Posted on 11/23/2009 8:13:54 PM PST by kristinn
President Barack Obama met Monday evening with his national security team to finalize a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional U.S. troops over the next year to what he's called "a war of necessity" in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told McClatchy.
Obama is expected to announce his long-awaited decision on Dec. 1, followed by meetings on Capitol Hill aimed at winning congressional support amid opposition by some Democrats who are worried about the strain on the U.S. Treasury and whether Afghanistan has become a quagmire, the officials said.
The U.S. officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the issue publicly and because, one official said, the White House is incensed by leaks on its Afghanistan policy that didn't originate in the White House.
They said the commander of the U.S.-led international force in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, could arrive in Washington as early as Sunday to participate in the rollout of the new plan, including testifying before Congress toward the end of next week. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry also are expected to appear before congressional committees.
As it now stands, the plan calls for the deployment over a nine-month period beginning in March of three Army brigades from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., and the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y., and a Marine brigade from Camp Lejeune, N.C., for as many as 23,000 additional combat and support troops.
In addition, a 7,000-strong division headquarters would be sent to take command of U.S.-led NATO forces in southern Afghanistan — to which the U.S. has long been committed — and 4,000 U.S. military trainers would be dispatched to help accelerate...
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
“If he were doing his job he would have known enough in August to decide within weeks after having the recommendation vetted.”
With typical messianic clarity of vision and purpose, the Hamster is deploying these additional troops just as the Afghan winter begins to sink its teeth into the country. This means these troops will basically not be able to operate until April or May of 2010, just in time for The One to withdraw them for being ineffective!
Had they been deployed in August or September, they could have fought for territory before the winter came, now we have nothing more than an empty gesture from the empty suit.
So it’s been three months since the troops were requested... they will not start to arrive until March and it will take nine months for half of what was requested to get there. It took this ahole this long for this kind of a plan??????
Old mantras die hard.
Except when it's time for a war on Sarah Palin and/or Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, I guess.
Cheers!
My nephew will be among the brigade from Camp LeJeune. I just hope the ditherer-in-chief lets them get there with enough time to prepare for the spring offensive, when the cockroaches come out of their caves en masse. God, please protect our troops.
Just imagine how safe our own country would be with 34,000 troops on the border.
...and tomorrow, the White House will deny the reports.
While more young Americans die as Obama fails to make the hard choices.
Must have got a sneak preview of Governor Palin's interview with Greta this evening...Mama Bear was pissed.
bttt
Perceptive. Let's see if Limbaugh picks up on it.
yitbos
And even if he does it, we still have the big question: What are the rules of engagement?
The ROE is to immediatally drop your weapon, throw your hands in the air, and start reading the “Miranda Rights”.
It was probably taxing too much of his willpower. Never underestimate liberal mind block.
President Barack Obama met Monday evening with his national security team to finalize a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional U.S. troops over the next year to what he's called "a war of necessity" in Afghanistan, U.S. officials told McClatchy.Gosh, almost as if the rumors so strenuously denied last week were exactly accurate. Okay, *now* it's bedtime. Everytime I think I'm out, they drag me back in... ;')
In addition to it being a day late and dollar short, his base is going to furious.
He’s a wobbly weasel to his core. God be
with our troops .. St. Michael, defend
them in battle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Behind Afghan War Debate, a Battle of Two Books Rages
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125487333320069331.html
###
Excerpt:
The struggle to set the future course of the Afghan war is becoming a battle of two books — both suddenly popular among White House and Pentagon brain trusts.
The two draw decidedly different lessons from the Vietnam War. The first book describes a White House in 1965 being marched into an escalating war by a military viewing the conflict too narrowly to see the perils ahead. President Barack Obama recently finished the book, according to administration officials, and Vice President Joe Biden is reading it now.
The second describes a different administration, in 1972, when a U.S. military that has finally figured out how to counter the insurgency is rejected by political leaders who bow to popular opinion and end the fight.
It has been recommended in multiple lists put out by military officers, including a former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, who passed it out to his subordinates.
The two books — “Lessons in Disaster,” on Mr. Obama’s nightstand, and “A Better War” on the shelves of military gurus — have become a framework for the debate over what will be one of the most important decisions of Mr. Obama’s presidency.
On Tuesday, in a White House meeting that went well over its allotted hour, Mr. Obama discussed the war with 31 members of Congress. Republican leaders, and some Democrats, pressed him to quickly accept the judgment of his commanders and send as many as 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. But some Democrats asked if the war was winnable.
In Washington, books are flying off shelves. None of the major bookstores near the White House have the recently released paperback edition of “Lessons in Disaster” in stock, and one major shop in the Georgetown area, Barnes & Noble, said all its remaining copies were being held for buyers.
~~~~
Video - Washington bureau chief John Bussey discusses two new books with competing Afghanistan narrative on the News Hub.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125487333320069331.html#
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Influencing his arguments, I’m sure .. and since
he’s so ‘scholarly’ and so weak, he’s probably
been cowed even more ... damn him.
I had been saying that for the past 6 weeks. I may even have posted it on FR.
I told my wife he was going to make an decision AFTER the sentate takes its initial vote on Healthcare. He needed a distraction for the left while he increased troops in Afghanistan.
I’m quite surprised Limbaugh wasn’t in front of this one claiming this for weeks...which would have put Obama under pressure to make the decison BEFORE the vote. Which would have made the vote a lot more interesting as Obama’s polling would have gone down to the low 40’s for approval on Gallup.
This year or next?
Because, once a constipated impacted turd gets going, you can’t stop it.
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