Team Obama: Afghanistan Decision Coming Soon And Oh Yeah, Rahm Lied About The Bush Administration

Any day now. Any. Day.

Sources tell ABC News that as of now President Obama will likely announce his decision about a new strategy in Afghanistan at some point between the Afghan run-off election, November 7, and the president’s departure for Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, November 11.

...Sources emphasize that no decision has yet been made, but as of now it looks as though the president is leaning towards sending more troops to Afghanistan, though not as many as Gen. Stanley McChrystal requested, 40,000.

Or the decision could be put off until after Obama gets back. Either way.

As for Rahm Emanuel, you may recall he said the Obama administration had to start from scratch on Afghanistan because those damn Bush people did nothing. Per Gibbsy today, that little slander is no longer operative.

Q Was your administration briefed (on Afghanistan options by the Bush Administration)?

MR. GIBBS: With people that -- it's been public that we got these reviews. I mean, we can show articles where these things are discussed.

While some of the information was helpful, the President obviously found it instructive to do a review of his own, and that's what Bruce Riedel did in the spring, which led to the President signing off on additional forces that went to Afghanistan.

One other thing Bruce Riedel found that the White House and Sheriff Joe Biden are as worried about the politics of Afghanistan than they are the strategy. Maybe even more worried about the politics.

“I think a big part of it is, the vice president’s reading of the Democratic party is this is not sustainable,” Riedel told the New York Times. “That’s a part of the process that’s a legitimate question for a president–if I do this, can I sustain it with political support at home? That was the argument the vice president was making back in the winter.”

And you wingnuts were worried Obama might vote 'Present' on important issue rather than exercise leadership and maybe risk some political capital.

posted by DrewM. at 07:35 PM

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