Biden Warned Afghan Buildup Was Hollow

[PatSeg]

WASHINGTON — As President Barack Obama considered adding as many as 40,000 U.S. forces to a backsliding war in Afghanistan in 2009, Vice President Joe Biden warned him that the military rationale for doing so was flawed, a new book about Obama’s expansion of the conflict says.

The book, “Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan,” also says that in planning the drawdown of troops two years later, the White House intentionally sidelined the CIA. Obama purposely did not read a grim CIA assessment of Afghanistan that found little measurable benefit from the 30,000 “surge” forces Obama eventually approved, the book quotes a U.S. official as saying.

A copy of the book by Washington Post correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran was obtained by The Associated Press. It will be released Tuesday.

A previously undisclosed Biden memo to Obama in November 2009 reflects his view that military commanders were asking Obama to take a leap by adding tens of thousands of forces whose role was poorly defined.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-book-biden-warned-afghan-buildup-was-hollow-obama-sidelined-cia-when-planning-drawdown/2012/06/25/gJQAJnY60V_story.html

[gateley]

1. K&R!! Biden 2016!! :-)

[PatSeg]

4. You are SO predictable!!!

And quick too.

[kenny blankenship]

2. Obama purposely did not read a grim CIA assessment of Afghanistan

Sorry I voted for him.

[PatSeg]

3. I don't regret voting for Obama in the general election

God only knows where we'd be right now if McCain had won the election.

I can, however, look back and remember that Obama was extremely young, inexperienced, and a bit arrogant. On the upside, he had enough foresight to chose Joe Biden as his VP. Obviously he should have listened more to the advice Biden gave.

Over the past three and half years, I've seen Obama humbled by his experiences in the White House and I think he has become a much wiser person. He wouldn't be the first president to learn the hard way. There is only one way to learn how to be a president and that is on-the-job training.

[gateley]

5. +1

[coalition_unwilling]

9. If McCrazy had won, we'd have 3 land wars going on simultaneously (Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan) and

we'd probably still have 20-25% unemployment at home.

[dionysus]

6. i doubt you ever did.

[gateley]

7. ...

:evil grin:

[kenny blankenship]

10. I doubt I would care to convince you otherwise

You make every thread a sewer with your unsolicited personal attacks on other posters.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. Obama said he'd escalate Bush's lost war in his campaign. He lost my vote when he did.