[ti:A Change in Generals, but Not Afghan Policy]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:IN THE NEWS]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS
[00:04.25]in VOA Special English.
[00:07.48]This week, President Obama
[00:09.97]replaced his top commander
[00:12.02]in Afghanistan.
[00:13.92]General Stanley McChrystal
[00:16.12]resigned after a year
[00:17.81]in command of United States
[00:20.45]and NATO forces.
[00:22.49]To replace him, the president
[00:25.38]chose the general to whom
[00:27.57]General McChrystal reported.
[00:30.20]The Senate is expected
[00:32.24]to quickly confirm
[00:33.99]General David Petraeus
[00:36.08]to lead the nearly nine-year-old war.
[00:38.91]The last president to remove
[00:42.35]a war commander was Harry Truman.
[00:45.48]In nineteen fifty-one he dismissed
[00:48.92]General Douglas MacArthur
[00:50.96]during the Korean War.
[00:52.95]But that was a dispute over policy.
[00:57.10]General McChrystal has lost his job
[01:00.43]over comments made to and
[01:03.32]in the presence of a reporter
[01:05.91]from Rolling Stone magazine.
[01:08.50]The general and his aides
[01:11.19] spoke disrespectfully
[01:13.33]about several administration officials.
[01:17.26]The general was quickly ordered
[01:19.86]to the White House to meet
[01:21.75]Wednesday with President Obama.
[01:24.10]BARACK OBAMA: "I welcome debate
[01:25.21]among my team, but I will not
[01:26.75]tolerate division."
[01:27.59]The president said
[01:28.79]he had considerable regret
[01:31.03]in accepting the resignation
[01:33.02]of "one of our nation's
[01:34.47]finest soldiers."
[01:36.06]But he said his responsibilities
[01:39.10]as commander-in-chief
[01:40.79]led him to his decision.
[01:42.94]BARACK OBAMA: "The conduct represented
[01:45.08]in the recently published article
[01:46.67]does not meet the standard
[01:49.11]that should be set
[01:50.16]by a commanding general.
[01:51.40]It undermines the civilian control
[01:54.19]of the military that is
[01:55.43]at the core of our democratic system."
[01:57.67]The president says the change
[01:59.86]is not a change in policy.
[02:02.15]He says General Petraeus
[02:04.94]understands that strategy
[02:07.08]because he helped shape it.
[02:09.17]General Petraeus is known
[02:11.62]for his political as well
[02:13.76]as military skills.
[02:15.60]Experts credit him
[02:17.94]with a successful
[02:19.04]counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq
[02:22.03]in two thousand seven
[02:23.78]and two thousand eight.
[02:25.67]Counterinsurgency involves
[02:28.66]military action but also depends
[02:31.64]on civilian relationships to succeed.
[02:35.13]The Afghanistan policy calls for
[02:38.06]establishing security
[02:39.85]in cities and towns,
[02:42.09]protecting civilians even if
[02:45.28]it means more danger
[02:46.47]for coalition troops.
[02:47.97]It also involves training
[02:51.40]local security forces
[02:53.49]and strengthening the government.
[02:56.13]Last month, General Petraeus
[02:59.01]talked about the situation.
[03:00.56]DAVID PETRAEUS: "As was the case in Iraq,
[03:02.30]the reality is that everything
[03:05.68]in Afghanistan is hard.
[03:07.47]It's hard all the time,
[03:09.32]and it typically gets harder
[03:11.32]before it gets easier."
[03:12.86]General McChrystal was
[03:14.80]one of the relatively few
[03:16.69]American officials
[03:17.93]to develop a good relationship
[03:19.97]with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
[03:23.41]But he never did the same
[03:25.66]with the American ambassador,
[03:27.70]Karl Eikenberry,
[03:29.54]a former commander in Afghanistan.
[03:31.84]On Wednesday, President Obama
[03:35.28]repeated the policy agreed to last fall.
[03:39.32]BARACK OBAMA: "We are going to
[03:40.57]break the Taliban's momentum.
[03:41.66]We are going to build Afghan capacity.
[03:45.35]We are going to relentlessly
[03:47.49]apply pressure on al-Qaida
[03:50.07]and its leadership, strengthening
[03:53.08]the ability of both Afghanistan
[03:54.32]and Pakistan to do the same."
[03:56.21]Admiral Mike Mullen,
[03:58.35]the Joint Chiefs chairman, says
[04:00.20]the United States should know
[04:02.39]by the end of this year
[04:03.93]whether the strategy is working.
[04:06.47]If all goes as planned,
[04:09.80]withdrawals could begin by next July.
[04:13.38]But insurgent attacks have increased
[04:16.52]and progress has been slower
[04:18.96]than expected in the south.
[04:20.85]Thirty thousand more American troops
[04:24.53]are joining the war.
[04:26.22]But public support is down
[04:28.76]and concerns in Congress are up.
[04:32.39]June is the deadliest month yet
[04:35.63]for international forces in Afghanistan.
[04:38.22]And problems continue
[04:40.80]with the development of
[04:42.25]the Afghan security forces
[04:44.64]and with corruption
[04:46.58]among Afghan officials.
[04:49.07]And that's IN THE NEWS
[04:50.87]in VOA Special English.
[04:53.65]I'm Steve Ember.
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA¾©Ïã2018ÏÂÔØ
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