More Dithering… Obama Refuses Afghan Plans From Top Military Brass (Update)
Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, November 12, 2009, 12:03 AM
Remember: This is the same guy who thought genocide was not such a bad thing for Iraq.
Now the military genius in chief has refused to accept any of the recommendations for Afghanistan from this top brass.
The AP reported:
President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration official said Wednesday.
Obama is still close to announcing his revamped war strategy — most likely shortly after he returns from a trip to Asia that ends on Nov. 19.
But the president raised questions at a war council meeting Wednesday that could alter the dynamic of both how many additional troops are sent to Afghanistan and what the timeline would be for their presence in the war zone, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Obama’s thinking.
The president is considering options that include adding 30,000 or more U.S. forces to take on the Taliban in key areas of Afghanistan, and to buy time for the Afghan government’s small and ill-equipped fighting forces to take over. The other three options on the table are ranges of troop increases, from a relatively small addition of forces to the roughly 40,000 that the top U.S. general in Afghanistan prefers, according to military and other officials.
The key sticking points appear to be timelines and mounting questions about the credibility of the Afghan government.
Three months after his top general in Afghanistan asked for reinforcements Obama is still dithering and waffling.
He must still be looking for a Pentagon official to sign off on his plan.
UPDATE: An Instapundit reader added this:
Just something that occurred to me today while trying to cross Fifth Ave in Manhattan during the Veteran’s Day Parade:
The towers fell in New York on 9/11/01, Kabul fell to American led forces on 11/14/01. That’s 65 days.
President Obama’s hand-picked replacement commander in Afghanistan, GEN McChrystal, delivered his Afghanistan war plans to President Obama on 8/30/09, and President Obama hasn’t acted on his General’s recommendations as of today, 11/11/09. That’s 73 days, and waiting.
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Rick commented:
Obama’s default position can best be described as “paralysis by analysis.”
waicool commented:
Obama is in full exposure now. A sitting duck. quack quack
Just_Saying commented:
Obummer questions the leadership of Afghanistan. I question the leadership of the U.S.A.
.
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crosspatch commented:
Obama has apparently come to the conclusion that if he does nothing at all, the problem will solve itself. And it will, eventually, and we will lose.
He is (to paraphrase Dr. Laura) looking for the clean end of the turd where he can grasp it. There isn’t one. It is going to be a difficult job and people are going to get hurt either way.
He is a political animal like LBJ was. He is going to want to micromanage the war because he is very sensitive to how any war news might impact him politically.
Nothing good can come from a President who wants to play general.
Mad Monica commented:
This man is rapidly becoming as dangerous to our troops as terrorism is. With all this dithering and half-assery, our troops are in more and more danger every day.
Is he really this stupid? Or his he hoping that by screwing around like this he can lose the war and claim he was just trying to make the right decision?
I just don’t get it. Even the most inept and ignorant person ought to be able to see how dangerous this whole thing is. But then maybe his head is so swollen from all the accolades and awards he’s been given he can’t think right? After all, he did have trouble remembering it was Veterans Day and not Memorial Day…
KR commented:
Same as in the Senate.
Show up late.
Vote Present.
opaobie commented:
“… pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government…”
As alluded to above, we will turn over responsibility when Obama’s ineptitude and failure to act allows the Taliban to take control and we leave just like we did in Vietnam, folding a winning hand thanks to LIBERAL DEMOCRATS pulling the plug or simply not providing the support and reinforcements necessary to win.
Clearly this is another decision “above his pay grade.”
Frank commented:
Our Troops are the backbone of our country. They sacrifice their very lives, for our safety and freedoms. I’m HORRIFIED that this president is sacrificing their very safety and lives for his political agenda without even a thought or care. Never before in our history, has a president been so inept to hold the highest position and has taken the OATH to uphold the CONSTITUTION, has FAILED so miserably. May GOD protect our TROOPS and the AMERICAN people.
mbabbitt commented:
The Ditherer in Chief strikes (or doesn’t) again.
wanumba commented:
Obama questioned the legitimacy of the Honduran government, to the point of informing them his administration wouldn’t recognize the outcome of the long-scheduled, constitutional, everything-on-time-with-all-legally-qualified-candidates.
Totally undermined the Hondurans and emboldened the infiltrators who arrived to break things, assured the USA would not intervene in stopping foreign-sponsored usurpers.
Now he playes the same undermining game with the Afghan government? Kick the legs out from under the Afghans? Back to full-bore chaos! Thanks! Brilliant! Honduras as a nation compared to Afghanistan looks like paradise. Hondurans have electricity and indoor plumbing, more than Afghans have.
Leftists think everyone lives as they do, with computers and lattes, and houses with central air, and paved roads? And trees!
The place is poor and wrecked by decades of war – Soviet Invasion, Civil War and then the Taliban nightmare, but SOMEHOW they can get stuff done ASAP. ANd at a very vunerable moment in their hstory, their benefactors are under new management and are willing to throw them back to the wolves.
Just because they are disorganized and destitute doesn’t mean they want to go back to the awful days of Taliban tyranny. To let them twist in the wind, with a real possibility that whatever government they have could collapse – and then wtach the fur fly – is disgusting.
Afghanistan needs decades of steady help to rebuild what was destroyed – their private and public sectors absolutely need security in order to function.
What IS it with the Democrats and warfare? They thought out own Civil War was a failure and not worth continuing? A failure which would have allowed slavery to continue? So, cutting and running from important, historically significant military confrontations is not new to the Democrat Party – it’s what they are.
Don’t accept that they”care.” No, they don’t.
MVH commented:
Good Lord! You know things are bad when thieves treat our service personnel with more respect than the POTUS/FAUXTUS and Muslims do!
Another Australian from Downunder commented:
Your President is dangerous.
bg commented:
++
via TRBO
Glenn Beck Show November 11, 2009
1) White House Calls Tea Parties Extremists,
But Not Nidal Malik Hasan?
2) Beck Recites His Extremist Views Today!
3) Beck’s Take on Obama’s Speech
to Nation About Killings:
4) Anita Dunn to Make Millions at
New Job. Mao Would Be Proud:
5) Obama Take Your Time on Afghanistan.
It’s Not Like There’s a War Going On:
God bless him, Glenn is back, pass it on!! (thumbsup)
==
Ann commented:
Another Australian from Downunder
November 12th, 2009 | 2:39 am | #13
Thanks from the outback:
A lot of us know this BEFORE the election. Beyond a reasonable doubt, I knew exactly what he was going to try to do.
He underestimated us true and patriot Americans. That we were stupid and would just roll over and give in to his mesmerizing charms. Well I wonder how that “we don’t want you as POTUS” working out for him?
StandYourGround commented:
Ya know, normally I would never want the military to have a coup in this great nation but for the life of me I cannot understand why the military leaders don’t just bitch slap this weak SOB Communist and throw his ass on the steps of congress as a message to get back to what this country is, the greatest nation on this planet. The most generous and compassionate nation to ever exist on this planet.
Communists suck! We need to purge them from this country…maybe we could get our boys in the military to take care of this.
Hermie commented:
This is the guy who was chairman of a Senate subcommitte on Afghanistan which he never held a single meeting.
This is the guy who claimed that Afghanistan was the war we should concentrate on and that he would do things differently.
This is the guy who in 2008 boasted that he had a plan for Afghanistan and that he had a team of experts who knew better than the either Bush or McCain.
This is the guy who boasted about a new strategy in March 2009, named McKrystal to run it.
One year after election, eight months after his new strategy announcement, and yet he dithers, stalls, makes excuses, and avoids making a decision; even when his own team, with ‘General’ Biden (the guy who Obama boasted had vast experience and expertise) gives him not one, not two, not three but FOUR options.
The President of the United States cannot vote ‘Present’. Obama seems to still believe he is in the Illinois Senate.
Tracy in AZ commented:
Let’s see…the General on the ground says ‘we need more troops or we’re gonna lose!!’ and OBrezhnev says ‘Hmm…I don’t know…let me think about it…’ That’s all you need to know about this gutless patsy.
Ann commented:
lost this post:
OT
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29424.html
Perry: Obama ‘hell-bent’ on socialism
Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry accused President Barack Obama on Wednesday of “punishing” Texas and being “hell-bent” on turning the United States into a socialist country.
eaglewingz08 commented:
Obama must have read the poll that said around 53 percent of Americans was against more troops for Afghanistan. Since Obama isn’t a leader he doesn’t know how to convince people of a difficult course if many are against it.Obama has now gone lightyears beyond Carter as the worst President in history. At least Carter supported anti Soviet Afghanis which made the Soviet soldiers’ lives miserable. Obama wants to placate the Taliban and his leftwing base by refusing to support our troops. This is a scandal. Obama appears to violating his oath to protect and defend the Constitution and his military responsibilities as CinC. How long before Gen. McCrystal resigns?
How long before Gen. Petraeus resigns?
squeaky commented:
is obama prepared to pick up the blame of a
failed afghanistan or is he counting on Bush being the acceptable punching bag. it wasn’t that long ago talking heads were blaming the
descent of afghanistan into chaos on America’s
lack of follow-up after the soviets were expelled. i forget just who was blamed, but we
know how well that worked out. excellent movie “osama” depicting life for women under the taliban.
bill-tb commented:
Our Dear Reader votes present.
drjohn commented:
What Obama is looking for is a plan that specifically puts the blame for any failure on George Bush and is rejecting anything that could risk accountability to Obama.
backhoe commented:
Vietnam II…
Those of us old enough to remember LBJ’s buffoonish micromanaging of that war see parallels that are eerily and horribly familiar.
I “hope” you like that “change” you wanted, Ø-Merica, for you are about to get it…
…good & hard.
drjohn commented:
You do have to ask yourself why, a year after he was elected, is he still dithering?
He had all the answers a year ago.
What happened?
When is Obama going to catch or kill Osama Bin Laden as he promised? Is Obama taking his eye off the ball?
squeaky commented:
“He had all the answers a year ago.
What happened?”
unfortunately, they were for the different questions.
Trish commented:
backhoe- love the Ø-Merica!
drjohn, are you really Michael Smerconish, the Phila talk radio ahole who turned libtard on us and endorsed the Big O last year BECAUSE the then candidate Obama gave him an interview in which he told the lightweight Smerconish he would go after Osama Bin Laden?
He’s not going after any of his fellow Muslin radicals and anyone one who believes he will is a bunch of losers!!!!! I am not referring to you drjohn, I know yours was abit of sarcasm.
Impeach Obama Now
squeaky commented:
when obama declares a madate – we should
remember people still buy swamp land. buying
something sight-unseen can have some serious drawbacks.
Robert commented:
It is easy to lose focus while trying to think of a solution set for Afghanistan. There are no close comparisons to the conditions there from which to draw parallels. There is, however, a way to discern a workable strategy. That is to distill it down to a manageable and understandable goal.
Containment.
Not building infrastructure, or forming a constitutional government, or otherwise building something from nothing. These may be considered as steps to achieving the goal, but I suspect they are more likely sops to enable the D.C. nanny do-gooders to make themselves feel good, to fight a WAR in a NICE fashion.
We should, instead, delineate the goal as seeking to contain the spread of radical Islam by preventing the imposition of a fundamentalist Islamic state, that and nothing more. Otherwise, there is no limit to the tasks we must undertake on behalf of yet another ungrateful population, and the costs we must bear.
Melvin Winter commented:
Obama’s Afghanistan Strategy Decision Making Process Captured on Time-Lapse Photography http://optoons.blogspot.com/2009/10/obamas-afghanistan-strategy-decision.html
Simon R. commented:
Does Barack think McChrystal was asking for 80,000 troops as a negotiating point? That’s what it seems like, that Team Obama thinks McChrystal would naturally ask for more than he needs. Then after Barack concludes that getting him down to 40,000 is good, Barry has a brainflash that 30,000 is what’s “really needed”? Why would you keep bargaining down? These are people, not campaign contributions, not next year’s budget, people.
Betsy Ross commented:
It seems that obama is under the impression that this war belongs to Bush. Once he makes a strategic decision then it will belong to him and he doesn’t want to own this war, ever. IMHO
Chisum commented:
ADVANCE TO THE REAR!
http://www.julescrittenden.com/2009/11/12/advance-to-the-rear/
Chisum commented:
Someone Tell The Dawdler-in-Chief This Is Not A Term Paper
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2009/11/someone-tell-dawdler-in-chief-this-is.html
Chisum commented:
That sound you hear?
Liberal heads exploding!
You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Till It’s Gone
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2009/11/you-dont-know-what-youve-got-till-its.html
Oh Boy! Make mine caramel popcorn.
Anonymous commented:
Wouldn’t it be great if McChrystal et. al. pull the troops out, of their own accord, since the C-I-C has neither the wisdom or the experience to hold that title or to make decisions pertaining thereto?
I trust the military far more than I trust this particular administration.
squeaky commented:
from black five – the smartest guy in the room
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2009/11/smartest-guy-in-the-room-on-afghanistan.html
Trish commented:
Welcome to Viet Nam II the sequel.
aprilnovember811 commented:
This is nothing but an excuse for Obama. He won’t send more troops to fight Muslims. Just like Hassan, he doesn’t want to fight Muslims, or it’s George Soros and William Ayers(yes the same one who visited the White House, although they deny that also,) telling him no. He is a puppet nothing more. More Americans will die because of this man, and a complicit Congress and Media, We’ve warned Congress, the Judicial Branch, I’ve personally written the FBI, CIA, and the Armed Services Committee, that the man in the White House is the enemy, but they look the other way, just like they did with Hassan. More will die.
Chisum commented:
Obama-Fail: No Afghanistan Plan Without Exit Strategy First
Remember the debate about Bush not having an exit strategy for Iraq? Well, here you go. Evidently victory isn’t enough of a strategy for Obama. The hyper-intellectual dilettante thinks you can sit in a classroom and come up with a total solution for war, rather than solving the problem by simply winning.
In a sane world this would be proof positive he doesn’t have what it takes to be CIC. But by the time the media gets done with it, he’ll look like Moses deciding precisely where and how he was going to part the Red Sea to lead his people to freedom. And that includes having nets ready so no fish were harmed during the crossing.
Can you say Jimmy Carter on steroids? This guy is destined to fail at everything he undertakes over the next four years.
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2009/11/obamafail-no-afghanistan-plan-without-exit-strategy-first.html
Mahon commented:
Great. We have a Commander-in-Chief with buck fever. He has the enemy in his sights and can’t pull the trigger.
Anonymous commented:
I disagree, Mahon. He may have the enemy in his sights, but WE are the enemy.