The situation in Afghanistan is bad enough without "people at the Pentagon" playing games with Obama. A report today that Obama had decided to send 40,000 troops to Afghanistan has been denied strongly by the White House:
Two other senior administration officials flatly told CNN that the CBS report and other similar speculation is false. The Associated Press reported Monday that Obama is "nearing a decision to add tens of thousands more forces to Afghanistan, though not quite the 40,000 sought [by] his top general there.""People at the Pentagon" should have been more forceful on Afghanistan when the previous President took his eyes off that war and led us into Iraq. "People at the Pentagon" really shouldn't be playing these games. This isn't good.
The two senior administration officials suggested the information is being leaked by Pentagon sources who are trying to box Obama in by setting public expectations that he will send close to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan as McChrystal requested.
"People at the Pentagon are trying to force a certain outcome," one of the senior administration officials told CNN.
