GOP Leaders: Obama Has ‘Emboldened Our Enemies’ with Afghanistan Deliberations
EmailABC News’ Rick Klein reports: House Republican leaders today are sending a letter to President Obama calling on him to make a quick decision on a new Afghanistan strategy, and are urging him to fulfill Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for a significant escalation in US forces.
The letter, signed by House Minority Leader John Boehner and 13 other leading House Republicans, expresses "deep concern over the state of your Afghanistan policy."
"For over two months you have been engaged in a strategy review that has left the country, our military, and allies uncertain about your commitment to the war in Afghanistan and unsure about your will to do what is necessary to win this conflict. Worse, we fear the process has emboldened our enemies," they write.
"We believe that it is long overdue for our military to be in the execution stage of the strategy instead of the evaluation phase," the letter continues. "Mr. President now is the time where the country needs your leadership."
ABC's George Stephanopoulos is reporting that a decision is unlikely to be announced until after Thanksgiving, and may not come until December. The president is widely expected to order additional troops, but not near the 40,000-plus scale envisioned by McChrystal.
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The NEW and IMPROVED central front on the war on Terror? Where next?
Do they really think that the US can keep this up, jumping from one war to next? Where were they when we decided that we will invade a country that had nothing to do with 9/11, while we were still fighting in this new central front?
Posted by: Thinking | November 20, 2009, 1:46 pm 1:46 pm
“For over two months you have been engaged in a strategy review”
For SEVEN YEARS we have been fighting in Afghanistan with no discernible strategy or feasible exit plan.
Congress needs to quit playing politics with our troops lives and let the Commander in Chief do his job.
Posted by: jhw539 | November 20, 2009, 4:26 pm 4:26 pm
Repubs: blahblahblah……….. blah!
Posted by: zee | November 20, 2009, 6:09 pm 6:09 pm
…… didn’t Boehner also sign a letter of disapproval regarding the name of Obama’s dog??
Posted by: jks | November 20, 2009, 6:14 pm 6:14 pm
I they didn’t have a Policy toward Afganistan for 7 years……where were these LOUD Mouth Maggots?
Posted by: sara | November 20, 2009, 6:21 pm 6:21 pm
There was no real policy under Bush/Cheney and that lasted for seven years. So what do a few more months mean if the current President can at least come up with some logical, coherent plan. Of course, the best plan would to get the hell out of that stone age country and leave it all to the Afghans. They will continue to keep their children and wives in slavery, no matter what. The US cannot afford this war, nor any other wars in countries where the terrorists have their nests, such as Somalia, Yemen, etc. This is a hydra headed monster, you cut off one head and another grows.
The West has to come up with some other way of combatting this cancer because traditional warfare won´t eliminate it.
Posted by: BachisBest | November 20, 2009, 8:19 pm 8:19 pm
For people who did so little when they had the chance, to have so much say makes me laugh. They are criticizing Obama on everything he does but what did they do? We are in this mess for the lack of action when it first started. While Obama may not be perfect, he is addressing the problems he said he would. No one can be assured that every idea will work….but at least he is trying. As to the war, I am not a war person…I did not like Iraq because we should never have gone there and too many lives were lost because of mis-information by the republican party. This war is different, but I do not like it also. I do believe our president will give a try even though he is not a war president, however, I think he will have an exit stragegy and a time line. I can abide that for awhile and I will support him and pray for him. Let Boehner and his cohorts keep their mouths shut. Why didn’t they attach Bush for all his non-action. Whatever Obama does…they will complain. It is like the child who cried “wolf”…soon no one will listen….they have lost creditability.
Posted by: talmag | November 21, 2009, 10:55 am 10:55 am
When asked for more troops, Obama voted ‘Present’.
Posted by: Joe White | November 22, 2009, 11:34 pm 11:34 pm
This from the same nitwits who let the situation in Afghanistan deteriorate while they waged a “war of choice” in Iraq? Remember McCain saying we’d just have to “muddle through”? Republicans rely on short term memory and/or ignorance.
Posted by: Brooklyn Democrat | November 23, 2009, 10:58 am 10:58 am
…… didn’t Boehner also sign a letter of disapproval regarding the name of Obama’s dog??
Posted by: jks | Nov 20, 2009 6:14:34 PM
Yes. And it still took 6 months to name that pooch!
Posted by: Shane | November 23, 2009, 2:31 pm 2:31 pm