"Am I therefore become your enemy,because I TELL YOU THE TRUTH...?"
(Galatians 4:16)

Obama aides defend ambitious Afghan scale-up

WASHINGTON-Top U.S. officials said the first of 30,000 new U.S. troops would arrive in Afghanistan in two to three weeks but also made clear on Wednesday that plans to start bringing the soldiers home in 18 months could slip.
One day after President Barack Obama unveiled his high-risk strategy for the Afghan troop increase, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faced skepticism from lawmakers of a big escalation of the unpopular and expensive war.
"This is a huge commitment. It's the right commitment. And it gives us the forces to turn this thing around," Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee...