Friday, December 04, 2009

 

Hail to the Chief

OK, so he only took over a quarter to consider what his handpicked general in Afghanistan told him he needed, and he only gave him 3/4 of what Gen. McChrystal said was the minimum for reasonable success, and he emphasized, as nearly all Democrats seem to do, that we would quit in 18 months, and he looked like a wimp and was all smoke and mirrors and no raw meat, but in the end, President Obama ordered another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan which is sort of the right thing to do. Well done, Mr. President. I just wonder why he has to lie while he's doing it. Check it out:

Throughout this period, our troop levels in Afghanistan remained a fraction of what they were in Iraq....Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive.

This is bull. There were indeed lower troop levels in Afghanistan than in Iraq, but no one was asking for more troops and not getting them (for months and months), until this year, until Obama asked his hand picked general (and a good choice I think) to review the troop levels and make recommendations.

Rumsfeld has called him out on this fabrication, and good for him to do it. The Gibbs' spin is less than compelling, as usual.

Labels:


Comments:
I wouldn't call it "bull."

There was a request for 10,000 additional troops in July of 2008, it is just that they knew damn well they wouldn't get it.
 
Thanks for the challenge, Mike. Here (http://www.nationalpriorities.org/2009/09/02/quick-facts-US-military-operations-Afghanistan) is a graph I cannot vouch for, but which I do not doubt. By the end of 2007 there were 23,700 U.S. soldiers, et al. in Afghanistan. By the end of 2008, there were 30,100. By the end of 2009, there should be 68,000. OK, so the numbers didn't rise by 10,000 in 2008, but how many of the 10,000 requested in July, 2008 are there now? I'd say all of them, but perhaps you know better.
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?