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Title: Exclusive: Gates Delays Troop Decision
Source:
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URL Source: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2009/02/exclusive-gates.html
Published: Feb 6, 2009
Author: ABCNews
Post Date: 2009-02-06 11:02:03 by christine
Keywords: None
Views: 146
Comments: 13
ABC News' Luis Martinez reports: ABC News has learned that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has deferred a much-anticipated decision on sending additional troops into Afghanistan until President Obama decides what force levels he wants. The news comes after an anticipated Pentagon proposal to send three additional combat brigades to Afghanistan -- or 17,000 troops, as reported by ABC News last week -- was presented to Gates for his approval this afternoon. An element of the Pentagon troop proposal anticipated a large Marine brigade to be followed by two Army Brigade Combat Teams, including a Stryker Brigade. The top U.S. general in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, favors using the armored vehicles as a way of extending his troops' presence to remote regions of Afghanistan. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told ABC News that he disputed the idea that today's non-decision amounted to a delay in the decision-making process. "The decision-making process is still ongoing,” Morrell said. “I wouldn't characterize it as a delay. There is no prescribed timeline for the commander in chief to make decisions about adding more forces to Afghanistan in the near term, and that decision, whenever it comes, does not hinge on the completion of the Afghan strategy review." Gates told Congress last week that if Obama were to decide in favor of sending the additional brigades, he anticipated that "we could have two of those brigades there probably by late spring, and potentially a third by mid-summer." In addition, the Obama administration currently is awaiting the completion of ongoing strategy reviews for Afghanistan. Those include a recommendation from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, another from Gen. David Petraeus, who heads Central Command, and another from Richard Holbrooke, Obama's civilian envoy to Afghanistan. The reviews were begun under the Bush administration last fall. Yet another review conducted by the White House czar on Iraq and Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Doug Lute, has already been completed. ABC News has learned that the forthcoming review by the Joint Chiefs of Staff favors limiting the objectives for Afghanistan -- moving away from the broad goal of democracy building in Afghanistan toward providing regional security for both Pakistan and Afghanistan and preventing al Qaeda from maintaining a safe haven in Pakistan.
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#1. To: christine (#0)
Waiting on Obama the Magnificent.
Both Jews. We will never leave the ME other than in a coffin.
4um Traitor I agree - unless the neocons get the American peoples to commit genocide on a continental scale and the rest of the world does nothing, neither course seems to me to be too likely. Especially as it appears the Israel strangle hold over the media is becoming more common knowledge.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" Tom... Olde history... If one recalls or reads about WW2, the oft repeated phrase is...Patriotic War... That was nonsense then and still is. The Jews wanted us in the war at their connivance and half a million Americans died. No one rushed off to die, that is nonsense.
It's amazing that the "get the hell out" message is written on every wall that America can see, but there are still questions being asked. Obama isn't going to like his new job, that's for sure.
And wtf does bHO know about how many troops are 'needed' in Afghanistan? Total insanity.
Did you forget the red phone hot line FROM Tel Aviv????
lol - obviously, I forgot.
Time for Obama to forget about Afghanistan and concentrate instead on rehabilitating the industrial, commercial, financial, communications and technological sectors in America, or we might end up with two Afghanistans on the planet.
Obama's not going to be able to fix those either.
That was my question. Since Nam isn't it supposed to be all about the military running the military with over site but little imput from the civilian politicians?
It's not for Obama to come up with a fix. What he needs to do, instead of relying for advice from the pro-Israel hacks, is call on execs of large, successful corporations, engineering and so on, to come up with major projects which the government can facilitate like the Alaska gas pipeline, high-speed rail, plasma garbage recycling, which will create a demand for steel, etc., and employ Americans for their own benefit rather than in Afghanistan and Iraq for Israel's protection. However, Obama's options are narrowing if there's anything to InfoWars' story on California and a bunch of other states working on secession resolutions, posted with some interesting discussion:
#2. To: christine (#0)
Those include a recommendation from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, another from Gen. David Petraeus, who heads Central Command, and another from Richard Holbrooke, Obama's civilian envoy to Afghanistan. The reviews were begun under the Bush administration last fall.
#3. To: christine (#0)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#4. To: Cynicom (#2)
We will never leave the ME other than in a coffin.
#5. To: tom007 (#4)
Especially as it appears the Israel strangle hold over the media is becoming more common knowledge.
#6. To: christine, Jethro Tull, FormerLurker, Diana, All (#0)
#7. To: christine (#0)
#8. To: lodwick (#7)
Total insanity.
#9. To: Cynicom (#8)
Did you forget the red phone hot line FROM Tel Aviv????
#10. To: christine (#0)
#11. To: Tatarewicz (#10)
#12. To: lodwick, christine (#7)
And wtf does bHO know about how many troops are 'needed' in Afghanistan?
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss — The Who
#13. To: christine (#11)
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