'Senior' WH Officials Accuse Pentagon of Leaking Afghanistan Deployment Numbers to Shape Outcome

[bigtree]

WASHINGTON (CNN)– White House National Security Adviser Retired Gen. Jim Jones issued a rare public statement Monday vehemently denying media reports suggesting President Obama has privately decided to send close to 40,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, as tensions between the White House and Pentagon appear to be flaring up over exactly what the president will announce.

"Reports that President Obama has made a decision about Afghanistan are absolutely false," Jones, who generally keeps a low public profile, said in a prepared statement Monday night. "He has not received final options for his consideration, he has not reviewed those options with his national security team, and he has not made any decisions about resources. Any reports to the contrary are completely untrue and come from uninformed sources."


The two senior administration officials suggested the information is being leaked by Pentagon sources who are trying to box Obama in by setting public expectations that he will send close to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan as McChrystal requested.

"People at the Pentagon are trying to force a certain outcome," one of the senior administration officials told CNN.


read: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/10/wh-denies-afghan-decision-made-as-tensions-flare-with-pentagon-2/

[Bonobo]

1. Wow. Just wow. nt

[FiveGoodMen]

3. I'll see that Wow and raise you a WTF?

[bluestateguy]

2. The Pentagon is chock full of Cheneyite civilian employees

Just remember that. They were burrowed in and Obama can't fire a lot of them.

[formercia]

14. But, they can be transferred to a front-line unit.

Let them have some skin in the game.

[closeupready]

4. I believe him.

I do think they are trying to force a certain outcome. I also think they will be successful.

[bigtree]

5. standard military ops

The practice refined and expanded in the last administration (only then they had a cooperative and complicit WH to coordinate their propaganda.)

[barbtries]

8. and to catapult it

aargh

[SemiCharmedQuark]

6. That's disturbing if true.

I'm not a big fan of anonymous sourcing, but Jones spoke out on record. I still remain pessimistic.

[bigtree]

15. leaks have been coming out for weeks

Jones is part of the WH now. He came out to tamp the rumors down.

[barbtries]

7. bastards.

motherfucking warmongering bastards.

[optimator]

9. SO FUCKING FIRE SOMEONE

MAKE SOME STINK.
FIND YOUR FUCKIN BALLS, MR PRESIDENT.
THIS SHIT IS PUNISHABLE UNDER UCMJ.
DO IT.

[redqueen]

11. And if they're civilian employees as suggested in post 2? (nt)

[HipChick]

12. Still fire them...

[redqueen]

13. "They were burrowed in and Obama can't fire a lot of them. "

Not sure how many are in there, or which ones Obama can't fire...

[redqueen]

10. OMG I'm so shocked!

:sarcasm:

[bigtree]

18. it is a bit of news

. . . that the administration feels the need to distance themselves at this stage from the folks they chose to holdover from the last administration. Up until the debate over this escalation recommendation its been all candy and flowers between them.

[redqueen]

19. You can read it that way, sure.

Or you could read it as an attempt to maintain continuity considering we had two occupations going at once... but whatever.

And lol... 'all candy and flowers'... yeah... ok.

[bigtree]

20. who needed continuity?

Continuity is a betrayal of the opposition to the occupations expressed during the presidential campaign.

Do you deny that there has been an attempt by the president and the Pentagon to demonstrate solidarity since the election? Candy and flowers . . . up until the debate over this escalation recommended by the Pentagon.

[seafan]

16. Seymour Hersh: Army is “in a war against the White House — and they feel they have Obama boxed in.”

Seymour Hersh writes recently:

October 14, 2009

In a speech on Obama’s foreign policy, Hersh, who uncovered the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War and torture at Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraqi war, said many military leaders want Obama to fail.

“A lot of people in the Pentagon would like to see him get into trouble,” he said. By leaking information that the commanding officer in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, says the war would be lost without an additional 40,000 American troops, top brass have put Obama in a no-win situation, Hersh contended.
“If he gives them the extra troops they’re asking for, he loses politically,” Hersh said. “And if he doesn’t give them the troops, he also loses politically.”

The journalist criticized the president for “letting the military do that,” and suggested the only way out was for Obama to stand up to them.
“He’s either going to let the Pentagon run him or he has to run the Pentagon,” Hersh said. If he doesn’t, “this stuff is going to be the ruin of his presidency.”

Hersh called the “Af-Pak” situation — the spreading conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan — Obama’s main challenge.
The only way for the U.S. to extricate itself from the conflict, Hersh said, is to negotiate with the Taliban.

“It’s the only way out,” he said. “I know that there’s a lot of discussion in the White House about this now.

WH denies Afghan decision made, as tensions flare with Pentagon, November 10, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN)– White House National Security Adviser Retired Gen. Jim Jones issued a rare public statement Monday vehemently denying media reports suggesting President Obama has privately decided to send close to 40,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, as tensions between the White House and Pentagon appear to be flaring up over exactly what the president will announce.

.....

The two senior administration officials suggested the information is being leaked by Pentagon sources who are trying to box Obama in by setting public expectations that he will send close to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan as McChrystal requested.

"People at the Pentagon are trying to force a certain outcome," one of the senior administration officials told CNN.

.....

Hersh knows the score.

[bigtree]

17. it was inevitable with so many chosen by Bush still at the top levels

The only question now is how independent is the WH thinking and policy intention from the holdovers in the Pentagon and how far will they go to rebuke the blowhards and assert the president's prerogative over issues of defense and military matters.

[chill_wind]

21. I find it totally,totally believable. F*ckers.

eom.