Report: Obama Told Generals to Scrub Assessment

[The Prof]

1. A Republican congressman, Howard McKeon, from CA, his party's top member of the House Armed Services Committee, claims that Defense Secretary Gates told him that Obama asked Generals McChrystal and Petraeus to "scrub" their assessments of goings on in Afghanistan, to make matters on the ground there appear better than they are so as not to force the president to send troops to a place he reportedly does not want to be involved in in the first place.

2. Now, you may claim Mr McKeon is lying or distorting, and I am in no position to argue with you.

3. However, were Obama to whisper such a plea to clean up on paper the complicated, corpse-strewn happenings in the palaestra over there, it would be completely in keeping with his compromising character.

4. Remember, this is a president who SAT on General McChrystal's drearily realistic report for 3 weeks before going on FIVE Sunday talks a week ago to assert repeatedly that he had NOT been asked for more troops, that he was AWAITING a top-to-bottom review which someone, for unknown motive, leaked to The Washington Post's Bob Woodward the next day, September 21.

McChrystal: More Forces or 'Mission Failure'

5. Obama is also the chair of the UN's Security Council who on Thursday pushed thru a unanimous resolution calling for a prettified planet purged of post-modern weapons, all the while knowing the next day he was going to have to go public with Ahmedinejad's underground CONTRADICTION of the president's impractical, utopian position.

6. Whether McKeon is right or wrong, there's little doubt the president does NOT want to be in Afghanistan, nor does most of his party, he's there only because he made this "right war" so central to his campaign, and he pushed so hard on that point in particular only to convince the electorate he was not your traditional anti-military, blame-America-first liberal.

7. Kudo's to McChrystal for following his "duty-bound" conscience and reporting to the president the recalcitrant reality in the Mountains on the Moon, Afghanistan, even if they aren't as pleasant as the president might prefer.

8. Afghanistan is a sure loser, NO WIN, and the prez is glued to it.

9. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell denied McKeon's claim: "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."

10. In his next sentence, however, the PR point man indicated Gates, not Obama, was the requester of a squeaky clean assessment: "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," according to FP's report.

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/p..._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 Prof

 

[Harshaw]

http://obama.3cdn.net/417b7e6036dd852384_luzxmvl09.pdf

 

[Redress]

9. Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell denied McKeon's claim: "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."

10. In his next sentence, however, the PR point man indicated Gates, not Obama, was the requester of a squeaky clean assessment: "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," according to FP's report.

Boy, that sure sounds like something to complain about...

 

[The Prof]

complain?

the president reportedly asked his generals to lie about what's going down on the ground in afghanistan, his chosen battleground, because he doesn't want to be there, has no chance of winning, will be held personally entirely responsible for america's defeat, and has the base of his party on his back for pledging his commitment there, as well as the lives of countless US soldiers, for petty political purpose

who's complaining?

fp is reporting

 

[Redress]

complain?

the president reportedly asked his generals to lie about what's going down on the ground in afghanistan, his chosen battleground, because he doesn't want to be there, has no chance of winning, will be held personally entirely responsible for america's defeat, and has the base of his party on his back for pledging his commitment there, as well as the lives of countless US soldiers, for petty political purpose

who's complaining?

fp is reporting

You have nothing but one guy in opposition to Obama claiming that. The more credible claim is the one I quoted.

 

[The Prof]

no, we have the sure knowledge that the president sat on mcchrystal's assessment, written aug 30, while he went on sunday's talks last week to claim he had not been asked for more troops

bob woodward on the following monday, sept 21, blew that lie outta the water

washingtonpost.com

and we also have the sight before our own observant eyes of the prez on thursday in the security council making his bid for a nuke free world when he knew all along the devastating development (ask putin, ask sarkozy, ask brown, ask hu) that ahmedinejad was developing the big one

but we're really just repeating ourselves

i, by the way, have nothing, except a computer capable of copying links

you, it appears, have nothing but small argumentation

at least you're not getting bitchy this time

LOL!

 

[The Prof]

we also have this:

the pentagon's press secty, morrell himself, says---obama didn't ask for any scrubbing, gates did

LOLOL!

we also have wall to wall public reports about the prez pressuring petraeus to HOLD OFF on assessments and requests

Afghan Troop Request Simmers - WSJ.com

at the end of the story linked above, a british general, mackay, just quit this week because downing street wouldn't give him the extra troops he needed to have a chance of succeeding in afghanistan

either fight to win or pull out, mackay says, don't leave us here to get slaughtered

howie kurtz on cnn's reliable sources (the media's look at the media) this morning is asking in segment 2 why The Post sat on mcchrystal's dreary assessment, leaked to bob woodward, for 3 weeks, did the white house pressure them

(segment one was devoted to obama's oft-repeated statements about the 24 hour news cycle and the premium on rudeness, media catnip, for receiving air time)

afghanistan is an albatross and it's dragging this president down

the administration squirms

has nothing to do with ME

LOL!