U.S. Transfers 12,000 American Troops to NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (NATO-ISAF)

From NATO's official website

NATO will take command of 12 additional Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs), bringing the total number of NATO-led PRTs to 25.

The number of troops under NATO command will increase from the current 20,000 to over 30,000.

Most of these forces are already in place in Afghanistan. They will be transferred to NATO command once the Activation Order is issued by General Jones.

The NATO site doesn't give the specifics. However, I transcribed a part of yesterday's news conference led by the NATO Secretary General regarding the Informal Meeting of the NATO Defence Ministers in Slovenia.

Most importantly, we have decided to go into what we call Phase 4 of the expansion of ISAF into the East, which will bring 12,000-plus U.S. forces...including what we call in our jargon "enables" (sp?)– that is support on the ground, support in the air...into ISAF. I think that’s a very important decision [and I think it is important] and I’m grateful [for that] that the United States has decided to bring its forces into ISAF.

In other words, George "we don't need no stinkin' UN" Bush has now allowed NATO - which is a short step away from the UN - to TAKE COMMAND OF OUR TROOPS!!!!!

Other than a brief mention of this on the Ed Schulz Show yesterday and today, I have seen NOTHING about this in the press.

That's not a surprise, since Bush has got to want to keep this quiet. However, I've not seen this addressed in the Liberal blogosphere. I'm not sure 'why...I can't imagine that we need more corroboration than the official NATO website.

Autumn photos...or...How the Diva is Spending her Time!

The leaves have been gorgeous the last few days and I've been carrying the camera around to grab some shots where I can...in between errands or running the kid around.

This is a picture on from the sidewalk in front of our house.

The next one is just a closed off gravel road leading up to a field office of BLM (Bureau of Land Management).



This one was a shot of Jewel Lake, which is not named after Jewel the singer:

If you notice, we don't have a lot of reds up here during the Fall. Traditionally, Maple, Oak and other trees whose leaves turn red have a difficult time surviving in Alaska.

However, thanks to global warming, folks have started to have some success with those trees and I'm starting to see more red leaves.

Gee...there's always a silver lining, isn't there?

On a cloudier day, I went down to Potter's Marsh and shot some photos. Unfortunately, the mountains were socked-in a bit while snow was falling on top of them:

What you can't see off to the left somewhere are the two swans that were playing hide-and-go-seek everytime I snapped a picture. Also, right after I took that picture, a little muskrat swam by...possibly looking for muskrat love?

OK - bad 70's joke.

I'll try not to post anymore pictures until we get the first snow.