Gen. Powell to President Obama on Af-Pak Strategy: “Take Your Time”
ABC Political Punch
Jack Tapper
November 11, 2009 3:01 PM
In an interview with Roland Martin on the Tom Joyner Morning Show this morning, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell revealed that he recently advised President Obama to take his time in devising his strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“This is a very difficult one for him,” Powell said. “And it isn’t just a one-time decision. This is the decision that will have consequences for the better part of his administration. So Mr. President, don’t get pushed by the left to do nothing; don’t get pushed by the right to do everything. You take your time and you figure it out. You’re the commander-in-chief and this is what you were elected for.”
Powell said he had “advised him is to not be rushed into a decision because this one is the decision that will have consequences for years to come.”
“If you decide to send more troops or that’s what you feel it is necessary, make sure you have a good understanding of what those troops are going to be doing and some assurance that the additional troops will be successful,” Powell says he told the president. “You can’t guarantee success in a very complex theater like Afghanistan and increasingly with the Pakistan problem next door, but you have to have some sense of what these additional troops will be able to do.
“And secondly, take your time,” Powell said, “and third, you’ve got to ensure that you’re putting this commitment on a solid base, and the base is a little soft right now. We’ve got a president in Afghanistan that had a rough election; a lot of corruption associated with the election; a lot of corruption in the government. And he has been told — Mr. Karzai has been told, and I know him very well — he’s been told he’s got to do something about this; he’s got to do something about the drug problem, and he’s got to start pulling the Afghan people together. And so the president has to measure that; what kind of base is he putting this new strategy on because it isn’t just what we do; what do the Afghans do. And as I said a moment ago, it’s made particularly difficult because of the unstable situation along the Pakistan border and in Pakistan.”
Wild Thing’s comment……..
“This is a very difficult one for him,” Powell said
For God’s sake…HE’S THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!! It’s ALWAYS a difficult time. Presidents make tough decisions EVERY DAY
Advice from the affirmative action General to the affirmative action President.
The only thing Powell ever did right was shutting up and letting Norman Schwarzkopf plan and run the first Gulf War.
Men and women continue to put themselves in harm’s way and dips$$t Colonectomy says “Take your time”?!
Moral courage is a 10 second decision. 10 months is rushing it for boy wonder.
Under Bush,we were able to maintain a more or less “contained” situation in Afghanistan because we could usually count on Pakistan as a backstop. We had a friend in Pakistani strongman Moushariv (sp?) in spite of his faults. Than a US presidential wanna be sticks his skinny beak into Pakistani affairs by suggesting that we go to war against our Pakistani ally! (Remember,the Muzzie street believes that B. Hussein X is one of their own) Was it mere coincidence that shortly thereafter our ally was run out and replaced by the daughter of the deposed Moscow-leaning former Paki dictator Ali Bhutto who was executed for corruption? The daughter was a Marxist clothed in Islamic garb. She was promptly assasinated and now Pakistan is a Nuclear power in a state of political chaos. Is B Hussein X the first US President to F%#k up US policy even before he received his party’s nomination? Anyone wonder why Pakistanis hate us MORE now than they did while Bush was president? Does this remind you of how the idiot Carter ran out the Shah of Iran and ushered in the Ayatollah? I say,we need a commitment NOW to win in Afghanistan or we need to get out NOW before more of our troops are lost and especially before the taking of hostages/POWS begins. Remember “quagmire” ? Personally ,I think that Kharzai (sp?) is a crook who like Bhutto is a Marxist who plays Islamist when it suits him. If anyone can inspire the Afgahnis to pull together, he is not the one. I do not wish to see a replay of the disgrace of the last days of the Vietnam war were after years of sacrificing blood and treasure we simply pulled the plug on our troops and probably caused more deaths among the Vietnamese we abandoned. I could not stand to watch this happen again.
What we need folks is more diversity. Got it? D-I-V-E-R-S-I-T-Y !
Oh yeah, and fuck you Obama & Powell and your black muslim thug administration.
OK, you may now return to your regular programming.
And before I forget, Eric Holder hired a black guy to be the Asst AG and Blowbama is considering another black to be the head of the TSA. Am I missing something here?
Obama and his ilk are making war on America.
And his delay in Afghanistan fits into that pattern.
See: http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2009/11/obamas-war-on-america.html
Amazing!
Veterans’ Day 2009. The President? of the United States, announced today that he will not accept any of the plans set forth regarding the increase of troop strength in Afghanastan. In so doing he showed how much he honors and respects the Military and the job that they do.
Meanwhile in Afghanistan brave men and women are dying for what?
What we have here is a man(CSSOB), who hates the Country and all that it stands for.
He vowed to change the face of America.
Well he is definitely doing that,and we and future generations are and will be paying the price.
Will Oprah be the deciding factor on what we do in Afghanista? obama wanted the presidency and had been planning on it for several years. I believe his main goal was to bring socialism/Marxism to America and figured that would also suffice as his foreign policy. If he weakened America and made it socialist, then the world would love us and there would be no need for other foreign policy.
Now this Afghan situation is in the way and obama has no idea what to do. His Chicago/socialist/Black/thug mafia doesn’t know what to tell him. I guess he just plans right now that it will take care of itsself in Afghanistan while he rams through his healthcare and cap and trade plans.
America is in bad shape.
Buy more ammo.
It’s not like learning to tie your shoes or ride a bike here. He’s had enough time to look over the data and make an informed decision, but he’s been doing everything but, so he’s completely clueless on what to do with Trashcanistan.
Excellent use of of the word COLONECTOMY!!
Powell is saying, that we have to be sure that the additional troops will be successful ? What guarantee is there to that. The longer obama dicks around with this thing the farther behind the 8-ball we get and success is farther down the road.
If they were to get rid of these retarded obama ROE’s things might change for the better. Obama put McChrystal in charge you’d think he’d listen to Him. Someone other than some commie jerkoff sucking pig like Ram Emanulle or that busted boil Bowel Powell. But then again one turd begets another and as usual the Troops are caught in the middle.
I don’t understand all the dithering; a year ago, this guy was The World’s Frickin’ Expert on Afghanistan.
Jan, heh heh thank you.
Tom I agree, hope is in bad shape.
Thank you everyone so much.