[Peace-discuss] Alea jacta est - long ago

[C. G. Estabrook]

The New York Times
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   December 1, 2009
   Obama Issues Order for More Troops in Afghanistan
   By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

WASHINGTON — President Obama has issued his order to send more troops to Afghanistan, communicating his decision to military leaders late Sunday afternoon during a meeting in the Oval Office, and will spend Monday speaking with foreign leaders to share with them the broad outlines of his new strategy, the White House said.

“The commander-in-chief has issued the orders,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters at the White House at the outset of what will be a two-day effort to sell the new strategy to the American people, Congress and American allies.

Mr. Gibbs did not provide a precise figure for the new level of forces, although senior advisers to the president have said Mr. Obama intends to commit roughly 30,000 more troops. After weeks of intense deliberation, Mr. Obama plans to share his strategy with the American people Tuesday evening in a speech at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Mr. Gibbs said the president would discuss in the speech how he intends to pay for the plan, and will make clear that he has an exit strategy. “This is not an open-ended commitment,” the press secretary said.

The president will meet with Congressional leaders on Tuesday. He will spend Monday “in close consult with friends and allies throughout the day,” Mr. Gibbs said.

As Mr. Gibbs spoke Monday morning, the president was on the telephone with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. The French daily Le Monde, citing diplomatic sources, reported on Monday that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had asked President Nicolas Sarkozy of France last week to send an additional 1,500 troops to Afghanistan, to supplement the 3,750 French soldiers and 150 police officers now there.

Mr. Obama also had calls scheduled with President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, and was to meet at the White House on Monday with Kevin Rudd, the prime minister of Australia.

Mr. Gibbs said the president did not intend to ask Mr. Rudd for more troops — Australia has already increased the size of its force in Afghanistan — and added that the conversation with foreign leaders would not be “overly specific,” given that the president has not yet informed the American people of his decision. The president will also speak with the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mr. Gibbs said.

On Sunday, Mr. Obama shared his decision with top members of his Cabinet, and military and diplomatic officials. He spoke first by telephone to Secretary Clinton, and then met at 5 p.m. in the Oval Office with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; Admiral Mike Mullen and Gen. James E. Cartwright, the chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in the Middle East, Gen. James Jones, the White House national security adviser, and Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. also attended.Later, the president convened a secure videoconference with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, and Karl W. Eikenberry, the American ambassador to Afghanistan.