White House stalls as US public opinion swings against Pentagon's plans to escalate war in Afghanistan. The three most recent national opinion polls show majorities of
Americans opposing the war in Afghanistan as well as the Pentagon's
plans to commit additional US troops there. This marks the first time
since the war began eight years ago that US opposition has eclipsed
50%. This mirrors even starker drops in support in other NATO countries
that have led to a series of troop withdrawals in those militaries.
McClatchy Pentagon Correspondent Nancy Youssef tells The Real News that while General McChrystal's new strategy for Afghanistan will clearly require additional troops, the Pentagon and White House agreed not to release a troop figure request. This goes against the White House's original demand that the report include this detail, and, according to Youssef, represents a response to the war's growing unpopularity.
Bio
Nancy Youssef is McClatchy Newspapers' chief Pentagon correspondent. She spent the past four years covering the Iraq war, most recently as Baghdad bureau chief. Her pieces focused on the everyday Iraqi experience, civilian causalities and how the US' military strategy was reshaping Iraq's social and political dynamics. While at the Free Press, she traveled throughout Jordan and Iraq for Knight Ridder, covering the Iraq war from the time leading up to it through the post-war period.
