And go in while most Americans were not paying attention.

Thousands of U.S. Marines stormed into an Afghan river
valley by helicopter and land early today, launching the biggest
military offensive of Barack Obama’s presidency with an assault deep
into Taliban territory.

Operation River Liberty, which the Marines call simply “the decisive
op”, is intended to seize virtually the entire lower Helmand River
valley, heartland of the Taliban insurgency and the world’s biggest
heroin producing region.

In swiftly seizing the valley, commanders hope to accomplish within
hours what NATO troops had failed to achieve over several years, and by
doing so turn the tide of a stale-mated war in time for an Afghan
presidential election on August 20.

“Where we go we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold, build
and work toward transition of all security responsibilities to Afghan
forces,” Marine Corps Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, commander of
the Marines in southern Afghanistan said in a statement.

Why this, why now, people will surely wonder?

President Obama has declared the Taliban insurgency in
Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan the main security threat facing
the United States…

Taliban attacks are at their highest levels since the Islamic
fundamentalist regime was ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001 after
refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden in the wake of the Sept. 11
attacks.

Updates to come….swiftly, no doubt.