“Go big, go strong, and go fast”

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.