How Obama Came to Plan for 'Surge' in Afghanistan

[Connie_Corleone]

WASHINGTON — On the afternoon he held the eighth meeting of his Afghanistan review, President Obama arrived in the White House Situation Room ruminating about war. He had come from Arlington National Cemetery, where he had wandered among the chalky white tombstones of those who had fallen in the rugged mountains of Central Asia.

How much their sacrifice weighed on him that Veterans Day last month, he did not say. But his advisers say he was haunted by the human toll as he wrestled with what to do about the eight-year-old war. Just a month earlier, he had mentioned to them his visits to wounded soldiers at the Army hospital in Washington. “I don’t want to be going to Walter Reed for another eight years,” he said then.

The economic cost was troubling him as well after he received a private budget memo estimating that an expanded presence would cost $1 trillion over 10 years, roughly the same as his health care plan. Now as his top military adviser ran through a slide show of options, Mr. Obama expressed frustration. He held up a chart showing how reinforcements would flow into Afghanistan over 18 months and eventually begin to pull out, a bell curve that meant American forces would be there for years to come.

“I want this pushed to the left,” he told advisers, pointing to the bell curve. In other words, the troops should be in sooner, then out sooner.

More at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/world/asia/06reconstruct.html

[BeFree]

1. ....

The MIC has him by the balls.

[ShortnFiery]

2. Yeah, we have to "Escalate" in order to "End" this Occupation.

"We have to BOMB and KILL more people who had nothing to do with 9/11, in order to save them" AND "Continuing to OCCUPY these two Muslim nations with our Combat Troops is keeping AMERICA SAFE." :crazy:

Where have I heard THIS insanity before?

Is it any wonder that we have LOST the battle for the hearts and minds throughout the Middle East, if not, the rest of the World?!? :shrug:



p.s. President Obama, take notes from LBJ's and America's previous *horrific* experience with "escalation" of combat troops within an occupied country.

[cliffordu]

13. No more dead baby playing card?? What happened to it?

That was one of my favorites.

[neshanic still]

3. “I don’t want to be going to Walter Reed for another eight years,”

Not touching that quote.

[ShortnFiery]

8. I was just at Walter Reed last month. Many troops there are LESS than whole.

It breaks my heart.

[jkshaw]

4. Thank you Connie, this helps.

I'm printing the nytimes article for the family to read.

[Turborama]

5. K&R A very insightful article

Thanks for posting

[Clio the Leo]

6. Time and time again, those situation room meetings happened in proximity to other events...

... the awarding of the Nobel prize, the trip to Dover. Certainly not anything the admin. planned. Fate has an odd way of taking hold sometimes.

[spoony]

7. Again, thank God he took making the wrong decision so soberly.

Is this the talking point of the day?

[ShortnFiery]

9. I wonder if one of those troops was "a close friend" or "a relative," if Obama would

be as thoughtfully pragmatic as he is today?

[bleever]

10. It's well worth reading the entire article.

If nothing else, this is an infinitely more thoughtful and careful president that the prior resident.

[avaistheone1]

12. Yet a president who is still making very poor decisions that do not

have the support of the American people.

[Skittles]

14. a slug would be more thoughtful and careful than that bastard bush

[chowder66]

11. and more to consider....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/obama-progressives-and-af_b_378605.html

excerpt - "Like many Progressives, I disagreed with President Obama's decision to increase the number of American troops deployed to Afghanistan. But Progressives must not lose sight of the fact, that though we may disagree with this particular decision, President Obama shares a progressive vision of American foreign policy -- including Afghanistan -- that differs fundamentally from that of his Neo-Con predecessor."........................................

[HopeOverFear]

15. I liked this part:

The three-month review that led to the escalate-then-exit strategy is a case study in decision making in the Obama White House -- intense, methodical, rigorous, earnest and at times deeply frustrating for nearly all involved. It was a virtual seminar in Afghanistan and Pakistan, led by a president described by one participant as something "between a college professor and a gentle cross-examiner."

[Cha]

16. He obviously

didn't make this decision without intensely studying on every aspect so he could come up with the solution he thought was the best.

[HopeOverFear]

17. exactly