Woodward Book Portrays Obama Aides’ Battles

NYT ^ | 9/21 | Peter Baker

[RummyChick]

Some of the critical players in President Obama’s national security team doubt his strategy in Afghanistan will succeed and have spent much of the last 20 months quarreling with one another over policy, personalities and turf, according to a new book.

[RummyChick]

"Beyond the internal battles, the book offers fresh disclosures on the nation’s continuing battle with terrorists. It reports that the C.I.A. has a 3,000-man “covert army” in Afghanistan called the Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, or C.T.P.T., mostly Afghans who capture and kill Taliban fighters and seek support in tribal areas. Past news accounts have reported that the C.I.A. has a number of militias, including one trained on one of its compounds, but nothing the size of the covert army. "

Sigh...

[OpusatFR]

Oy! The Boy-Queen at war. (With his aides and everyone else.)

Prickly little guy, isn’t he?

[RummyChick]

“Although the internal divisions described have become public, the book suggests that they were even more intense and disparate than previously known and offers new details. Mr. Biden called Mr. Holbrooke “the most egotistical bastard I’ve ever met.””

[Southack]

They forgot that they’d actually have to...ummm...govern. “What, me work?!”

Of course they fought each other. They couldn’t get healthcare passed for a year, even with a Democratic super-majority (and when they did get it, it was awful).

[stocksthatgoup]

this is a very interesting read.

[RummyChick]

The bit about Blair warning them about terrorists being trained is interesting...and shows how the White House is ignoring the issue.

[cycle of discernment]

“As for Mr. Obama himself, the book describes a professorial president who assigned “homework” to advisers but bristled at what he saw as military commanders’ attempts to force him into a decision he was not yet comfortable with. Even after he agreed to send another 30,000 troops last winter, the Pentagon asked for another 4,500 “enablers” to support them.

The president lost his poise, according to the book. “I’m done doing this!” he erupted.”

[FlingWingFlyer]

Kids! I knew putting them in charge was a bad idea.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Mmmmm Might have to fork over some money for this book.

[roses of sharon]

Liberal Bob Woodward writes a book about political aides?

Does Obama have nothing to do with this? Is he not the President?

[hinckley buzzard]

Gotta be careful with Woodward. He lies a lot and makes things up. It sounds like the usual Woodward formula: internal squabbles, Loyalists with doubts, stand up guys and backstabbers, pseudo-inside dope; with his favored ones looking good and his enemies looking bad.

[rlmorel]

Just what we need.

A bunch of hardcore liberal marxists in power, debating how to pull or not pull the levers of power controlling the military they detest.

[chuckee]

One thing you can say about Woodward. Although he is probably a liberal, his political insider reporting seems balanced.He tries to stay with the facts without editorializing.

[mass55th]

"Oy! The Boy-Queen at war. (With his aides and everyone else."

No wonder it took him so long to make a decision about whether or not to send more troops to Afghanistan.

[OpusatFR]

“Does Obama have nothing to do with this? Is he not the President?”

That’s one thought I like to push far far far out of my mind before I attempt to sleep.

NO. He isn’t. The Politburo is comprised of every hack with an agenda in the Democrat National Committee hierarchy.

Now I won’t be able to sleep.

I can take Ambian. The nightmares from THAT are not half as disturbing as the thought of that bunch of loony half-*ssed Marxists and nutcases in power until 2012.

[Billthedrill]

Let me remind everyone of what we all knew going into this sorry excuse for an administration: domestic policy was considered 0bama's people's major emphasis. Given their performance in that arena I cannot misuse the word "strength." But that means - no pretense here, you all knew this perfectly well - that foreign policy, especially foreign policy incorporating the military, was a signal weakness by comparison.

Consider just how bad that really turned out to be. The National Security Advisor terms this gaggle of fools a Politburo, and he's supposed to be on their side. Our military efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq are in the hands of Chicago ward-heelers and political hacks that make Robert McNamara look like Patton. The Commander in Chief is a feckless academic fool who wants the whole thing to disappear at the end of Fall Term so he can get back to preening as the figurehead for the Titanic.

It's what happens when celebrity trumps competence as a criterion of office. To be perfectly honest, a cardboard cutout could do the same job and cost us a whole lot less.

[Miss Marple]

I am bumping this because it is important. I cannot believe more people haven’t responded to this.

THIS STORY AND THE BOOK IS A BIG DEAL.

[MondoQueen]

I think Woodward was just a spoiled rich kid. I grew up in the same town he did, and it is very conservative. Knew his father, who seemed to be a nice person. And, by the way, Bill Ayers grew up in the suburb directly east of us, and he was also a spoiled rich kid.

But here’s what’s funny. The whole county is very conservative. Go figure. Is that what happens when kids have everything?

[bt_dooftlook]

What I hear is a commander-in-chief who is subordinating the lives of his troops to petty political concerns and the Democrat party; he is not fit to lead either, and should be impeached.
In the meantime, the book will get more soldiers killed and make the world more dangerous for America and Americans...

[Shermy]

“Beyond the internal battles, the book offers fresh disclosures on the nation’s continuing battle with terrorists. It reports that the C.I.A. has a 3,000-man “covert army” in Afghanistan called the Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, or C.T.P.T., mostly Afghans who capture and kill Taliban fighters and seek support in tribal areas. Past news accounts have reported that the C.I.A. has a number of militias, including one trained on one of its compounds, but nothing the size of the covert army. “

Translation:

I have nothing fresh except to pretend that “a number of militias” is somehow different than an “army” and will call it “covert” to make it sound like news to conspiricists and lefties.