Spencer Ackerman: "Even before President Barack Obama took the oath of office Tuesday, a coalition of progressives assembled to steer him away from his long-discussed plans to increase the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan by nearly 30,000. ... The Obama administration has no shortage of military and strategy reviews for the Afghanistan war. At her confirmation hearing last week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged that the administration would conduct a broad-brush review of what the goals of U.S. policy are in Afghanistan. A spokesman for the National Security Council, Benjamin Chang, said it was unclear what the timetable was for that review to proceed. The administration will also inherit highly anticipated military reviews are underway from Gen. David Petraeus, commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia; Gen. Douglas Lute, the so-called White House 'war czar' responsible for coordinating government-wide policies in Iraq and Afghanistan; and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

Posted by Laura at January 26, 2009 12:07 PM