Obama Will Send 34,000 U.S. Troops to Afghanistan

McClatchy ^ | Monday, November 23, 2009

[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...

[VRWCTexan]

Barry will be lucky to have poll numbers hovering in the 30s by “Dec 7th” - fitting

[MindBender26]

GEN McChrystal;

Sir, you took an oath to defend the Constitution against ALL enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC.

Have the balls. Resign rather than accept this!

[Fu-fu2]

Lots of people where I live with Obama ‘08 bumper stickers and right next to them “War is not the Answer.” Be sure to ask anyone you see with these just how that Obama thing is working out for them....

[Publius Maximus]

I certainly wouldn’t want this guy as my personal physician. You go in with an arterial wound and he tells you to take an aspirin and he’ll get back to you in three months with his final recommendation.

Well at least his military policy is consistent with his health care policy. Ahem.

[Palladin]

God bless your boy, and all the other mothers’ sons who are going over there to fight valiantly for a CIC who despises them.

I pray for them every day.

[April Lexington]

Woooo Hooooo! It took O’Buttboy only 10 months to pick a number between 30,000 and 40,000! What an intellectual giant! And...soooooo nuanced!

[April Lexington]

Resign rather than accept this!

Resign, my *ss! Occupy the White House and liberate America before its too late!

[Palladin]

I like the way you think.

[VOA]

It took Obama three long months to come up with McChrystal-lite.
If he were doing his job he would have known enough in August to
decide within weeks after having the recommendation vetted.

I suspect he was cowed into doing this.
As I heard on radio news (FOX?) that NATO was sending out "requests"
for countries participating in operations in Afghanistan to
increase the number of personnel and materiale to the fight.

IF Obama does follow on in sending the extra 34,000 American troops,
here is his greatest fear:

Accidentally appointing some battle-field commander that actually
fights like General Grant.

In the rare likelihood that Obama makes that sort of mistake...
it will be interesting to see if he simply does a cut-and-run
in order to not offend his fellow-travelers in The Taliban.

More likely, he'll just have the fighting commander court-martialed.
And tell our troops to stand in place and just take the abuse.

[television is just wrong]

gee wonder how that blonde has been whose son died during the bush admin feels about this. I can’t even remember her name. The useful idiot who got dropped then tried to run against Pelosi.

[Deo volente]

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...

That's what they said about Vietnam.

[nutmeg]

He has no respect for our military .... none...

Our "Commander-in-Chief" showing his patriotism on Veteran's Day 2009

[word_warrior_bob]

Looks like he’s going to give less troops than requested, then trickle them in there and ultimately declare defeat and pull out.

[nutmeg]

Thanks, kristinn, for the heads up on this story...

[TheThinker]

I certainly wouldn’t want this guy as my personal physician. You go in with an arterial wound and he tells you to take an aspirin and he’ll get back to you in three months with his final recommendation.

And then his final recommendation is to take a pain pill.

[SaxxonWoods]

Looks like the decision has been made. This is a White House leak to prepare the Dem base for the bad news (from their perspective) that we are not immediately turning tail and running. Doubtful that McChrystal resigns, I think he has already OK’ed this number as barely sufficient, with adjustments. It’s a make or break moment for him, he can try to blame Obama if things go bad, but he will be tainted. I’m going to trust our military to win under adverse conditions. They’ve done so before.

[TigersEye]

If he were doing his job he would have known enough in August to decide within weeks after having the recommendation vetted.

Exactly! There were only a few possible directions Gen. McChrystal's recommendations could have gone and the President should have been prepared for them all with the response he wanted to give. But 0bambi is not really a President he's a Pretender. No executive experience means he sits and waits for things to happen.

[TheDailyChange]

Here comes another Vietnam

[NoRedTape]

This oBama character needs to give the Generals the support they've requested NOW; no questions; no phased-in liberal games; no delays.

Give the Generals on the ground exactly what they need. Period.

[STARWISE]

Kim .. had you found THAT pic yet? If not ....there it is.