Obama: From WH To TWL In Four Short Years

Keeping in mind that retired General Jones is a civilian and a politician now, Obama has reduced his team to civilian politicians to second guess McChrystal. And now he wants numbers district by district to do some actuarial science as retired ballerina, Rahm and others pour over data to make a decision on Afghanistan based upon their own anaylsis. Is it that, or a seemingly acceptable way to keep the Left quiet and Afghanistan out of the headlines as the march toward ObamaCare to control a large portion of the American economy continues without, in his view, unnecessary distractions?

Meanwhile, he managed to slip off to Dover AFB between 12:30 and 4 AM last nightto greet returning caskets of 18 servicemen recently killed in Afghanistan. Despite the late hour, the event was anything but discreet. Turns out they managed to get a family of one, Army Sargent Dale R. Griffin, to agree to allow press coverage of the 15 minute ceremony, securing an inspiring photo op for the event. Maybe he wasn't tired, not having played golf that day, so far as I know, and had some time after a movie.

I found myself wondering if Obama might not be the first American Present-dent to go from the White House to the Terror Watch List in just four short years. Perhaps others will disagree. 

A range of options

The weeks-long White House review has been shaped by a central tension between the broad counterinsurgency strategy endorsed by the military and a narrower counterterrorism campaign against al-Qaeda that some senior administration officials favor.

Gates and Jones have pushed McChrystal to justify as specifically as possible his request for 44,000 additional troops, the figure now at the center of White House deliberations. The review group once included intelligence officials, generals and ambassadors, but it has recently narrowed to a far smaller number of senior civilian advisers, including Biden, Gates, Jones, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Administration officials said the province-by-province analysis will be ready for Obama before his scheduled Friday meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the White House.

"There are a lot of questions about why McChrystal has identified the areas that he has identified as needing more forces," said a senior military official familiar with the review, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations candidly. "Some see it as an attempt by the White House to do due diligence on the commander's troop request. A less charitable view is that it is a 5,000-mile screwdriver tinkering from Washington."

Comments

[Present-Dent-Ubama]

You Got down, Perfect !!

[Fred Beloit]

It is interesting to watch the MSM and the WH seemingly obsess about the number of troops requested. Do they really think, one wonders, that a general looks at a map and says we need two thousand people there and six thousand here? Doesn't a general focus on units, as in, we need a battalion of infantry here, a company of armor there. Does Rahmbo Emanuel or GI Joe Biden know the difference between a platoon and a regiment?

Perhaps the MSM is concerned about keeping military secrets and doesn't want to tip off the enemy as to what kinds of forces will be sent. Perhaps the MSM is also careful not to disclose where those units would be located, again to keep military secrets a secret..............nah.

[gary gulrud]

Indeed, heh.

[USMC]

That pic of Obama saluting is absolutely disgusting. He's the most pathetic "leader" I've ever seen.

[Philip McDaniel]

"...narrowed to a far smaller number of senior civilian advisers, including Biden, Gates, Jones, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel."

We are screwed. Let's get the troops home asap. We're going to need all the help we can get in a couple of years, when the flup hits the fan.

[craig]

I would like to take an attitude towards you that you take towards the president, but that would assign an importance to you that is certainly not justified. You always justify your comments by saying that Bush was treated the same way. Bush deserved it. Bush was a buffoon. To prefer Bush over Obama shows how bankrupt your ideology truly is. So to insult our president while he is paying tribute to fallen soldiers really shows your ignorance. Of course I bear some culpability here also. I am the fool who stupidly indulged my curiosity and looked at this crap.