adm. Mike Mullen says further leaks could jeopardize the effectiveness of future special ops.

via SEAL Team Six: Pentagon ramps up war of words over White House leaks – CSMonitor.com.

And there’s the administration’s pooh-poohing of the surging increase in “green-on-blue” attacks, wherein the Afghans we train and assist turn their weapons on us.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Monday that the killing of U.S. and NATO troops by Afghans are sporadic incidents and do not represent a trend that should derail ongoing negotiations with the Afghans on night raid operations and other issues.

via Panetta says attacks by Afghans are not a trend – Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq – Army Times.

Except that it *IS* a trend, and this sort of happytalk is particularly galling when it minimizes the deaths of US troops.

Since mid-Sept. 2009, there have been at least 21 fratricide-murder incidents where bona fide Afghanistan National Security Force (ANSF) members (n=20) or an Afghan Security Guard (ASG) (n=l) have murdered or attempted to murder ISAF or UNAMA personnel, leading to the known deliberate fratricide killings of 50 ISAF and 1 UNAMA personnel (49 by ANSF members and 2 by an ASG), with a similar number ofwounded (See APPENDIX A, pgs. 55-58). As of May 12, 2011, this represents 6% ofall hostile deaths ISAF has suffered in Afghanistan during this time period. (TIris increases to well over 10% ofall ISAF combat deaths ifIED attacks are discounted.) To put this into perspective, this averages one murdered ISAF or UNAMA member by an ANSF or ASG member every 12 days during the last 20 months and one attack per month. But this trend is worsening. Since mid-July, 2010, there have been at least 15 incidents that have led to 39 ISAF members being murdered; 32 were U.S. This averages one murdered ISAF member every week over the last 10 months; one every 6 days over the last 6 months (30-40% ofall small arms caused KIA). During the last 5 Y2 month period from Nov. 29,2010 and May 12,2011,16% ofall hostile ISAF deaths in Afghanistan have been at the intentional hands of ANSF / ASG personnel. (TIris increases to an astounding 33% ofall IS~ combat deaths ifIED-related attacks are discounted.) Six more U.S. Soldiers were killed in ANSF committed fratricide cases that occurred prior to Sept. 2009. In all, at least 58 ISAF and UNAMA members have been murdered by ANSF (n=55) or ASG (n=3) personnel since 2007.

— Source:

A CRISIS OF TRUST AND
CULTURAL INCOMPATIBILITY:
A Red Team Study of Mutual Perceptions of Afghan
National Security Force Personnel and U.S. Soldiers in
Understanding and Mitigating the Phenomena of
ANSF -Committed Fratricide-Murders
May 12, 2011

I have broken that down into a handy table:

And here’s the piece that pushes me over the edge:

Sickening. Re-read the last sentence.