TPMDC Afghanistan
Nancy Pelosi
Pelosi Puts The Kibosh On GOP Payroll Tax Cut Strategy
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says Republicans can forget about using the looming expiration of a year-long payroll tax holiday for workers to squeeze a host of unrelated conservative priorities through Congress, and projected confidently that her party has the GOP cornered on the issue.
In an exclusive interview Friday with TPM, Pelosi sketched out the Democrats' strategy for renewing (and possibly expanding) the payroll tax cut, which most economists say would promote job creation next year -- when persistent unemployment will be at the center of the election debate.
"It is really a stalling tactic," Pelosi said of recent reports that Republicans want to use the lapsing tax cut as leverage to pass key GOP priorities, including construction of a major oil pipeline from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico, and rolling back Obama's health care law. "It's unworthy of the needs of the American people for them to go all around the mulberry bush with this stuff. If they want to do something for the American people -- to remove the uncertainty as to whether these payroll tax cuts will be extended, whether [unemployment insurance] will be extended ... let's just get about doing it."
"They know that this stuff isn't going to fly, that the President's not going to sign it -- so why are they doing this," Pelosi says. "It's about votes at the end of the day, and some of their people are never going to vote for anything, so they're going to need our votes, we're going to have to work together, and they're going to need the President's signature -- and they're going to need it to pass the Senate."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Health Care, Iraq, Jason Altmire, Nancy Pelosi, Oil, Oil Subsidies, Payroll Tax Cut, Republicans, Tax Breaks, Tax Cuts, Taxes
President Obama's earliest supporters, many of whom were first attracted to him because of his opposition to the war in Iraq, spent Friday cheering the news that all U.S. troops would be out of the country by the end of the year.
Still, for core Democratic voters and all war-weary Americans, serious questions remain about how the decision was made, the extent and propriety of the United States' continued commitment and what it means for the mission in Afghanistan.
Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, held a conference call Friday afternoon to try to answer some of those lingering questions.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Ben Rhodes, Commission on Wartime Contracting, Iraq, State Department, White House
Barack Obama
Obama: "The Tide Of War Is Receding"
President Barack Obama
President Obama announced a full withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of the year, a decision he said fulfills a campaign promise to bring the war to a responsible end.
"After taking office, I announced a new strategy that would end our combat mission in Iraq and remove all of our troops by 2011. As commander-in-chief, ensuring the success of this strategy is one of my highest national security priorities," he said Friday, addressing the White House press corps.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Iraq, Military, Military Spending, Military service, White House
Jay Carney
White House Denies Report That Pentagon Plans To Reduce Troops In Iraq To 3,000
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney
The White House denied initial reports that the Obama administration is moving forward with a plan to radically reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to 3,000 by the end of the year.
Fox News on Tuesday reported that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had signed off on the troop-reduction plan despite an angry reaction from generals and senior commanders.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Iraq, Jay Carney, Leon Panetta, Troops, White House, pentagon
CBS
Economists: GOP Cites Deeply Flawed CBS Report To Blame Debt On Obama
Top Republicans couldn't be happier with a Monday CBS News report logging the growth in the national debt under President Obama.
The debt was $10.626 trillion on the day Mr. Obama took office. The latest calculation from Treasury shows the debt has now hit $14.639 trillion.It's the most rapid increase in the debt under any U.S. president.
The national debt increased $4.9 trillion during the eight-year presidency of George W. Bush. The debt now is rising at a pace to surpass that amount during Mr. Obama's four-year term.
But this is politically powerful only because it's equally analytically flawed.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CBPP, CBS, Dean Baker, Debt, Iraq, Taxes
John Boehner
Boehner's Debt Limit Plan Slashes The Deficit By...$1 Billion Next Year
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
Whelp, Congress' official budget scorekeeper has weighed in on House Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) debt limit plan and if you're a Republican, it's a very mixed review.
The goodish news for conservatives is that relative to projections based on current spending, the Congressional Budget Office estimates Boehner's plan would reduce non-war discretionary spending by $710 billion over 10 years. That's if his discretionary spending caps were to hold in the out years, and future Congresses didn't change the law to allow themselves to appropriate more money. Over the course of a decade, CBO estimates the plan would reduce deficits by $851 billion. Those are big numbers. But they're less than Boehner's $1 trillion in promised cuts, and would thus make it hard for him to stand by his demand for a dollar-for-dollar match between deficit reduction and new borrowing authority. That's a look at the full budget window.
What would it do right away? Not much at all.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, CBO, Debt, Debt Ceiling, Default, Deficit, Iraq, John Boehner, Republicans, Spending
Debt Ceiling
Pelosi Outlines Revenue-Free Path Forward On Debt Limit Fight
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi acknowledged Friday that Democrats may reluctantly accept a last-minute compromise to avoid a default that involves up to $2.5 trillion in spending cuts -- without agreed-upon new tax revenues -- if Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are protected from the debt limit brinksmanship.
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Debt Ceiling Negotiations At The White House]
The plan would place a firewall between entitlement spending and the threat of default, upsetting GOP plans to force deep, immediate cuts to those programs. And if, as a result, the GOP declined the offer, Democrats would agree to punt the questions of entitlement spending and tax revenues to a future, streamlined legislative process.
The potential endgame, Pelosi said, would meet an arbitrary GOP requirement that Congress must only grant President Obama as much new borrowing authority as he's willing to accept in spending cuts, and leave for a later date a twinned fight over revenues and social insurance programs.
"We're willing to bite the bullet and make serious cuts in discretionary spending," Pelosi told a small group of reporters and bloggers. "That could go to a trillion dollars or more. And the interest saved on that can take us to like a trillion and a half dollars saved."
We could go even further with non-health mandatories, could take us almost to two trillion. We could use the offshore -- the Overseas Contingency [the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan] -- could take us to two-and-a-half trillion dollars. Which is the dollar-for-dollar for the lifting the debt ceiling. I don't think we have to have dollar-for-dollar, but for those who think they do, there's a path to get there.
That's not a great deal for Democrats, she noted, but it protects key programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. "[T]hat's a non-revenue path. I don't like it at all but it doesn't go near our entitlements," Pelosi said.
There's one big problem: "I don't think the Republicans are going to accept that. So whatever they would want to accept over-and-above that would have to be something, I think, down the road. And that would be treating entitlements and revenue."
This framework is compatible with a plan Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have written, and will deploy if President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) can't reach a consensus on an even farther-reaching package. But they have precious little time. "The moment of truth is now, Harry Reid says he needs eight days to take anything to the floor," she said.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Barney Frank, Debt, Debt Ceiling, Default, Deficit, Harry Reid, Iraq, John Boehner, Medicaid, Medicare, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Rob Andrews, Social Security, Tax Cuts, Taxes
Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, Nation-Building By Any Other Name Is Still Nation-Building
President Barack Obama
One line more than any other in President Obama's primetime speech about gradually withdrawing troops from Afghanistan is coming back to haunt him.
"America, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home," Obama said towards the end of the speech.
The dramatic line was music to the ears of many of his fellow Democrats and voters who supported him. The words tapped into the populist, isolationist tendencies of many voters across the country who have an acute case of combat fatigue after nearly a decade of wars initiated by another president who promised the very same return to domestic concerns before the 9/11 attacks.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Bob Corker, Hillary Clinton, Jay Carney, Jim Webb, State Department, USAID
Afghanistan
Whatever Way You Go On Afghanistan, There's A Republican Prez Candidate For That
In the hours after President Obama's Afghanistan draw-down speech (remember that?), Republican presidential candidates fired off responses that ranged from subtly supportive but unimpressed to totally opposed and really unimpressed.
Yes, GOP primary voter: No matter where you stand on the longest war in American history, there's a Republican running for president who speaks your language.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2012 Presidential Primaries, 2012 elections, Afghanistan, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty
Afghanistan
Obama Announces Plans To Send 10,000 troops Home By Dec. 31
President Obama announced plans to send home 10,000 troops from Afghanistan and another 23,000 by end the September 2012 in a primetime TV and radio address Wednesday night.
In the 10-minute speech, Obama said he was fulfilling a promise he made at a speech at West Point in 2009 when he ordered a surge of 30,000 troops -- that the troops would begin coming home starting in July 2011.
"Tonight, I can tell you that we are fulfilling that commitment," he said.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Obama's Wars', Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Congress, Military, Troops
Barack Obama
Record Number Of Americans Want Troops Out Of Afghanistan
One day ahead of an address to the nation in which President Obama will announce his plans for the nation's future involvement in Afghanistan, a Pew survey finds that a record high level of Americans now support an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.
In the survey, 56% of respondents said they thought troops should come home "as soon as possible." At the same time, 39% said the military should remain until the situation in Afghanistan has stabilized, a record low in Pew's surveys.
According to multiple reports, Obama will lay out a plan Wednesday night to bring home thousands of troops beginning in July. In addition, he is expected to announce a strategy for bringing home the 30,000 additional "surge" troops he ordered sent to Afghanistan in December 2009.
Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Pew, Polls
Afghanistan
Obama's Afghan Plan With Will Be Major 2012 Foreign Policy Test
President Barack Obama
President Obama is facing one of the most difficult political challenges of his two and a half years in office in making the case to a skeptical American public and an impatient Congress that the longest war in U.S. history is still worth fighting and funding while he incrementally withdraws troops.
Obama is scheduled to outline his plans for a Afghanistan troop drawdown in a primetime address on Wednesday. The following day he will travel to Fort Drum in upstate New York to begin selling the proposal to the American people, the same day Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Obama's Wars', 2012, 2012 elections, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Carl Levin, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Mark Kirk, Orrin Hatch
Afghanistan
Panetta Sidesteps Barrage Of Questions On Afghan Drawdown
Leon Panetta, tapped by President Obama to succeed Robert Gates as defense secretary, attempted to dodge the most critical question facing the military and the administration right now during his nomination hearing Thursday.
Panetta faced a barrage of questions about the upcoming drawdown of troops in Afghanistan after signaling that he backed the President's call for a "significant" reduction of U.S. troops beginning in July.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Obama's Wars', Afghanistan, Carl Levin, Department of Defense, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Leon Panetta, Robert Gates, Saxby Chambliss, Troops, pentagon
'Obama's Wars'
As Obama Mulls Afghan Drawdown, War Weariness Grows On Capitol Hill
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
With President Obama's July deadline for withdrawing some troops in Afghanistan just weeks away, the future of the U.S. commitment to the nearly 10-year war has been a hot topic on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue in recent weeks.
Concern over the nation's budget woes have taken center stage in Washington, and with few tangible signs of progress in Afghanistan, members of Congress are increasingly expressing deep skepticism about maintaining U.S. nation-building efforts there.
The most notable aspect of Wednesday's Senate Foreign Relations hearing on the nomination of Ryan Crocker to be ambassador to Afghanistan, was the absence of voices supporting an ongoing robust U.S. presence there.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Obama's Wars', Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Budget, James Risch, John Kerry, Military, Robert Menendez, Ryan Crocker, State Department, Troops
Deficit
Most Americans Blame Wars For Federal Debt; Few Cite Tax Cuts
By a wide margin, more Americans think the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have inflated the national debt than the percentage who blame domestic spending or the tax cuts enacted in the past decade for doing the same, according to a Pew poll released Tuesday.
Those beliefs actually run counter to data recently released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which showed that the Bush-era tax cuts have been the single biggest factor in ballooning the federal deficit. While the wars have also contributed greatly to the deficit, Pew's findings illuminate how Americans more readily perceive the visceral aspects of federal budgetary policy.
And with both parties drawing a line in the sand over whether tax increases should factor into future deficit reduction talks, the Pew report offers some insight as to what proposals will hit home hardest with voters when the messaging war heats up.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Budget, Bush Tax Cuts, Deficit, Economy, Iraq, Polls, Tax Cuts
Dennis Kucinich
Speaker Boehner Concedes GOP Is Conflicted On Libya After Abruptly Pulling Anti-War Resolution
House Republicans will huddle on Thursday to discuss their members' position on Libya a day after unexpectedly withdrawing a resolution disapproving of the conflict. Speaker John Boehner conceded to reporters that many House Republicans are concerned by the military operation and called on President Obama to "step up" his explanations for the conflict.
On Wednesday schedulers abruptly canceled a vote on a resolution calling on the US to withdraw all forces from the conflict. The measure's sponsor, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), told reporters he believed House leaders pulled the legislation after realizing it might succeed with Republican backing.
"They changed their mind," he said after it was withdrawn on Wednesday. "They felt, well, it's going to pass."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Dennis Kucinich, Iraq, John Boehner, Libya, War Powers Act
CBPP
CHART: Bush Policies Dominant Cause Of National Debt
Fmr. President George W. Bush
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer made this argument in broad strokes on Monday. Hard numbers back it up.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has updated and refined a widely cited chart, laying out the origins of the country's current fiscal trajectory. And as before, the lion's share of the problem comes from ongoing George W. Bush-era policies -- particularly deficit-financed tax cuts, which eliminated Clinton-era surpluses and left the Treasury poised for a huge hit when the financial crisis and economic downturn further eroded federal revenues.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Bush Tax Cuts, CBPP, Debt, Deficit, Economy, George W. Bush, Iraq, Steny Hoyer, Tax Cuts
Roundup
TPMDC Morning Roundup
GOP's Big Medicare Gamble
The Hill reports: "Republicans on Capitol Hill may be in the process of learning a hard lesson: Meddling with Medicare, whatever the nation's fiscal circumstances, just isn't popular. They are feeling the heat now because of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) controversial plan to turn Medicare into a type of voucher system. Presented as a serious attempt to fix the program's projected shortfalls, the proposal instead appears to have turned the political tide back toward the congressional Democrats, who were on the ropes after last November's midterms."
Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will depart from the White House at 8:45 a.m. ET, and depart from Andrews Air Force Base at 9 a.m. ET, arriving at 11 a.m. ET in Memphis, Tennessee. At 11:30 a.m. ET, he will meet with families impacted by the flooding, state and local officials, first responders and volunteers. At 1 p.m. ET, he will deliver the commencement address at Booker T. Washington High School, the winner of the 2011 Race to the Top Commencement Challenge. He will depart from Memphis at 3:25 p.m. ET, arriving at Andrews Air Force Base at 5:15 p.m. ET, and arriving back at the White House at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Topics: 2012 Presidential Primaries, 2012 elections, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Medicare, Newt Gingrich, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, Paul Ryan, Pres '12, Robert Gates, Roundup
War On Terror
Congress Poised To Give President Power To Continue GWOT Indefinitely
House progressives are trying to draw attention to language Republicans have included in an annual must-pass defense bill, which they say will dramatically expand Presidential power in the war on terrorism. The pushback comes just over a week after U.S. forces killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and reignites one of the most controversial disputes the country's faced over the past decade. At stake is the question of whether Congress will allow the war on terrorism to continue indefinitely, or let it slowly dissipate as the years since September 11, 2001 pass.
The origin of the language in the defense bill dates back to March, when President Obama signed an executive order -- derided by some of his closest allies -- that effectively formalized an indefinite detention system at Guantanamo.
In response, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA) and his colleagues unveiled legislation intended to codify the intent of that executive order, and update the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force -- the legal underpinning off the war on terrorism.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Buck McKeon, Democrats, John Conyers, Osama Bin Laden, Republicans, War On Terror
Afghanistan
Bipartisan Group Urges Obama To Use OBL Raid As Example And End War In Afghanistan
A bipartisan group of eight members of Congress are calling on the Obama administration to abandon the nation-building effort in Afghanistan in favor of a scaled-down mission focused primarily on quashing al Qaeda in the wake of the targeted special forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who chairs the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations, want the Obama administration to view the successful mission against bin Laden as a model for U.S. counter-terrorism strategy as a whole. Welch, Chaffetz and a group of three Democrats and three Republicans sent Obama a letter calling for the end of the war in Afghanistan and a shift to more surgical, strategic operations to combat worldwide terrorism.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Obama's Wars', Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Jason Chaffetz, Osama Bin Laden, Peter Welch, Special Forces, Walter Jones
60 Minutes
Obama: Bin Laden Had A 'Support Network' Inside Pakistan (VIDEO)
Osama bin Laden had assistance from a support network established within Pakistan, President Obama said in an in-depth interview with CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday raising questions about the trustworthiness of one of America's key anti-terror allies in the region.
In a more than 30 minute interview, Obama said the conspicuousness of bin Laden's Pakistan safe house raised questions about how much was known, and by whom, within Pakistan. And, Obama said, both the U.S. and Pakistan had some investigating to do to root out the source.
"We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan," Obama said. "But we don't know who or what that support network was."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 60 Minutes, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan
Osama Bin Laden
Obama Thanks SEAL Team Who Killed OBL For 'Job Well Done'
President Barack Obama at Fort Campbell, Ky.
President Obama flew to Fort Campbell, Ky., Friday to personally congratulate the special operations team responsible for the killing of Osama bin Laden, telling them and the rest of the troops on the base "job well done."
Vice President Joe Biden joined Obama in privately thanking the Navy SEAL team just hours after bin Laden's terror network al Qaeda confirmed the death of their leader and vowed to avenge it and retaliate against Americans.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Mission Accomplished', 'Obama's Wars', Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan
Barack Obama
Poll: Obama's Approval Rating Jumps Nine Points After Bin Laden's Death
President Barack Obama
Immediately following the announcement that American forces had killed Osama bin Laden, President Obama's approval rating leapt to its highest level since 2009 in a Washington Post/Pew poll.
In the poll, which was conducted on Monday, 56% of Americans said they approved of Obama's job performance, compared to 38% who said the disapproved. That's a marked turnaround from one month ago, when 47% of Americans gave Obama positive marks on his job performance, while 45% said otherwise.
TPM SLIDESHOW: Osama Bin Laden Killed: The Nation Reacts
It also marks the highest approval rating the President has enjoyed since June 2009, when 61% of Americans approved of his job performance, and 30% disapproved.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Osama Bin Laden, Pew, Polls, President, Presidential Approval Ratings
Afghanistan
Poll: After Bin Laden's Death, Americans More Positive On Afghan War
Following President Obama's announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed, Americans' attitudes toward the Afghan war -- and the war on terror in general -- have undergone a sharp turnaround, according to a new poll.
In a Survey USA poll conducted on Monday, a plurality of Americans now say the Afghan war has been worth fighting. That reverses months of rising opposition to the war, when polls showed that record-low levels of Americans thought the war had not been worth it in the long run. The new survey also found that, with bin Laden's death, six in ten Americans now think America is winning the broader war on terror.
TPM SLIDESHOW: Osama Bin Laden Killed: The Nation Reacts
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Osama Bin Laden, Polls, War On Terror
Andy Card
GOP's Tortured Logic: How We Got Osama Bin Laden
Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Former President George W. Bush.
Like so many memes that persist in politics, this one started on the Internet. The morning after President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan, conservatives started crowing that credit should be given to President George W. Bush -- specifically, for having the foresight and courage to torture the people who provided the initial scraps of intel that ultimately led the CIA to a giant compound just north of Islamabad.
The most prominent of these conservatives was Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who took to Twitter to ask sardonically, "Wonder what President Obama thinks of water boarding now?
About two hours later, the Associated Press published a brief story claiming that the CIA obtained the initial intelligence it needed to find bin Laden from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- the so-called mastermind of 9/11 -- and his successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi at CIA black sites in Poland and Romania.
Those secret prisons, which the Obama administration contends to have abandoned, were the facilities where Mohammed and al-Libi were waterboarded. There, the detainees supposedly identified by nom de guerre a courier who would years later be located by American intelligence officials, and lead them to bin Laden's compound.
"The news is sure to reignite debate over whether the now-closed interrogation and detention program was successful," the AP wrote. "Former president George W. Bush authorized the CIA to use the harshest interrogation tactics in U.S. history. President Barack Obama closed the prison system."
There's just one problem. The key bit of intel wasn't acquired via torture, according to a more fleshed out version of the same report.
But the myth provided a brief opening. Thus have Republicans constructed a version of events by which they -- and Bush in particular -- deserve some of credit for bin Laden's death. Not all of it. Indeed they have by and large acknowledged Obama's role, and congratulated him on it. And most have not been as brazen as King or the Tea Party Express in attributing the success of the mission to Bush's interrogation policies. But Bush, they argue, played a big part as well, akin to the husband who loosens the lid to a Mason jar only to watch his wife open it effortlessly.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Andy Card, Barack Obama, CIA, Carl Levin, Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Kevin McCarthy, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, Torture, Waterboarding, White House
Afghanistan
Levin: Bin Laden's Death Paves Way For Swifter Troop Drawdown In Afghanistan
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
Given that President Obama's not going to bring the war in Afghanistan to an early end as the result of Osama bin Laden's death, a key question is whether his administration will green light a robust troop drawdown starting in July, or whether the withdrawal will happen more slowly, as some in his administration would like.
That's the pivot, and there will be increasing pressure on Obama from Democrats to use bin Laden's death in Pakistan to make the case for a swifter reduction.
TPM SLIDESHOW: Osama Bin Laden: 9/11 Mastermind, Longtime U.S. Enemy Killed In Pakistan
"I think there's going to be a lot of strong feeling on the part of most Democrats and many, I think many independents, and even some Republicans that the decision of the President to reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan should be a robust reduction," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) told reporters on a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon. "I don't think that's going to change, and I don't expect the decision of the President -- his instinct to have a reduction, and I believe a robust reduction following conversations with him -- that that instinct would be reinforced."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Carl Levin, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, Terrorism, White House
Osama Bin Laden
Levin: Pakistani Intel and Military Have 'A Lot Of Explaining To Do' For Sheltering Bin Laden
Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
The Democrats' top armed services expert on Capitol Hill says Pakistan's military and intelligence have grave questions to answer after Osama Bin Laden was killed in an elaborate compound, deep inside Pakistan, near a top Pakistani military facility.
"I think that the Pakistani army and intelligence have a lot of questions to answer, given the location, the length of time, and the apparent fact that this facility was built for bin Laden, and its closeness to the central location to the Pakistani army," said Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), who chairs the Senate Armed Services committee, in a Capitol briefing with reporters Monday morning.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Carl Levin, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, Terrorism
Afghanistan
Reid: Obama Has No Plans To Change Afghanistan Strategy In Wake Of Bin Laden Killing
Harry Reid (D-NV)
President Obama has communicated to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that he plans to stick with the current timetable for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan -- this despite the fact that Osama bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan, and that Afghan leaders view this as proof that allied actions in their country are misguided.
"The President has a timetable to begin withdrawal of Afghanistan," Reid told reporters in a Capitol briefing Monday morning. "He's indicated he's going to stick with that. I think that's appropriate."
Though lawmakers and administration officials have consistently said that bin Laden's death doesn't indicate an end to hostilities in the Global War on Terror, some experts and advocates have argued that the Obama administration should use Sunday night's development to pivot toward a hastier resolution of hostilities in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Doesn't look like that's in the works, though.
Topics: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, Terrorism
Afghanistan
Karzai: Bin Laden Death In Pakistan Proves Attacks On Afghanistan Are Wrong
Afghan President Hamid Karzai
Osama bin Laden's death in Pakistan is already causing significant disruptions to the United States' foreign policy status quo. Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai reacted to the news by claiming bin Laden's sanctuary near Islamabad vindicates his critique of allied actions inside Afghanistan.
"Again and again, for years and every day we have said that the war on terror is not in Afghan villages, not in Afghan houses of the poor and oppressed," Mr Karzai said. "The war against terrorism is in its sources, in its financial sources, its sanctuaries, in its training bases, not in Afghanistan," Karzai said, according to The Daily Telegraph. "The war against terrorism is in its sources, in its financial sources, its sanctuaries, in its training bases, not in Afghanistan.... It was proved that we were right."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Hamid Karzai, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan
Roundup
TPMDC Morning Roundup
In Afghanistan, Boehner Assails U.S. Pullout Plan
AFP reports: "US House Speaker John Boehner wrapped up a visit to Afghanistan Wednesday and assailed President Barack Obama's plan to begin pulling US troops out in July a risk to fragile security gains.'Any drawdown of US troops must be based on the conditions on the ground, not on political calculations,' Boehner, the White House's top Republican foe in the US Congress, said in a statement from his office in Washington."
Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will deliver remarks to a DNC event in San Francisco at 12:40 p.m. ET. He will depart from San Francisco at 1:35 p.m. ET, arriving at 2:30 p.m. ET in Reno, Nevada. At 2:50 p.m. ET, he will participate in a "Shared Responsibility and Shared Prosperity" town hall. He will depart from Reno at 4:30 p.m. ET, arriving at 5:45 p.m. ET in Los Angeles, California. He will deliver remarks at a DNC event at 9:55 p.m. ET, and deliver remarks at another DNC event at 10:50 p.m. ET.
Topics: 2012 elections, Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Debt Ceiling, Eric Cantor, Immigration, John Boehner, Judicial nominees, K Street, Lobbying, Roundup
Roundup
TPMDC Morning Roundup
Obama Urges Democrats Help Him 'Finish The Job'
Reuters reports: "President Barack Obama urged Democrats on Thursday to help him "finish the job" at the first events of his 2012 re-election bid, appealing for higher taxes on the wealthy and a rejection of Republican budget policies. Obama, seeking to reignite the energy of supporters that propelled his candidacy in 2008, said 'extraordinary progress' has been made during his two years in the White House but 'we've still got work to do.' 'If you're just as fired up now despite the fact that your candidate is a little older and a lot grayer, then I have every confidence that we're going to be able to finish the job,' he said."
Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will depart from Chicago, Illinois, at 12:55 p.m. ET. He will arrive at Andrews Air Force Base at 2:35 p.m. ET, and arrive back the White House at 2:50 p.m. ET. Obama and Vice President Biden will meet at 3:20 p.m. ET with the leadership of the National Conference of State Legislators.
Topics: 2012 elections, Afghanistan, Budget, Grover Norquist, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Paul Ryan, Roundup, Taxes, Tom Coburn
'Obama's Wars'
Obama Doctrine Emerges: International Support Critical To Military Missions
After weeks of withering criticism of the White House's delayed response in Libya, as well as his decision to authorize air strikes, President Obama is beginning to articulate his philosophy for the use of military force overseas.
The President plans to lay out the strategy behind his foreign policy decisions in Libya in a prime-time address to the nation Monday night at 7:30 ET, something his critics say he should have done before missile launches began in the North African country last Friday.
Topics: 'Mission Accomplished', 'Obama's Wars', Afghanistan, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Iraq, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, NATO, United Nations, no-fly zone
David Petraeus
Dem Rep Accuses Petraeus Of Using 'Charlie Sheen' PR Strategy On Afghanistan
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) accused Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, of employing a "Charlie Sheen" strategy in trying to convince the American public to stay the course in Afghanistan.
"General Petraeus is giving us the Charlie Sheen counter-insurgency strategy, which is to give exclusive interviews to every major network, and to keep saying 'we're winning' and hope the public actually agrees with you," Woolsey said during a speech on the House floor Wednesday.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Mission Accomplished', 'Obama's Wars', Afghanistan, Charlie Sheen, David Petraeus, House Armed Services Committee, House Democrats, Iraq, Lynn Woolsey, Senate Armed Services Committee
Haley Barbour
Barbour Floats Anti-Afghan War Platform
Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)
Haley Barbour is the latest possible 2012 candidate to question America's presence in Afghanistan, asking a crowd in Iowa on Tuesday night: "What is our mission? How many Al Qaeda are in Afghanistan. ... Is that a 100,000-man Army mission?"
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2012, 2012 Presidential Primaries, Afghanistan, Haley Barbour
David Petraeus
Petraeus on Afghan War: 'We Have To Remember Why We're There'
General David Petraeus
Gen. David Petraeus urged the American people to remember the reasons why U.S. forces continue to fight in Afghanistan in the face of a new poll showing the lowest level of American support for the longest war in U.S. history.
Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that he understands the level of American frustration with the Afghan war, but warned of the growth of al Qaeda in the country and region if the U.S. abandons its mission and allows the Taliban to regain control.
Topics: 'Obama's Wars', Afghanistan, Budget, Carl Levin, Continuing Resolution, David Petraeus, Iraq, John McCain, Walter Reed
Afghanistan
Record High Two-Thirds Of Americans Say Afghan War Not Worth Fighting
British soldiers on Operation Moshtarak in Afghanistan.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans now say the Afghan war has not been worth fighting according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, a record high that comes as the war, already the longest in American history, approaches its eleventh year.
In the poll, 64% of all Americans said the Afghan war hasn't been worth fighting -- including 49% who feel that way strongly -- both record highs. Further, only 31% said the war had been worth fighting, a record low.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Economy, Polls, War On Terror
Afghanistan
GOP Rep: Republicans Are Turning On The War In Afghanistan
Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC)
A bipartisan group of House members are pushing a new plan to end the war in Afghanistan. Many of the lawmakers who spoke at event on Wednesday announcing the new effort have been outspoken on ending what has become America's longest military conflict for years, but one Republican, Rep. Walter Jones (NC), says the names on the list of legislators opposing the Afghanistan conflict are expanding on his side of the aisle.
"The number of Republicans is slowly growing," Jones told reporters. "There were 12 tea party-types who won election that we checked to see what their position was on Afghanistan and 12 said for either policy reasons or financial reasons we need to get out."
Jones said some veteran Republicans are also signing on to an end to the war, which has has been met with growing public discontent according to public opinion polls. "In time, they're beginning to say, 'I don't know what we're trying to accomplish, there seems to be no end point,'"Jones said. "It is slowly on the Republican side changing to [support for] getting our troops out."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barbara Lee, Dennis Kucinich, Libya, Pete Stark, Ron Paul, Walter Jones
Commission on Wartime Contracting
U.S. Needs To Improve Safeguards To Avoid Rehiring 'Bad Actor' Defense Contractors
The U.S. government's dependence on private contractors for work in Afghanistan and Iraq has hampered competition and favored incumbent contractors regardless of whether they have a record of criminal or fraudulent activities, according to a new report from the Commission on Wartime Contracting.
That finding was a focus of a Commission on Wartime Contracting hearing Monday that discussed methods to exact more accountability from private contractors, including recording incumbent contractors' performance assessments into a federal database accessible to all government agencies. Michael Thibault, the former deputy director of the Defense Contract Audit Agency, and former Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) chair the commission.
"If you hired somebody to paint your house and they tracked paint all over your carpet, you probably wouldn't use them again and you might even negotiate a price that was less than you originally agreed to," said Wartime Contracting Commissioner Grant Green.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Obama's Wars', Afghanistan, Blackwater Worldwide, Chris Shays, Commission on Wartime Contracting, Iraq, Privatization, procurement reform
Iraq
Report: U.S. Has Wasted Tens Of Billions Of Dollars On Contractors In Iraq And Afghanistan
private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A new report from a bipartisan commission set up to scrutinize the unprecedented use of contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan concludes that the United States has wasted tens of billions of the nearly $177 billion that has been spent on those contracts and grants since 2002.
The report, titled "At What Risk? Correcting Over-reliance on Contractors in Contingency Operations," said its estimate may even understate the problem because it may not take into full account ill-conceived projects, poor planning and oversight by the U.S. government, as well as criminal behavior and blatant corruption by both government and contractor employees.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 'Obama's Wars', Afghanistan, Blackwater Worldwide, Chris Shays, Iraq, Privatization
Afghanistan
Rumsfeld: Obama Can Win The War On Terror By Emulating Bush (VIDEO)
According to Donald Rumsfeld, the Bush administration handled the "War On Terror" just fine, as proven by the fact that President Obama is now such a big fan of their work.
Appearing on CNN with Candy Crowley, Rumsfeld noted that Obama -- despite criticizing Bush on the campaign trail -- has perpetuated several highly contentious Bush-era policies since taking office.
"They have now switched from campaign mode," Rumsfeld said. "They are keeping Guantanamo Bay, they are keeping indefinite detention, they are keeping military commissions. So obviously they have come to the conclusion that it's easier to campaign than it is to govern."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, CNN, Donald Rumsfeld, War On Terror
