Also, free insight from the actual person on his decision, as opposed to 'Unnamed Source says he's going all in! Unnamed source says he's quitting!' bullshit.
BEIJING — President Barack Obama says he is angry about leaks from his deliberations on more troops for Afghanistan, and said he considers such disclosures a firing offense.
Obama, during a round of four network interviews before he left China for South Korea, told Chip Reid of CBS News: "[W]e have these deliberations in the Situation Room for a reason – because we are making decisions that are life-and-death, that affect how our troops will be able to operate in a theater of war."
With Obama nearing an announcement on whether to deploy additional troops to Afghanistan – within the “next several weeks,” he told NBC — numerous news reports have speculated where he is headed, with information from officials about the options he is considering.
During the exchange, Reid asked: “Secretary Gates has made clear that he is furious about all the leaks [about Afghanistan deliberations]. And with it playing out on the front pages of the paper every day, some people said it makes you look indecisive. Are you that angry about these leaks, and do you think it makes you look uncertain?"
Obama: “I think I am angrier than Bob Gates about it, partly because we have these deliberations in the Situation Room for a reason – because we are making decisions that are life-and-death, that affect how our troops will be able to operate in a theater of war. For people to be releasing information during the course of deliberation — where we haven’t made final decisions yet — I think is not appropriate.”
Reid: “Firing offense??”
Obama: “Absolutely.”
As for the decision itself, Obama told NBC’s Chuck Todd, “This decision will put us on a path towards ending the war.”
“I'm confident that at the end of this process we will be able to present to the American people in very clear terms what exactly is at stake what we intend to do, how we're going to succeed, how much it's going to cost, how long it's going to take - and I think that's what owed the American people because frankly over the last several years that's not what they've gotten,” Obama said on NBC, taking a dig at the Bush administration.
In an interview with CNN’s Ed Henry, Obama said that, despite the leaks, the weeks of meetings on Afghanistan are nearly at a conclusion.
“We are very close to a decision,” Obama declared. “I will announce that decision certainly in the next several weeks….We do have a vital interest in making sure that al Qaeda cannot attack us and that they can't use Afghanistan as a safe haven. We have a vital interest in making sure that Afghanistan is sufficiently stable, that it can't infect the entire region with violent extremism. We also have to make sure that we've got an effective partner in Afghanistan.”
Obama said the U.S. will establish “clear benchmarks” for President Hamid Karzai’s government, which has been accused of tolerating corruption while delivering few services to the Afghan people. But when Henry asked the U.S. president if he trusts his Afghan counterpart, Obama clearly dodged.
“You know, I –I think that President Karzai has served his country in important ways,” Obama said. “If you think about when he first came in, there may not have been another figure who could have held that country together. He has some strengths, but he's got some weaknesses. And I'm less concerned about any individual than I am with a government as a whole that is having difficulty providing basis — basic services to its people in a way that confers legitimacy on them. So these are all factors that — that have gone into the decision-making.”
Obama also confirmed reports that one focus of the drawn-out Afghanistan deliberations is finding an exit strategy that will allow for an eventual U.S. withdrawal from the nation American troops entered back in 2001.
“I am very confident that when I announce the decision, the American people will have a lot of clarity about what we're doing, how we're going to succeed, how much this thing is going to cost, you know, what kind of burden does this place on our young men and women in uniform and, most importantly, what's the end game on this thing,” Obama said. “Unless you impose that kind of discipline, could end up leading to a multi-year occupation that won't serve the interests of the United States.”
Wouldn't it be nice if the media didn't use Unnamed Sources so much? Then we might know when they're just making shit up.