This report by the Committee majority staff is part of our continuing examination of the conflict in Afghanistan.

When we went to war less than a month after the attacks of September 11, the objective was to destroy Al Qaeda and kill or capture its leader, Osama bin Laden, and other senior figures in the terrorist group and the Taliban, which had hosted them. Today, more than eight years later, we find ourselves fighting an increasingly lethal insurgency in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan that is led by many of those same extremists. Our inability to finish the job in late 2001 has contributed to a conflict today that endangers not just our troops and those of our allies, but the stability of a volatile and vital region. This report relies on new and existing information to explore the consequences of the failure to eliminate bin Laden and other extremist leaders in the hope that we can learn from the mistakes of the past.

Sincerely,
JOHN F. KERRY, Chairman,
SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
November 30, 2009

Dear Friend and Reader:

We are fast approaching the astrology of Uranus stationing direct, and the hours leading up to President Obama’s Full Moon speech on America’s plan to “finish the job” in Afghanistan. On Tuesday night, he is scheduled announce another phase of what was started over eight years ago in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. by Al-Qaeda. With Uranus stationing direct at 23 Pisces, we might ask: What job is he planning to finish? And is it possible to finish any job in Afghanistan? For this, we have to look at history. Please follow along with a summary.

The war in Afghanistan is President Obama’s by inheritance. This inheritance did not begin in 2001 with the multinational hunt for Osama Bin Ladin. It began much earlier during the Cold War with the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, a Communist state established by the Saur Revolution in 1978. With Soviet backing, Afghan Marxists modernized the country, built roads, hospitals, and schools. Traditional marriage laws were upended for a more modern system that encouraged women’s education. These changes met resistance from the more traditional Muslim population. Harsh landscape and language divides made it difficult for new policies to take root nationwide. Insurrection was inevitable. A civil war between the Afghan Marxists and insurgents, also known as the mujahideen, began immediately, spurring the Soviets to invade Afghanistan in 1979 to support the Marxist government.

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We are in a busy week astrologically — and December is an impressive month of activity. At this point, it’s vital to get a handle on your priorities and not waste time. We are in Sagittarius right now, the phase of the year when time seems to run the fastest. It’s crucial to plan and time your activities with a sense of perspective. Start with a list of things that you can put off until mid-January and keep yourself busy with what truly must happen before the holidays.

Let’s stick to this week, though. We’re entering the full phase of the Moon at the moment; the exact Gemini Full Moon is Weds., Dec. 2 at 2:30 am EST.

The Moon ingresses Gemini Tuesday morning at 9:23 am. Tuesday night is therefore the peak of energy, but we are currently riding the wave, as in right now. We all know what Full Moon energy feels like, though we can all benefit from reminders to go gently on any situation that might polarize. It can also be helpful in gently — gently — unraveling situations that seem intractable. To sum up: Full Moon energy will either polarize situations (often unnecessarily) or help work through situations that are already polarized. The problem with this kind of advice is that most people are taking a ride on the lunar energy (a kind of emotional trip) , rather than steering consciously. So the idea is to bring things to the level of awareness; to notice how you are feeling, or responding, and checking in whether it’s rational or sensible.

If you are planning to start anything this week, I suggest waiting until after the Full Moon has passed, and not following your emotional impulses. One interesting bit about this Full Moon is the involvement of two minor planets. Well, let’s make that five. This deserves a little blog of its own so I won’t get too long-winded, but: the Sun is conjunct Hylonome (self-inflicted) and the Moon is conjunct Chaos (which can be the fertile chaos of creation). This is along the nuclear axis — a zone in the zodiac where nuclear issues tend to pop up, so it’s no shock that we have pretty big nuke news out of Iran this week. Involved in the setup is something that says: the pictures seem true because we want them to be true. Which does not make them true. Beware, news hounds. Not every photograph is true, and every photo tells a little lie.

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Today’s Oracle takes us to the Sagittarius – Weekly of Apr 29, 2005

Once again, certain domestic or emotional situations threaten to push you to your limits. But this is why God made you a Sagittarius. You really have no limits. But you might want to carefully choose a strategy that helps you resolve this situation rather than fly above it or go around it. If it seems to be coming on with extra intensity, that is why. While it’s imperative that you keep your temper, it’s also quite necessary that you resolve to listen to what you are feeling, and what they are feeling. Then, you’ll find out that fear has a source that can be eliminated.

(The Daily Oracle is a random selection from one of 10,000 Eric Francis horoscopes. The Oracle is a divination tool like tarot cards, and also can be used to research any horoscope for the past 10 years. It is available to subscribers of Planet Waves Astrology News in all its working glory. This is a brilliant piece of programming combined with a full decade of Eric’s writing — when you have a question, it really works (as long as you’re sincere), and we know that you’ll love it. Sign up to discover how and why. Or enjoy one selection free here every day.)

As a hobby, he counts the war dead

Stone Mountain, Georgia (CNN) — Fall leaves blanket Michael White’s deck at his suburban Atlanta, Georgia, home. In the cluttered attic study, the software engineer slouches over his Hewlett-Packard laptop.

A full-length floor lamp stands on top of his desk — the overhead light went out a while back. Next to him is his 1960s Stratocaster, a reminder of the rock-star career that never blossomed.

Jillian, his Vivaldi-loving, violin-playing 10-year-old, has gone off to school. Wife Ashley is at work. The house is quiet except for the occasional mew from Izzy, the atypically friendly Tonkinese cat.

And yet, from the humdrum of this ordinary subdivision home comes an arresting daily statement.

For six years, White has faithfully produced a number that is critical to shaping the legacy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: the death toll.

Full story here.

Today’s Oracle takes us to the Taurus – Weekly of Sep 06, 2002

Plunging into your creative passions, a romantic situation, or both, are sure to have uncertain outcomes, but is that not their allure? Our moment in time has the signature of a “point of no return,” and that may be a little scary because it carries the scent of potential loss of control, and the notion that we’re on this trip called life alone no matter what. But the actual image is one of a potent opportunity to change, or even totally reverse, the direction in which you’ve been headed. Nothing is likely to feel exactly right or like a fail-safe experience, especially given the extent to which you’ve devoted yourself to making things happen that have just not seemed to come off the way you expected. But the New Moon in Virgo suggests that you’re well supported, if you’re willing to dare to offer your energy to your goals.

(The Daily Oracle is a random selection from one of 10,000 Eric Francis horoscopes. The Oracle is a divination tool like tarot cards, and also can be used to research any horoscope for the past 10 years. It is available to subscribers of Planet Waves Astrology News in all its working glory. This is a brilliant piece of programming combined with a full decade of Eric’s writing — when you have a question, it really works (as long as you’re sincere), and we know that you’ll love it. Sign up to discover how and why. Or enjoy one selection free here every day.)

Dubai is the capitol of the United Arab Emirates (there are seven of them), and does not have its own chart. (Here are the charts, bigger. The thing in the ascendant of the main chart would be Pholus.) Apparently it functions with its own credit report, as it were. The floor is open for comments on these charts, and on the Dubai situation in general. The big news being that Thursday, we learned that it would be defaulting on $59 billion in loans, sending tremors through the world financial markets. Stealing a line from The Onion, what do you think?

Today under the Aries Moon, I am writing Aries Confidential. As I’ve been mentioning, I’m taking a new approach to the research and the writing of this year’s annual edition. Instead of being a long, rambling essay, I am going through the houses one at a time, and the result will feel more like a proper astrology reading — for a tiny fraction of the cost. I will post more today about our special offers. Here is a sample from Aries.

Mars retrograde says: 1. Inner quest. 2. References to the past. 3. The exploration of the desires that we normally deny, and have denied in the past. So the emphasis here is less about exploring relationships, sex and art as expression, and entirely about exploring your relationship to yourself, exploring sex as an expression of self-awareness, and using your creative process as an inner journey that changes you and then feeds your expressive fire.

Because we live in a sexually and creatively repressed society, most of the energy and passion inherent in this house is trapped by things like denial, self-repression and maintaining our pride. You can be sure that to the extent that you experience boredom, you have denied your passion — and this transit is here to help you find it again.

Yet this whole process exists within a larger context, and that is the context of the people you know, and the ‘personal society’ that they form. And part of that involves how we have our sexual relationships, in particular, with the presumption of monogamy and then so many issues involving monogamy. Try as we may to relate only to one person, many people experience the presence of others who we want to share with, experience and relate to. But the social rules and norms of our culture barely even allow us to admit this to others. So we have to lock up our desires, generally out of the fear of not being accepted by others; and of being outcast from the groups we live in, particularly our friends. Too often, we try to define ourselves in ways that are acceptable to others — and now you are being challenged to define yourself in a way that is based on self-acceptance alone.

Checking in with a brief holiday weekend visit, the sky is interesting mainly for one reason — Mercury in Sagittarius. Mercury, slowing down a bit now that it’s approaching a retrograde that begins in a month, is making a long sextile to the Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune alignment. I’ll take that super slow. The aspect is Mercury in Sagittarius, making a 60-degree aspect to the longstanding alignment in Aquarius.

Also the Moon is in Aries, trine Mercury and sextile the Aquarius alignment. This is a rare moment of emotional and mental clarity. The first wave of pressure is off of the Saturn-Pluto square, and for the phase of sky history centered around December, other factors will be more tangible — but the historical process will still on a deep level be beholden to Saturn square Pluto dynamic. Yet other events will give us some options how we address that energy.

For example, the main developments involve the Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction in late Aquarius. Jupiter will contact Chiron to the degree in early December, and Neptune to the degree in late December, before moving onto Pisces in early January. This is fabulous news, for those working on a subtle enough level to pick up what is being offered to us. The challenge is noticing. We have to go from the McDonald’s level of astrology to the wine snob level, but this is not as simple as noticing what the dirt tastes like in a certain region of France based on the wine from that region.

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