Today’s Qs for O’s WH – 12/2/2009
EmailTAPPER: Former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld took issue with a lot of the speech last night, and I just wanted to clarify it. The president said commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive. I assume you're referring to the McKiernan requests throughout 2008.
GIBBS: Well, I — that's, I believe, what the speech — the line of the speech. I will let Secretary Rumsfeld explain to you and to others whether he thinks that the effort in Afghanistan was sufficiently resourced during his tenure as secretary of defense.
TAPPER: Well, he says…
GIBBS: I — I think that's — that's something that, you know…
TAPPER: … he said he's not aware of a single request of that nature between 2001 and 2006 when he was secretary of defense.
GIBBS: I — again, I'll let him explain to the American public whether he believes that the effort in Afghanistan during 2001 to 2006 was appropriately resourced. You know, you go to war with the secretary of defense you have, Jake.
TAPPER: That's cute. The — the question, though, is what specifically was President Obama talking about when he said that?
GIBBS: Again, what President Obama was talking about were additional resource requests that came in during 2008, which we've discussed in here. But Jake, again, I'll leave it to the secretary of defense in 2001 to 2006 to discuss the level of resourcing for that — understanding the level of commitment that we already had dedicated in Iraq, and whether or not he feels sufficient that history will judge the resourcing decisions that he made during that time period in the war in Afghanistan were or were not sufficient.
TAPPER: OK. And some progressive Democrats on the Hill have said today that they think that the president should pursue a war authorization for the surge of troops. Are you guys thinking about doing that at all or…
GIBBS: No, I think the president…
TAPPER: …do you think the 2001 authorization…
GIBBS: Yes, I think the president made very clear last evening that — why we are there now. The conditions for what happened on September 11th brought our forces, through an almost unanimous vote of Congress, to Afghanistan. And obviously that is inordinately — it's plenty sufficient for what the president is talking about.
TAPPER: And if I may, just one more. In his March — in his March speech President Obama mentioned that if the Taliban returns to controlling Afghanistan it would be bad for human rights. And he specifically singled out women and girls. He did not mention human rights in Afghanistan. He talked about human rights more broadly, but last night he didn't mentioned human rights in Afghanistan and he definitely didn't mention specifically women and girls.
GIBBS: Well, I believe in — I believe in the context of the three pillars that he saw, mentioning the basic recognition of human rights in Afghanistan is obviously important to what is happening there.
TAPPER: But he didn't mention women and girls, and is that…
GIBBS: Again, I think the umbrella of basic human rights was — was the same thing.
TAPPER: So even though he mentioned it in March and he didn't mention it last night, we're not supposed to read anything into that at all?
GIBBS: I wouldn't. I mean, I have not looked exactly at the word phrasing of each speech, but the umbrella of basic — recognizing the basic human rights of everybody in Afghanistan would include that, yes.
TAPPER: Thank you.
-jpt
Sen. DeMint: GOP Race Could Go Until Convention 
Obama Avoids Questions on Contraception Rule
Gibbs cute remark will get traction if SECDEF Gates resigns.
How do you put up with the condesceding WHPS?
Posted by: BB Key | December 2, 2009, 3:06 pm 3:06 pm
More classic Gibbserish from the WH.
Gibbserish has now replaced the antiquated “gibberish”.
Make a note of it.
Great sequence Jake, saw it live and new you would put the funny stuff up for us.
Even Helen Thomas is too much of an intellectual giant for Gibbs, jeesh.
How long before this joker takes his place under the bus?
Rahm & Axeman must be having a profanity fest watching these press conferences.
Posted by: oops | December 2, 2009, 3:19 pm 3:19 pm
Thank you Mr. Tapper for asking some good questions.
Posted by: Bob | December 2, 2009, 3:19 pm 3:19 pm
GIBBS: Again, what President Obama was talking about were additional resource requests that came in during 2008, which we’ve discussed in here. But Jake, again, I’ll leave it to the secretary of defense in 2001 to 2006 to discuss the level of resourcing for that
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So the president was lying as he does quite frequently…he did not mention 2008..whats Gates got to say about that? LMAO at Gibbs what a freelance jerk
Posted by: nothing more than a photo-op | December 2, 2009, 3:25 pm 3:25 pm
Yep Gibbs just called Obama a LIAR
Posted by: nothing more than a photo-op | December 2, 2009, 3:27 pm 3:27 pm
If we expect to win the war in Afghanistan, we may need to be a little less concerned with the human rights of the people there.
You don’t win wars by tip-toeing around.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | December 2, 2009, 3:30 pm 3:30 pm
Thanks Mr. Tapper… they don’t pay you enough to deal with Gibbs
Posted by: den | December 2, 2009, 3:44 pm 3:44 pm
Quote in speech was about “the reemergence of the Taliban,” which primarily occurred from 2006-2009. That’s why Rumsfeld’s quote is so telling.
I think, maybe, you missed the ball here.
Posted by: D | December 2, 2009, 3:56 pm 3:56 pm
Wow, Gibbs is brutal. McCurry and Fleischer were both solid. I would put Gibbs in the “McClellan” category. He’ll be gone with the Spring cleaning, on a Friday evening.
Posted by: GT | December 2, 2009, 4:41 pm 4:41 pm
we may need to be a little less concerned with the human rights of the people there.
You don’t win wars by tip-toeing around.
Rick McDaniel | Dec 2, 2009 3:30:20 PM
Last I checked, the detainees at Bagram Airbase weren’t exactly finding mints on their pillows every morning. (And as a temporary detention center in a war zone, that is distasteful but not unreasonable for exactly the reason you stated.)
Posted by: jhw539 | December 2, 2009, 4:55 pm 4:55 pm
Jake’s the only reason I occasionally check what’s on the ABC site.A real journalist.Go figure.
Posted by: bobmac | December 2, 2009, 5:14 pm 5:14 pm
I’d really like to see the PROOF of troop requests that were denied during the time Obama/Gibbs are talking about. Of course, first we have to figure out what time frame they ARE talking about. And when I say PROOF, I’m not asking for the opinions of some liberal media “talker”, I’m asking for this “transparent” president to SHOW us, EXPLAIN to us what exactly he means.
By the way, the washed-in-fabric softener frat boy needs to learn his little petty job in the WH does not give him the right to be an ass.
Posted by: Shoe | December 2, 2009, 6:45 pm 6:45 pm
JPT:
Very good stuff. Gibbs is losing his cool and becoming even more cocky every week. It is very interesting to hear Gibbs defend something that he can not back up with facts!
Donald Rumsfeld has put out a statement: “In his speech to the nation last night, President Obama claimed that ‘Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive.’ Such a bald misstatement, at least as it pertains to the period I served as Secretary of Defense, deserves a response. I am not aware of a single request of that nature between 2001 and 2006. If any such requests occurred, ‘repeated’ or not, the White House should promptly make them public. The President’s assertion does a disservice to the truth and, in particular, to the thousands of men and women in uniform who have fought, served and sacrificed in Afghanistan.”
Posted by: bl | December 2, 2009, 7:01 pm 7:01 pm
I understand why Obama prefers to hang out mainly with his tight inner circle…Gibbs, Rahm, Axelrod.
They are all alike–annoying, arrogant, self-righteous, condescending.
Posted by: tyler | December 2, 2009, 7:25 pm 7:25 pm
Wow, Spencer Ackerman….he’s a lib….with an idea…attack Bush, etc..
Wikipedia: Ackerman was previously a blogger and senior correspondent for The American Prospect and a reporter for The New Republic. He has been to Iraq twice.
He initially supported the Iraq War, but became disillusioned and in 2004 started a blog on The New Republic website called Iraq’d which chronicled the dilemma of pro-war liberals.
In October 2006 he was fired by The New Republic Editor Franklin Foer.[1] Describing it as a “painful” decision, Foer attributed the firing to Ackerman’s “insubordination”: disparaging the magazine on his personal blog Too Hot For TNR, saying that he would “skullf**k” a terrorist’s corpse at an editorial meeting if that was required to “establish his anti-terrorist bona fides” and sending Foer an e-mail where he said—in what according to Ackerman was intended to be a joke—he would “make a niche in your skull” with a baseball bat.
Within 24 hours of being let go by The New Republic, Ackerman was hired by the competing magazine, The American Prospect.
Ackerman is a fan of comic books and hardcore punk music.
Posted by: bl | December 2, 2009, 8:56 pm 8:56 pm
RE: David D. McKiernan…(anti-Rumsfield)….
McKiernan is a retired United States Army four-star general and is just one of a few retired disgruntled military that are likely also anti-Bush.
McKiernan served in Afghanistan as Commander, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from June 3, 2008 to June 15, 2009.He served concurrently as Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from October 6, 2008 to June 15, 2009.
Prior to Afghanistan, he served as Commanding General, Third U.S. Army and Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC) from 2002 to 2004, where he commanded all allied ground forces during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
On May 11, 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked for McKiernan’s resignation from ISAF and USFOR-A. Gates said new leadership was needed as the administration of President Barack Obama launched a new strategy in the seven-year-old Afghanistan war. McKiernan was replaced by two generals, General Stanley A. McChrystal (Commander) and Lieutenant General David Rodriguez (Deputy Commander), ISAF and USFOR-A.
Posted by: bl | December 2, 2009, 9:42 pm 9:42 pm
Fact check – Politico article/story re Mike Mullen:
“The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff pushed back in a fact-checking dispute with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, asserting that the Bush administration objected rejected a Pentagon request for more troops for Afghanistan last year.”
“Adm. Michael Mullen told a House committee Wednesday that Gen. David McKiernan, who led U.S. troops in Afghanistan between 2008 and this year, had asked for 20,000 troops for the effort but was rebuffed.”
“We didn’t have them because they were pushed to Iraq,” the four-star admiral said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in response to a question from Indiana Republican Rep. Mike Pence. “That was the priority of the president.”
“Mullen did not address whether commanders submitted unfulfilled troop requests under Rumsfeld’s tenure.”
Here’s Obama’s assertion: “When I took office, we had just over 32,000 Americans serving in Afghanistan, compared to 160,000 in Iraq at the peak of the war,” said Obama, who took office this January. “Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive.”
Posted by: bl | December 2, 2009, 10:27 pm 10:27 pm
They are all alike–annoying, arrogant, self-righteous, condescending.
tyler | Dec 2, 2009 7:25:05 PM
It is telling that you don’t care a whit if they are well informed, intelligent, capable or right. Oh no, it’s all about those uppity elitists making you personally feel stupid.
Posted by: jhw539 | December 2, 2009, 10:31 pm 10:31 pm
Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked —-
This apparently means they asked once, very late in Mr. Bush’s term. under Mr. Gates’ tenure as SecDef (not Mr. Rumsfeld). Apprently Mr. Bush drew up plans to reinforce which were put into effect by Mr. Obama in March. Just as Mr. Obama continues to follow the Bush strategy and planning for withdrawal from Iraq. It’s really unseemly for Mr. Obama to continue to harp on the previous administration. He should just start executing his own plans and let the results speak for themselves. The real judgement will be rendered by historians long after he is gone.
Posted by: Terry | December 3, 2009, 12:50 am 12:50 am