Bring them HOME!

GREEN ON BLUE — From the AP: “U.S. troops in Afghanistan now have far-reaching new protections against rogue killers among their Afghan allies, including assigned ‘guardian angels,’ fellow troops who will watch over them as they sleep.”
“In several Afghan ministries, Americans are now allowed to carry weapons. And they have been instructed to rearrange their office desks there to face the door, so they can see who is coming in.” More here. http://bit.ly/HozXJD

CONGRESSIONAL MEDIATORS — House Oversight’s National Security Subcommittee this morning will hash out major disagreements between two powerful players in the Afghanistan reconstruction effort. At issue is a Karzai mandate that would dissolve private security forces in Afghanistan and turn over their duties to Afghan guards.

Up first: Steven Trent, acting special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, will argue that the Afghan government might be incapable of protecting U.S. organizations there at a reasonable cost — endangering lives and putting U.S. development projects at risk. The issue “poses one of the most significant challenges that the U.S. government and its implementing partners have faced since the beginning of the reconstruction effort in 2002,” Trent will tell lawmakers, according to advance testimony obtained by MD.

And the rebuttal: Alexander Their, of USAID, is likely to call into question Trent’s analysis. USAID said in a recent letter it rejects the inspector general’s findings because of “inaccurate comparisons” that resulted in “gross overstatements” of the cost of transitioning to Afghan security forces.

The hearing is at 8:30 a.m. in Rayburn 2154. Read Trent’s prepared remarks here. http://bit.ly/H2grys

And WaPo has a full backgrounder here. http://wapo.st/Hiz2uT

Can you say “BIASED”?? See the people say “THEY” not “HIM” or HE”. Was this a taliban mission blamed on a US Soldier?? The reporter herself says it’s a 2 day walk, how did one soldier do this in all than one night?
CNN HAS A HAUNTING VIDEO from reporter Yalda Hakim of Australia’s SBS network in which she traces the path of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales on the night of his alleged killing spree and talks to survivors of the attack — including an 8-year-old girl who witnessed the murder of her father.
“How did he die?” the child is asked.
“The Americans,” she responds.
Throughout the video, witnesses refer to multiple U.S. troops as carrying out the attack. Watch. http://bit.ly/HoQavt

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