Rumsfeld Cries Foul On Obama Claim Troop Requests for Afghanistan Were Denied

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday lashed out at President Obama for claiming the Bush administration rebuffed commanders' repeated requests for more troops in Afghanistan.

In a rare break in his public silence since leaving the Pentagon, Rumsfeld rejected the claim as a "bald misstatement" and "disservice" that cannot go unanswered.

"Such a bald misstatement, at least as it pertains to the period I served as secretary of defense, deserves a response," Rumsfeld said in a written statement. "I am not aware of a single request of that nature between 2001 and 2006."

The president leveled the charge in his speech Tuesday night outlining his plan to send 30,000 more U.S. troops into Afghanistan.

In his speech, Obama gave a detailed history of the Afghanistan war starting with the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He argued that the Iraq war drew needed resources away from Afghanistan, allowing the situation to deteriorate since 2003.

"Throughout this period, our troop levels in Afghanistan remained a fraction of what they were in Iraq," Obama said. "Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained Wednesday that Obama was referring to requests that came in during 2008, and suggested Rumsfeld was on thin ice with his criticism. (snip)

Actually, Obama approved an additional 17,000 troops for Afghanistan in Feb, 2009. That request had been made in August, 2008 and Bush had not acted on it in the interim.

Let’s at least get the facts correct here. This is info which is readily available on the net and easily verified.

The fact that the request for additional troops went unanswered for 5 months is actually accurate.

“Let’s at least get the facts correct here.”

I concur: let’s do that:

2008 September - President Bush sends an extra 4,500 US troops to Afghanistan, in a move he described as a “quiet surge”. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1162108.stm

This suggests Bush responded rather IMMEDIATELY to the request for more troops (and Germany added an additional 3,500 troops in Oct. according to same source).

Yes, Obama DID add 17,000 in Feb.—good for him!—but McChrystal’s request for a MINIMUM of 40,000 and ideally 60,000 [http://news.antiwar.com/2009/10/09/gen-mcchrystal-now-seeking-over-60000-more-troops-for-afghanistan/] already took these additional soldiers into account. It’s pretty obvious McChrystal got muzzled in Oct. when news of his recommendations leaked, as our CIC didn’t particularly care to get boxed in by military realities.

In short, tough guy candidate Obama—who complained repeatedly and bitterly about Bush having “under-resourced” the fight in Afghanistan—was superseded by the wimp who now sits in the Oval Office. This wimp overrode the seasoned combat experience of the general he hand-selected to run the war by giving him only half of what he requested (or 25% less than the minimum essential number requested).
Al Qaeda and the Taliban no doubt have drawn the correct conclusion from Obama’s decision: he’s far more afraid of Nancy Pelosi (and fellow travelers in Congress and the liberal elite) than he is of them.

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