by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama, sorting through an array of recommendations about the best way forward with the war in Afghanistan, is calling several leaders of both parties of the House and Senate to the White House on Tuesday.
"It's to walk them through where we are in the process and solicit their views,'' White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today.
The White House was asked if the weekend deaths of eight American soldiers in a gun battle with militants in eastern Afghanistan plays into the president's thinking about the war strategy.
"Any event that happens in Afghanistan is part of the backdrop of this assessment,'' said Gibbs, expressing the president's sadness about the casualties. "It's important, though, to understand that the assessment that's being discussed does not envision more troops in outposts or places like the one that was attacked over the weekend. In fact, very much the opposite -- a strategy that is much more focused on population centers.''
Was that an endorsement of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's plan we heard? The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is seeking not only a significant boost in military strength, but also a counter-insurgency strategy with force in populated places.
No, Gibbs said, noting that the Department of Defense had announced some time ago that outposts such as this would be closed and troops would be brought into population centers.
So the next question involved McChrystal's widely noted speech last week in London, in which he spoke of the "Chaos-istan'' that could follow if the U.S. withdrew forces and relied more on surgical attacks against the Taliban with drone aircraft.
The president met with McChrystal for about 25 minutes on Friday in Copenhagen, where Obama had flown to lobby the International Olympic Committee for the 2016 summer games - Chicago lost its bid in the first round of IOC voting - and McChrystal flew to Denmark from London for the meeting. "The president thought it was a very constructive meeting, that Gen. McChrystal was doing through this assessment exactly what the president had asked him to do when he hired him to go to Afghanistan and assess where we were,'' Gibbs said today.
"There is a multitude of approaches to what to do,'' McChrystal said in an address to the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London the day before his meeting with the president in Copehagen
"Some people say that we should focus primarily on development,'' the general said. "Others say that we should conduct a counterterrorist-focused battle, given that this really started after 9/11 and al Qaeda's strikes. Other people say that we should conduct counterinsurgency.... A paper has been written that recommends that we use a plan called 'Chaosistan', and that we let Afghanistan become a Somalia-like haven of chaos that we simply manage from outside.''
Gen. Jim Jones, the president's national security adviser, made a run of Sunday talk shows over the weekend, and said this on CNN's State of the Union:
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"Ideally, it's better for military advice to come up through the chain of command and I think that General McChrystal and the others in the chain of command will present the president with not just one option, which does, in fact, tend to have a ... enforcing function, but a range of options that the president can consider.''
Asked if the president is "comfortable'' with McChrystal giving speeches such as his, and asked what Jones was inferring in his own remarks, Gibbs said today:
-- "The president is comfortable with where we're at in this process, and how we're going about getting that strategy right.'' McChrystal's speech "is not what the meeting was about.''
-- And: "Far be it for me to parse the words of a four-star general,'' Gibbs said, maintaining that pulling out of Afghanistan is not part of anyone's realistic scenario.
"In fact, the president was... exceedingly clear that no part of the conversation -- no part of the conversation involved was leaving Afghanistan,'' the White House spokesman said. "That's not something that has ever been entertained, despite the fact that people still get asked what happens if we leave Afghanistan. That's not a decision that's on the table to make... I don't think we have the option to leave. I think that's quite clear...
"The general made an assessment, and we're going through a series of decisions, including that assessment,'' Gibbs said. "That's the process that the president is going through in meetings three and four this week, to try to get this strategy right and to do it not based on the back-and-forth or rumors about this or that, but on what he thinks is best -- in the best national security advice and posture of the United States of America, and how it can best protect us. ''
Comments
The Congress has absolutely no role in determining war policy. That is reserved for the Commander in Chief, the President of the United States!
Posted by: GOP 2003-2008 | October 5, 2009 5:01 PM
The very same Neocon war mongers who demanded that we blow off Afghanistan and invade Iraq are currently the same nutjobs (McCain etc) who are demanding that Pres Obama bomb Iran and turn Afghanistan into Vietnam II.
We need to quit listening to these fools who only have the best interests $$$$ of the Military Industrial Complex in mind and could care less how much blood and treasure we spill.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-eyuFBrWHs
Posted by: K | October 5, 2009 5:10 PM
But, but...I thought that Obama had a strategy already. He said so in the campaign...look, I know he said a lot of things in the campaign, like "I'm not a socialist," and things like that aren't true either. But, he sounds so sincere.
Just wondering are those who are still in awe that he can read a teleprompter getting the idea that he doesn't mean a word of what he says???? So, you have elected a President that you have no idea what he stands for and never will know because he doesn't stand for anything, especially not anything that he has promised. THANKS
That is why people don't want the government running their lives, their finances and their health care. You cannot trust them. Period.
Posted by: Gary | October 5, 2009 6:37 PM
"The Congress has absolutely no role in determining war policy. That is reserved for the Commander in Chief, the President of the United States!"
Whatever. . .ignorance at its peak again. Only Congress can declare war. Any 8th grader knows that. . .from civic class.
Posted by: HmongRodneyKing | October 5, 2009 6:46 PM
Give McCain a brigade of Young Republicans. He claims to know where Osama is, lend him some air support and order Sunday Talk Show Johnny McWar to flush them out.
Then we are done, mission accomplished.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFGit_tZDqs
Posted by: former Republican | October 5, 2009 6:59 PM
Actually, Congress plays a very big role. It was under the authority of the Joint Resolutuion for the Use of Military Force against the terrorists who attacked the U.S. on 9/11, adopted by Congress on Sept. 18, 2001, that the U.S. invaded Afghanistan. And each year, the Congress authorizes the budget for the war -- it was off budget for much of Bush's time, with supplemental spending plans for both Iraq and Afghanistan approved by Congress. And Congress must pay for the combat going forward, which requires some consensus among the White House and congressional leaders about how to proceed. http://news.findlaw.com/wp/docs/terrorism/sjres23.es.html
Posted by: Mark Silva | October 5, 2009 7:08 PM
But, but...I thought that Obama had a strategy already. He said so in the campaign...look, I know he said a lot of things in the campaign, like "I'm not a socialist," and things like that aren't true either. But, he sounds so sincere. Just wondering are those who are still in awe that he can read a teleprompter getting the idea that he doesn't mean a word of what he says????
Posted by: Gary | October 5, 2009 6:37 PM
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.
.
Put a sock in it Scary Gary. We'd already be done with Afghanistan if your heroes (Bush, Cheney) hadn't decided that it would be fun to invade Iraq for no reason.
It's not our fault that you were dumb enough to vote for a guy (Bush) who can't speak even when he has a teleprompter.
=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGRYPYuFZLk
Posted by: Planet Wingnuttia | October 5, 2009 7:51 PM
SNL told me that other than killing a fly, Barack Obama hasn't done anything in 8.5 months and the foaming at the mouth Repug Teabaggers told me that in only 8.5 mounths Obama turned us into a socialist/fascist/communist/nazi country that want's to kill granny. I'm sure they're both "right". So I'm just going to ignore this new big global poll:
"U.S. most admired country globally The United States is the most admired country globally thanks largely to the star power of President Barack Obama and his administration, according to a new poll. It climbed from seventh place last year, ahead of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan which completed the top five nations in the Nation Brand Index (NBI). What's really remarkable is that in all my years studying national reputation, I have never seen any country experience such a dramatic change in its standing as we see for the United States for 2009," said Simon Anholt, the founder of NBI, which measured the global image of 50 countries each year."
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_usa_status;_ylt=AhiE8Vehvo1k4WfbyVwZilrmWMcF
I trust him on Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve | October 5, 2009 8:07 PM
Come on Nobama, its time to step up to the plate. Our men and women are in harms way, their looking to you for leadership, and so far they haven't seen much. I served my country during the Cuban Missile crisis, and during the Viet Nan war, and I would hate to be on the battlefield, waiting for reinforcements that are being delayed because the so called man in the White House needs to grow some gonads.
Posted by: Paul | October 5, 2009 10:17 PM
Remember those libs who criticized Bush for having "only" National Guard experience. But now, here they are with Obama whose service "record" is less than zero, actually the same as his business experience. Yet, here he is trying to tell his experienced generals how to run his war. Who does he think he is: LBJ Jr.?
Posted by: McKinley | October 5, 2009 10:24 PM
Iraq has had no impact on Afghanistan and vice versa. Anyway, I thought the Left was on board regarding Afghanistan, but increasingly I keep reading from the Left that it was just another fake war that Bush wanted and we see more of that thinking in this post.
Anyway, Afghanistan does matter and not for any military industrial complex. It matters because if we leave or lose then the Taliban and Al Qaeda win and that is not something the world can allow. Afghanistan is not a left or right issue, it is what HAS to be done!
Posted by: John D | October 5, 2009 10:58 PM
Afghan War<10 comments
Obamas' WH anniversary, 875 comments!
What is the matter with you people?
Posted by: Deltoid | October 6, 2009 12:51 AM
OH yeah, we're admired for our star power president. I think that we all have figured out that the admiration of men, nations, popularity, etc. is based on a phoney baloney facade. If you haven't figured that out go back and redo grade school. GEEZ!!!!
PLANET: your silly comments are tired and meaningless.
We are in 2009. Obama is president. Deal with it. After all you created the mess.
Posted by: Gary | October 6, 2009 6:37 AM
Back when Obama was running for President, he impressed everyone he was a Military Genius, but seems he has turned out to be a living god.
Posted by: Inky | October 6, 2009 9:05 AM
Back when Obama was running for President, he impressed everyone he was a Military Genius, but seems he has turned out to be a living god.
Posted by: Inky | October 6, 2009 9:05 AM
Funny...I don't remember him saying he was a military genius. But if you say so Inky...I know your memory is like a steel trap. What I remember was that cowboy diplomacy just doesn't seem to work. It makes you feel good temporarily, but does not last. Had we simply finished the Afghan War and not strayed into Iraq, we had world support and could have finished the job. Congets on supporting the largest mistake America has ever made. Iraq!
Posted by: bill r. | October 6, 2009 10:34 AM
ack when Obama was running for President, he impressed everyone he was a Military Genius, but seems he has turned out to be a living god.
Posted by: Inky | October 6, 2009 9:05 AM
Funny...I don't remember him saying he was a military genius. But if you say so Inky...I know your memory is like a steel trap. What I remember was that cowboy diplomacy just doesn't seem to work. It makes you feel good temporarily, but does not last. Had we simply finished the Afghan War and not strayed into Iraq, we had world support and could have finished the job. Congets on supporting the largest mistake America has ever made. Iraq!
Posted by: bill r. | October 6, 2009 10:34 AM
Bill thanks for expressing but sure like my statement , every one won't agree.
What worries me most is how much longer are we are going to be able to express ourselves, just look at ABC.
Posted by: Inky | October 6, 2009 11:30 AM
Check this one out:
"Did We Elect a Beta Male As President?"
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/10/did_we_elect_a_beta_male_as_pr_1.html
And the last line of the article: "To return to the canine metaphor: It's the height of folly to think that other nations won't be doing everything they can to make President Obama their bitch.
"
Posted by: The Real Bobbie Mobbie | October 6, 2009 11:50 AM
What worries me most is how much longer are we are going to be able to express ourselves, just look at ABC.
Posted by: Inky | October 6, 2009 11:30 AM
Another funny thing.......I'm trying to realize all these lost freedoms I hear of......I just haven't been able to come up with any. You, myself, we express ourselves everyday here. The right wing commentators still call the president a racist daily on TV and I see no loss of speech there either. Freedom is one of the most important American values so I understand that the way to drum up hatred is through claiming it is disappearing. Whether it is true or not.
Posted by: bill r. | October 6, 2009 12:30 PM
Posted by: The Real Bobbie Mobbie | October 6, 2009 11:50 AM Only in a DEMENTED Right Wingers world is an article calling our black President a DOG not racist. You people are sick.s
Posted by: You Lost, Get Over It | October 6, 2009 1:10 PM
How is a dog racist? You twisted Loony Lefty. Thanks for reading the article though!
Posted by: The Real Bobbie Mobbie | October 6, 2009 1:51 PM
What worries me most is how much longer are we are going to be able to express ourselves, just look at ABC.
Posted by: Inky | October 6, 2009 11:30 AM
Another funny thing.......I'm trying to realize all these lost freedoms I hear of......I just haven't been able to come up with any. You, myself, we express ourselves everyday here. The right wing commentators still call the president a racist daily on TV and I see no loss of speech there either. Freedom is one of the most important American values so I understand that the way to drum up hatred is through claiming it is disappearing. Whether it is true or not.
Posted by: bill r. | October 6, 2009 12:30 PM
Excellent comment Bill. but when you get my age you will see how your freedoms, speech included have , lets just say "tighten Up".
My age, saw Roosevelt in a parade-
Posted by: Inky | October 6, 2009 2:31 PM
How is a dog racist? You twisted Loony Lefty. Thanks for reading the article though!
Posted by: The Real Bobbie Mobbie | October 6, 2009 1:51 PM
;
How many white Presidents have been called a dog by respected journalists?
Posted by: You Lost, Get Over It | October 6, 2009 5:49 PM
How many white Presidents have been called a dog by respected journalists?
Posted by: You Lost, Get Over It | October 6, 2009 5:49 PM
uhhh Bush has been called much worse by the Lefty Loons. Why is everything about race to such an "inclusive party"?
Posted by: The Real Bobbie Mobbie | October 7, 2009 9:24 AM