Obama Meets with Afghanistan Commander in Denmark By JULIE PACE and LARA JAKES, Associated Press Writer Julie Pace And Lara Jakes, Associated Press Writer â 15 mins ago WASHINGTON â At a pivotal point in the administration's Afghanistan strategy, President Barack Obama and his top Afghan war commander met privately aboard Air Force One Friday for a talk the White House described as productive. The 25-minute meeting with Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, aboard Air Force One as it waited to carry the president home from Denmark, gave Obama a chance to step outside the circle of advisers he has convened to study the problem of Afghanistan. His war council has been sharing differing opinions on whether the U.S. should send thousands more troops to tamp down the Taliban, or shift to a narrower focus on al-Qaida in neighboring Pakistan. The Copenhagen meeting was an extension of those war council sessions "as we reassess and re-evaluate moving forward in Afghanistan," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters afterward. He said Obama and McChrystal "both agree that this is a helpful process." No decisions were made at their meeting, Gibbs said. Obama was in the Danish capital to pitch Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympic games, and McChrystal was summoned there from London, where he gave a speech on Thursday warning that insurgents are gaining strength in Afghanistan and the U.S. needs to increase its efforts there. Hours after Obama and McChrystal met, the Pentagon said that the general's official request for more troops for the war will not be sent to the White House until next week at the earliest. At issue is Obama's looming decision to stick with the current mission in Afghanistan â which could require adding as many as 40,000 additional U.S. troops â or scale back the military option and expand operations targeting terrorists in Pakistan. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Friday that McChrystal's troop request is still at the Pentagon and a decision is not imminent. "I don't see anything in the short term. It is exceptionally, closely held," he said. Without citing numbers publicly, McChrystal has said more troops are needed to "buy time" for the Afghan military and police forces to prepare to take control of the country in 2013. The meeting was the third conversation between the two since McChrystal disclosed in a television interview that aired Sunday that he had spoken with Obama only once since taking over the U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan. Obama tapped McChrystal in May to replace ousted Gen. David McKiernan. Obama and McChrystal spoke on Wednesday before Obama convened a meeting later that day of his war council, which McChrystal joined by video conference. The president had long been expected to approve McChrystal's plan to mount a military push against the Taliban in Afghanistan. But waning public support for the war and concern about his top commanders' call for as many as 40,000 more U.S. troops has exposed emerging fault lines inside the White House. It's possible that Obama will decide on a hybrid strategy that keeps in place the 68,000 U.S. combat troops who are already in Afghanistan, while adding more military trainers and ramping up strikes on al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan. Obama is holding two more meetings of his war council next week. Obama's strategy review was prompted in part by a critical assessment of the war effort that McChrystal sent him last month. On Wednesday, Obama chaired a meeting of his top military and national security advisers, pressing them for their views on how to proceed. Military commanders support the current strategy of targeting the Taliban, but other key officials divided. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and special Afghan and Pakistan envoy Richard Holbrooke appeared to be leaning toward supporting a troop increase, while White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Gen. James Jones, Obama's national security adviser, appeared to be skeptical of troop increases. Vice President Joe Biden also has been reluctant to support sending more troops, favoring a strategy that directly targets al-Qaida fighters who are believed to be hiding in Pakistan. The assessment of divisions within Obama's inner circle came from a senior administration official who attended the meeting and spoke on the condition of anonymity, because the discussions were private. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, both support McChrystal's strategy.
Damn, FloydLandis82, according to you Obama is breaking the chain of command. Not good. You are a liar and hypocrite. Just admit that your boy Obama is a total failure. Afterall, the guy went to Copenhagen to bring the games home to Chicago and Chicago came in dead last. Then consider the guy was all about Tax and Trade which is a complete failure and Obamacare another failure.
Poor Dr. Jack-Off. He has no friends and no real life other than posting on ET all day long . . . How many times do you think he'll be posting all of his worthless crap over the weekend? Anyone care to guess what his "over/under" will be on posts made over the weekend because HE HAS NO LIFE? I'll open the line at 17. That's how many times he posted last Sunday, alone!
Dr. Jerkulus created his account in feb 2009, he is on track to surpass my post count by the end of the year. That is a sad existence. And all his posts trash obama, there is no positive agenda to be found.
Back to article...so Hillary, Holbrooke and the career military men with the exception of Jones who I believe is falling in line with his political leadership at the White House think increased troops are the answer. Maybe it's just me but when it comes to military matters I think I'd rather follow McChrystal, a man who at 50 something years of age has ridden along on front line missions with JSOC and could probably kick the shit out of just about anyone on this message board than a couple of community and union organizers.
Obama avoided any type of Military debate in the elections as he was no match to McCain in these matters, instead he ran on a platform of a failed War effort in Iran and he promised to bring the troops back home. Now we see Iran gaining as a success but unlike the promise very limited troop withdrawals, more of a redeployment into other areas as we see an escalation in the Middle East. Obama is unqualified for the Commander in Chief role and if he is smart he will lean heavily to his military advisory and not the political agenda poll counting idiots he has on his staff.
McCain's "storied" military career consisted of crashing 5 planes and riding his family's name to a commander rank. He got captured and sat in "hanoi hilton", but that does not make him a great military mind.
Please list President Obama's military credentials. Here let me........ NONE!!!!! McCain put himself in harms way, enough said. My point is that Obama has zero military background, nothing to draw any type of opinion from. He can listen to the Politicians or his Military Advisers, I hope he listens to the later in matters of war.
The country does not exist to serve the military, the military serves the country. There are bigger issues here than sending 40000 troops to the country. The generals don't understand the "bigger picture" The financial impact, the geopolitical concerns, the political realities, etc.