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Report: Obama told Petraeus and McChrystal to "scrub" assessments
As the Obama administration wrestles with how to deal with the worsening military and political situation in Afghanistan and the worsening level of public support for the war at home, new details are emerging about how the president is thinking about his decision on whether to send more U.S. troops to the region.
According to Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-CA, the new top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Obama told Central Command head Gen. David Petraeus and Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal to "scrub" their assessments because he "wasn't inclined to send troops over there."
If McKeon's claim is true, Obama's instructions, relayed to McKeon through Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, show how resistant the president is to doubling down on the war in Afghanistan and how Republicans are prepared to take their push for an increased commitment of resources to the public.
The second half of McChrystal's assessment, the part that will spell out his request for more troops, is expected to hit the Pentagon soon.
Roll Call's Jennifer Bendery and John Stanton have the scoop:
House Armed Services ranking member Howard McKeon (R-Calif.) said Wednesday that Gates told him on a July trip to Afghanistan that Obama "wasn't inclined to send troops over there."
McKeon said Gates also told him that, in light of Gen. David Petraeus and McChrystal being asked to submit assessments to the president on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively, Obama had "given instructions" to them to "scrub everything, to make sure they didn't ask for more than they needed."
That conversation prompted McKeon to ask McChrystal if the directive sent "a chilling message" that the U.S. and NATO commander should ask for less troops than he needed. "He said, ‘No, I'm honor-bound to ask for what I need,'" McKeon said."
Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell pushed back against McKeon’s claims:
"I usually do not comment on the secretary's discussions with members of Congress, but in this case I think I need to clear up some confusion," Morrell told The Cable, "I do not believe that the secretary would make statements to anyone, including Congressman McKeon, indicating that President Obama was disinclined to send additional troops to Afghanistan. That's just not plausible because the issue of whether to send more forces is what will be discussed and debated once the president's strategy review has been completed and both he and Secretary Gates have been very clear that they are still undecided on the way ahead in Afghanistan."
Furthermore, Gates, not President Obama, told General McChrystal to "scrub" his forces to make sure that all of them were being used in the most efficient manner, Morrell added.
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Afghanistan
Knowing a little about the military and the professionalism of McChrystal and Petraeus, I find it hard to believe that whatever plan they submitted was not based on the recently approved new Counterinsurgency Strategy. Such a report would also have detailed; exactly how additional resources would be allocated, the results expected and how that meshes into the overall strategy. Perhaps, a lack of inexperience when combined with pressure Obama is recieving from Democrats in Congress is causing him to do the big waffle dance. Failure to follow through on Afghanistan, will be a major blow to what little credibility the U.S. has left in the world. It sends a very strong message to both friends and enemies alike, that the U.S. cannot be relied on and will back down when challenged.
Obama was disinclined to send additional troops to Afghanistan.
I do not believe that Obama has the resolve, experience, ability, dedication or stomach to employ the military force of the United States in such a manner to win on the battle field against Islamic Fundamentalists. Hell he is even unwilling to call them what they are. He should use language that makes them crazy and drives them out into the open where they are easier to identify and kill. Might even start with some new "offensive" cartoons placed on the front door of every freedom loving American to help the effort.
I fully agree with Jerry.
I fully agree with Jerry. Hell, what modern liberal has the stomach to use American might with extreme prejudice? McGovern? Carter? Clinton? Obama? This is a full-hand of weakness if you ask me. "The One" won't even go on Fox News for an interview! What makes anyone think he has the stomach to take on a determined foe? The only countries that should fear Obama are allies foolish enough to trust him. You can bet he will alienate friends while appeasing enemies. Little Israel has the most to lose under Obama's watch.
The "world" will love Obama only because he is presiding over a diminished America. Plenty of despots are in line hoping to fill the void.
Obama told "scrub" assessments
Sounds like LBJ and Robert McNamara are back in the White House from 1965. No military plan, just maintain the status quo... A scary thought... 58,000...
Obama is an anti-American,
Obama is an anti-American, narcissistic, INCREDIBLY naive joke of a President. He is doing everything in his power to lessen the status of the U.S. in world politics. He sees U.S. sovereignty as an evil thing and is trying to end that, as well. The problem for Barry is that Socialism/Fascism hasn't worked anywhere in the world. Our military leaders will not let this inexperienced loser ruin this country and will start to actively undermine his presidency with constant "leaks" about his traitorous actions behind the scenes......
Obama @Afgananistan troop decision
I believe Obams is coming to realize the he has become unelectable just like the rest of nation.
Therefore, he will spend his remainging days in office, as president,attempting to destroy our country. I believe his present demeanor shows an innate and subliminal hatred for our country.
President Obama
I am very concerned about the situation in Afghanistan. The decision not to deploy the missile defense shield in Poland and Czecho is disquieting to defense minded Americans and to our allies. The impending decision --- which face it is not going to be to increase troop levels --- is simply evidence of the Administration's inability to deal effectively with military force. This war is really being fought in Pakistan rather than Afghanistan and we are not doing very well. I am very, very concerned. All of this hand wringing is just a head fake. The decision has already been foreshadowed and taken.
Afghanistan
Unfortunately most westerners have no clue about Afghanistan's tribal society whose inhabitants have no idea what statehood means. To make matters worse Obama has no clue of foreign policy and how the real world operates other then what he is told by his liberal advisors. When was the last time castro and Ghaddafi praised a US president? Hopefully our military leaders will have the balls to stand up and resign their commissions rather then go along with a failed policy that will needlessly cost the lives of our troops. We will pay for the stupidity of the American voter. Ufortunately the republican party had Nothing to offer last november other then a Nice guy senator and a MILF as his running mate.
My Say
For our Dear Leader Obama, what other proof do you need to show that Messiah Obama is incompetent and unqualified? I'm sure he will turn Afghanistan into another Vietnam. So what, if that means another 10,000 Soldiers die because he is more concerned with being Leftwing and political than President. Everyone in the service volunteered and nothing they signed said that our president had to provide them with protective armor, bullets, vehicles, support or anything for that matter. I am sure, our BRAVE troops serving in Afghanistan, cannot wait for the American people with the presidents blessing to greet them at the airport just to spit in their face and call them baby killers (WOW WHAT A FLASHBACK, that would be just like Vietnam). The best part is Messiah Obama will defund Afghanistan leaving the troops naked to pay for Health Care. Remember it is about HIM getting reelected and supporting his base, not supporting our troop and the American way of life.
A Good Scrubbing Shouldn't Hurt
A "scrub" isn't in and of itself a bad idea, and the pols in DC should at least hesitate a little before commiting more American blood & treasure to ANY operation. This is a serious matter, and the analysis out of CENTCOM needs to be solid. (I only wish they'd "scrub" the healthcare bills being drafted up in Congress so that they were one tenth as solid as what I'm sure CENTCOM will provide!)
Korea and Vietnam Redux
I remember Vietnam only too well. Unless Obama is ready to support our men and woman who are fighting for our freedom, he's 'leading' our troops into another meat grinder. More body bags and filled beds at the VA hospitals.
The man is a product of the Chicago Machine, a career politician with no foreign policy experience and little, if any, hands-on experience in the real world. Being president isn't about community organizing, it's about being the Commander In Chief of America.
FIRE THE GENERALS
People, aren't you ANGRY? The Pentagon generals have proven themselves to be EXTREMELY INEPT -- TOTALLY INCOMPETENT!
Americans have forked over TRILLIONS for the Pentagon to "get the job done". Yet with all that TAXPAYER money and ALL THAT SECRET WEAPONS TECHNOLOGY over 100 years into the future in their "black projects", they can't seem to win a war against backward countries. WHY IS THIS?
Why is it that the generals build Afghan bases like Camp Hell in a valley surrounded on all sides with high mountains with snipers shooting at troops all day? Even a 5-yr-old can figure that one out! Americans keep forking over TAXES for all this incompetence! And our children keep dying and losing limbs BECAUSE of it!
The Pentagon REPEATEDLY hires rogue "contractors" who are EVEN MORE incompetent and "out of control". Why? Is it so the PENTAGON can order murders and other dirty deeds, then deny culpability? WELL IT ISN'T WORKING, GENERALS, for either you or the CIA! YOU ARE STILL RESPONSIBLE!
The only RESULTS Americans are seeing from the huge military expenditures (and "black projects" with even more trillions -- technology NEVER provided for the good of Americans), is more deaths and more lost limbs. The American people are not WAR-MONGERS who seek to OCCUPY the world to protect oil giants and corporations who moved overseas with our industries and jobs.
The military should do it's job of U.S. DEFENSE and let the corporations and the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Zionists, banksters, and private Federal Reserve owners hire their own "protection". BRING OUR SOLDIERS HOME -- NOW! Eight years of incompetence is enough.
ONE MORE THING -- STOP VACCINATING OUR SOLDIERS WITH "POISON" MILITARY LAB-CREATED SWINE FLU. What better way to spread swine flu to every state and every soldier’s family.
die on the spot but the poison vaccines will severely affect their health. There's one million more times the squalene than in the Gulf War Syndrome vaccinations. Nasal mists are just as deadly! The object is depopulation by 4 billion -- goals of Kissinger and David Rockefeller. All these deaths just when baby boomers are getting ready for their social security checks!
And.........get ready for our illustrious military, along with foreign troops, to be put on every street in America with roadblocks to insure YOU’VE HAVE HAD “YOUR” MANDATORY 'POISON" SWINE FLU SHOT!
OHBUMMER THE MAGNIFICENT & AFGHANISTAN
If I were in the American military I would quit even if it meant going into the stockade or the brig for years. We are ruled by lunatics with propaganda and guns. Screw 'em.
He was against the surge in Iraq because of Afghanistan
Because it should have been implemented in Afghanistan. Now he wants to scrub it in Afghanistan. If you recall Obama said that the surge in Iraq cost the Army Arabic translators that could be used in Afghanistan. This self proclaimed expert of the Middle East (because he knew the difference between Sunni and Shia) doesn't know that they don't speak Arabic in Afghanistan. The whole point of this is that we have a community organizer of dubious intellectual capacity (remember we don't have his GPA or articles from Harvard or Occidental) trying to tell two professional soldiers (who we do know how well they did in college) how to do their job. When people tried to raise a warning a year ago about how dangerous it would be to have this man president, we we ignored, marginalized, and essentially lied about. Well boys and girls, our predictions are coming true. If Obama's purpose is not to win in Afghanistan - then keeping troops there is a criminal act and a war crime and every soldier that dies has been murdered by Barack Hussein Obama. He is not acting as President, making hard decisions, he is trying to be all things to all people as the Commander in Chief of the military. You can't be a community organizer in prosecuting a war. God help us and God help our troops.
Black & Yellow
Seems Obama is not just the first black president, he's also the first yellow president!
Fire the President
As I can see with the civilians particularly "Fire the Generals" they don't understand that infantry will always be necessary, even when we have developed power weapon that have self generating energy. In order to hold ground, you put boots on the ground. And that tactic of fire bases does have some validity, but in the end, they are going to have to go after the insurgents: in Afghanistan and later Pakistan. Make it clear that you will kill the enemy, even if they hide among civilians. I guarantee you, the civilians will evacuate when the Taliban arrives for that reason. We have the technology to kill every last one of them and we have the best ground troops in the world. I am afraid that we will have to kill every last Taliban - like we did to the Nazis: a Carthaginian Peace. I know that bothers the bleeding hearts, but I also guarantee you, it will be the last time we will have a problem. Cases in point: Germany and Japan were dealt with in utter ruthlessness and they haven't given us trouble, as a matter of fact, they are Allies. Think about that.
Waffles anyone?
Obama waffles and Troops died. Mr. Obama, you can't just vote "present" like you did during most of your SHORT senatorial career. It's time to do your business or get off of the POT! This is part of the job of being the President of the greatest country on Earth. Even if the decision to surge is approved today, it will be weeks before extra boots hit the ground in Afganistan. Let's get this show on the road or pull chocks and get our boys and girls the he11 out of there.
Amen to Fire the President!
Why didn't I think of that!?!
You think that's bad
My boss's son is in Iraq and sent him some very disturbing news. New orders were issued from the White House. No soldier can fire at an Iraqi, even if they are under fire from that Iraqi. He told of a night last week where their base camp was being hit by mortar rounds. A nearby gunship located the attackers only to be denied permission to fire. Some US troops were hurt. Also, our combat experienced troops are being replaced by inexperienced troops. These troops are freezing up when they are attacked. Several have already died in his unit. He even had to rescue his new CO who froze in humvee while they were being attacked. He said that the government and military are so corrupt that the country is falling apart.
Let them use clones
Let the generals use all those military CLONES they've manufactured instead of our sons. How many trillions have been spent on THAT?
Foreign Policy
Obama wants to give our country away. He may not want us to lose when he is president but he doesn't want us to win in the long run. I guess it is because he knows he will not win a second term since he's messed up this bad so far. Liberals will say that he's doing everything right but no other President has had other major countries say that they have no confidence in our currency and want to not use it as the monetary standard any longer.
Face it, this president is the biggest loser since Carter. And he's determined to run our country into the ground. Health care is a joke. We've got to have it because it is so important but yet England and Canada have worse systems than we do and they are always pointed to as the standard we should have? Cuba....my goodness (I would use an expletive but that would likely get some liberal's "underwear" in a wad)has a better system? THINK about this administration people. Obama is a "rock star" and every time we've had one of those in the White House we've gotten nothing but sex and scandal. How many people remember the BJs under the desk from Clinton....or the haircuts that cost hours from thousands of people who had to wait while that last "democratic" president forced everyone to wait on him....How many times did Laura Bush force people to wait while she bought $4.00 potatoes at a Farmer's Market?
well? ya'll wanted change...
...Be careful what you ask for...and next time you whine about change? be specific- this is what happens when you put a Liberal socialist in the most powerful position in the world- the rest of the world sees us as incompetent emasculated wimps! way to go Mr President...
Scrub!!!
Well we now have a neomaxist in the white house and the world laughs. China and others are going after the resources around the world and we shovel horse manure in our gas tanks. The same with the war in Afghanistan: the Taliban are trying to kill our troops and our young men are told to sip tea with the enemy and our women Marines have to wear head scarfs(can't be Amercans). McChrystal says too many civilians killed last year and we cannot win the war like this. Levin wants us to try to convince the enemy to change sides, Gates doesn't want a large military footprint in A-stan and the Commandant of the Marine Corps in worried about our carbon footprint in A-stan!! OMG!!! What a bunch of prissy, incompetent emasculated fools we have: Obama, Gates, Jones, McChrystal, CMC, McChrystal. Meanwhile my son and the sons' of many others are being ambushed, sniped at, IEDs exploadng and when they request air or atrillery -DENIED!!! The ROE we must follow are unteneble. McChrystal telegraphs his policy: the Taliban just have to stay with the civilians who in Helmand are 80% Taliban or Taliban supporters so after sipping tea with our Marines all they have to do is plant an IED then chill in the Village - off limits to our forces. The Taliban know they can defeat us because those in charge are FOOLS!!! Now McChrystal says he didn't realize the Taliban was so dangerous!!! This guy is a general? HE is a damn fool and should do the right thing and retire. He is carrying the water for Obama and will only be fired if everything goes south and Obama will then fire him to make Obama look good - impossible! We are witnessing a coup in this nation and we sit by and do nothing. Yea scrub plans for more forces, send instead more tea and some social workers.
Another Viet nam?
Why is it that when someone is running for an elected position; they know exactly how to fix the current problems? why is it that after they are elected they are not sure how to fix the current problems; or worse, they are incompetent to fix them? Do we have that situation here? Probably! In the mean time, the troops are dying are not being supported with what is needed and recommended by the only people who know for sure (McCrystal and Petreous). Must we always have to go through the Viet Nam scenario. The pols at the time (Kennedy, Johnson, McNamara, Westmorland) were incompetent. If they were competent the VietNamese would not now be under communist rule. To pussyfoot, cajole, and appease the enemy in the time of war is just plain stupid (I can't say ignorant because we've already fooled once.) The pols should lead, follow, or get out of the way. Do something. Just don't sit there when our Marines and LRRP's are dying because of non-support.
Incompetent Fools!!!!
Some think we should not commit more ground forces to A-stan. Well it all depends: are we going to leave and SCRUB that corrupt backward country and leave its future to the opposing forces within its borders (my choice) or are we going to stay and fight like Americans are able to do. Of course, inside the beltway too much love and pride in America is a mortal sin! If we do stay then we MUST unfetter our troops and let them kill the damn enemy whom McChrystal is suprised is so dangerous!!! Can you believe this fool?? Is he a general or a sociologist? No he is a general in the new AbomiNation!! Hey Obama: so victory is not necessarily the goal and you are not comfortable with the word victory well listen up yo, I'm not comfortable with you in the White House. You have proven to be as incompetent as Carter, Bush,GHW, Clinton, Bush,GW (could have been better and now you!!! Where is Patton and Reagan when we need them???? If our troops are to remain in A-stan there needs to be more: 400,000-500,000 for starters and crush the Taliban. SCRUB the silly NATO promulgated ROE and kill the damn enemy!!!