FirmhandKY
Posts: 8948
Joined: 9/21/2004 Status: offline
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This looks to be very interesting. I can't wait for it to come out. White House Reacts to (NYT Report About) Woodward Book September 22, 2010 7:29 AM Legendary Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's new book "Obama's Wars" hasn't hit stores yet, but the New York Times' Peter Baker got a copy and has published some choice excerpts. Some highlights, per Baker: * The book describes President Obama pushing a withdrawal timetable because, “I can’t lose the whole Democratic Party.” * The US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke says of the new strategy, “it can’t work.” * Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, the president’s adviser on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, is said to think president’s reviews of the strategy going forward did not “add up” to his ultimate decision. * Gen. David H. Petraeus tells an aide that he disliked talking with White House senior adviser David Axelrod because he was “a complete spin doctor.” A senior administration official who read the book says "the President comes across in the review and throughout the decision-making process as a Commander in Chief who is analytical, strategic, and decisive, with a broad view of history, national security, and his role." ... The Washington Post's Steve Luxenberg has also obtained a copy of the book, and he writes that President Obama "urgently looked for a way out of the war in Afghanistan last year, repeatedly pressing his top military advisers for an exit plan that they never gave him...Frustrated with his military commanders for consistently offering only options that required significantly more troops, Obama finally crafted his own strategy, dictating a classified six-page 'terms sheet' that sought to limit U.S. involvement." Some other tidbits: "During a flight in May, after a glass of wine, Petraeus told his own staffers that the administration was '[expletive] with the wrong guy.' "Suspicion lingered among some from the 2008 presidential campaign as well. When Obama floated the idea of naming Clinton to a high-profile post, Axelrod asked him, 'How could you trust Hillary?' "Obama has kept in place or expanded 14 intelligence orders, known as findings, issued by his predecessor, George W. Bush. The orders provide the legal basis for the CIA's worldwide covert operations. Firm
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Some people are just idiots.
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