Hope and Fail

Claiming Bush ‘repeatedly’ ignored requests for more troops

During his speech outlining the “new” strategy for the war in Afghanistan, President Obama spent a considerable amount of time recounting the history of the war. Specifically, he laid out the case that beginning with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the U.S. neglected its effort in Afghanistan.

He summed it up with this doozy:

Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive.  And that’s why, shortly after taking office, I approved a longstanding request for more troops.

There is simply no evidence that U.S. commanders in Afghanistan sent repeated requests for more troops from 2003 on. When pressed on the issue, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs claimed the president was referring to requests made in 2008. Even if that’s the case, there is no evidence of the Bush administration rejecting requests from generals in Afghanistan.

The only hint of a rift between Washington and the commanders during 2008 comes from discussions about reworking the Iraq surge strategy to work in Afghanistan, and even then President Bush did not reject requests for more troops.

In fact, Bush began reducing troop levels in Iraq and diverting them to Afghanistan in the fall of 2008, even when the generals warned against reducing forces in Iraq.

After former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued a statement disputing Obama’s claim, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen told a congressional committee that the Bush administration rejected a request for more troops in 2008. But that’s not true.

The request wasn’t rejected. Bush, relying on the commanding general’s experience with NATO, asked him to try to get larger commitments from our NATO allies. That may have been the wrong move, but it’s not rejecting the request — especially considering that after it was NATO wasn’t going to cough up more troops, Bush then began diverting troops from Iraq.

What’s more, the request Mullen refers to was made by Gen. David D. McKiernan, the general he and Obama fired and replaced with Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

Even if President Bush had denied McKiernan’s request outright, that doesn’t constitute the storyline the president was following in his speech, that “commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive.”

To those who believe it’s clear that the war in Afghanistan was neglected during the last six years don’t need more proof. There’s no reason to exaggerate.