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Perspective: Obama decision nears on U.S. forces in Afghanistan
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Coffins of U.S. troops arrive in Dover Air Force Base- Associated Press
I attended the White House briefing today. It was the usual game of trying to get information from Press Secretary Gibbs. In the afternoon, President Obama met with a quorum of military leaders to debate strategy in Afghanistan.
It was a large group in the situation room with the president this afternoon including: Vice President Biden, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, National Security Advisor General James Jones, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James E. Cartwright (USMC), Chief of Staff for the Army General George W. Casey, U.S. Marine Corps Commandant General James T. Conway, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force General Norton A. Schwartz, Deputy National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security John Brennan and Special Assistant to the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Lieutenant General Douglas Lute.
When asked to frame the expectation of today’s meeting with the joint chiefs Gibbs said: “Obviously, these are folks that represent all branches of our armed forces, and I think we'll -- the President wants an opportunity to talk to them about General McChrystal's assessment. Obviously they're -- being in charge of their branch, these are the men who are required to provide trained and equipped soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen for missions both in Afghanistan, Iraq and throughout the world.”
Gibbs at times, has struggled through the waiting period that Obama has taken to access the situation in Afghanistan. The problem is the relegation of the word “soon.” It is, left alone, an indication that perhaps some news would be announced in a day or so versus weeks. On October 27TH, Gibbs said Obama was “towards the end” of the process to decide on whether more soldiers would be sent to Afghanistan or if the U.S. will start a withdrawing troops.
President Obama has also received praise and criticism for his late night trip to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware where bodies of U.S. soldiers return from overseas. Obama saluted 18 Americans killed and spoke to their families early Thursday morning. Seeing this unannounced trip in the middle of the night, I had my questions.
I knew my trusted colleague from the Washington Post Michael Fletcher had made the 12-5am trip by helicopter, so I asked him about it after the briefing. “We were about 120 feet away,” Fletcher said of the scene in Dover in relation to the media’s distance from the president. There were also no pictures or access to the families. However, the President and the White House or both did want to the media to capture pictures of him saluting the coffins carried out from the hanger of the plane. The image above is of a similar scene at Dover.
Obama said yesterday’s ceremony was a “sobering reminder” and the war toll on the families and troops “is going to bear on how I see these conflicts.” A total of 55 military personnel have been killed in the conflict so far in October, the deadliest toll for American troops in the eight year war.
Adding Afghanistan troops could cost $500,000 per person - CNN.com
Three US helicopters crash in Afghanistan - Times Online
Obama Meets With His Military Chiefs as Afghan Decision Nears - Bloomberg.com
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