Representanter för Bush och Obama-administrationen har hamnat i ett ordbråk om Afghanistan. Det hela började med att Obamas stabschef Rahm Emanuel förra söndagen sa
följande:
"The president is asking the questions that have never been asked on the civilian side, the political side, the military side, and the strategic side. What is the impact on the region? What can the Afghan government do or not do? Where are we on the police training? Who would be better doing the police training? Could that be something the Europeans do? Should we take the military side? Those are the questions that have not been asked. And before you commit troops... before you make that decision, there's a set of questions that have to have answers that have never been asked. And it's clear after eight years of war, that's basically starting from the beginning, and those questions never got asked."
Tidigare vice-president Dick Cheney talade i torsdags
inför Center for Security Policy, och sa då att Obama-administrationens anklagelse inte kunde stå oemotsagd. Cheney förklarade sedan vad Bushadministrationen gjort under hösten 2008 när talibanerna på allvar började göra come-back i Afghanistan. Han förklarade att Bushadministrationen satte ihop ett team som reste såväl till Afghanistan som Pakistan. De övervägde sedan alternativ - och underrättade tillträdande president Obamas team om dessa. Obamas team bad då Bushadministrationen att inte offentliggöra utredningarna - något president Bush gick med på. Cheney anklagade också Obama-administrationen för att vela i fråga om Afghanistan ("dithering").
Detta fick i sin tur Obama-administrationen att gå till motangrepp. Vice-president Joe Biden sa om Cheneys kommentarer:
"Who cares what--" sa Biden innan han fick kontroll över fortsättningen och sig själv, och sa vidare:
"Yeah, yeah, I can see the headline now. I'm getting better, guys. I'm getting a little better, you know what I mean?"
Han
fortsatte sedan och talade om den rapport Cheney hänvisat till och sa:
"Let's assume they left us a review that was absolutely correct. Is that review relevant and totally applicable to today in light of the changes that have taken place in the region, in Afghanistan itself? I think it's irrelevant."
Obamas presstalesman Robert Gibbs gick också han till motangrepp,
och sa:
"What Vice President Cheney calls 'dithering,' President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public. I think we've all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously."
Gibbs fortsatte
med att säga att under Bushadministrationens sista år så satt de
"on desks in this White House, including the vice president's, for more than eight months" - efter det att General David McKiernan bett om fler trupper till landet.
En medarbetare till Försvarsminister Robert Gates - som varit med i båda administrationer men själv gjort sitt bästa för att inte dras in i en fight administrationerna emellan - sa om Robert Gibbs påstående om McKiernan:
"There was no request on anyone's desk for eight months. There was not a request that went to the White House because we didn't have forces to commit. So on the facts, they're wrong."
Framåt hösten fanns dock trupper tillgängliga, och Bush skickade då ytterligare 7 000 soldater till Afghanistan, inklusive en brigad som omflyttades från Irak.
En medarbetare till tidigare utrikesminister Condolezza Rice
sa:
"My challenge to the Obama administration is: Why don't you declassify both documents--the Bush administration's Afghanistan review and your own."
Fox News har här en vidare diskussion om ämnet där Bushs tidigare chefsstrateg Karl Rove kommenterar Obama-administrationens anklagelser:
1 kommentar:
Politically-desperate Chi-Town thuglet Emanuel just couldn't resist taking yet another cheap shot on the Bush Administration... no matter how much it makes him look a liar... or a fool.
Of course, the latest catapult-load of BS was launched by the same Alinskyite weasel who's been leading the charge against the credibility of Fox News... Rahm Emanuel. Isn't that special?
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com
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