Retired general says Obama had 'tough call' on Afghanistan.

[elleng]

Gen. Wesley Clark told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly Wednesday that President Obama’s doubts over his Afghanistan strategy as alleged in a new book by former Defense Secretary Robet Gates did not necessarily mean the president did not have faith in the troops or believed they would fail at their mission.

Clark, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, said on “The Kelly File” that deciding to send American soldiers into battle is a “really tough call” for any president, and anyone would second-guess themselves under those circumstances.

“It does say he had doubts about the strategy, but maybe that was because that was the best of a lot of bad choices and I think that’s the problem you’re in when you get to the White House level,” Clark said. “If things were easy and if things could be agreed by everybody they’d be decided long before they got to ya.”

Clark said it is also important to note Gates is only offering his interpretations of what Obama was feeling.

“There’s a lot of tension and a lot of pressure,” Clark said.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/01/08/retired-general-says-afghanistan-doubts-dont-mean-obama-didnt-believe-in-troops/?intcmp=latestnews


Sorry so short, but I thought important and 'good' in the circumstances.

[DonViejo]

1. I wonder why Faux News doesn't want to deal with...

what Gates actually wrote:

Later in the memoir, however, Gates praises Obama's policies on Afghanistan.

"I believe Obama was right in each of these decisions," he wrote, according to a Washington Post account.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bob-gates-slams-biden-as-being-wrong-on-nearly-every-major-foreign-policy-in-40-years

[elleng]

2. Don't know about FOx,

and too busy today to compare, but have seen lots of negativity about the Gates book, esp WaPo/Woodward, and was glad to catch Lawrence last night setting the record straight,

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. This ...

“It does say he had doubts about the strategy, but maybe that was because that was the best of a lot of bad choices and I think that’s the problem you’re in when you get to the White House level,” Clark said. “If things were easy and if things could be agreed by everybody they’d be decided long before they got to ya.”

Clearly, spells out what many refuse to acknowledge ... EVERY decision, on just about EVERY issue, made at the Presidential level has consequences that must be weighed and measured ... many of which we, those of us not in the decision-making loop, will never know/have never thought about.

[elleng]

4. Right, Man.

Thanks.

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. And ...

I think that this (a refusal to admit that we are, largely, ignorant) is what makes these intertube "All he needs to do is ..." comments so facile.

I go back to a comment that I made during the NSA/IRS/Bengazi scandal dust-ups:

"I know that President Obama (and every president) has access to more information than I do. I know that President Obama (and every president) has access to better analysis of the information that I do not have access to. I know that my only source of information is a media that has proven to provide incomplete and inaccurate information, and therefore, untrustworthy. I know that there will be no consequence, personal or professional, to my opinion that is informed by incomplete and inaccurate information ... BUT, I know more about any situation than President Obama (or any president).

I expect it from the modern gop; but it makes my head hurt whenever I see this from "liberals."

[lumpy]

6. Wesley Clark is more to be trusted than Gates.