Obama and the generals, and admirals

Further to these posts,

Afstan: The McCrystal watch continues

Afstan: British general resigns

from the NY Times:

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal met secretly in Germany on Friday with Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss the general’s anticipated request for more troops for the war in Afghanistan, Pentagon officials said.

A Pentagon official said that Admiral Mullen had asked to meet face to face with General McChrystal, the top American and NATO commander in Afghanistan, “so that he could get a better understanding from General McChrystal directly about the resource requirement.”

The official said Admiral Mullen — who won Senate confirmation on Friday for a second term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs — did not deliver any specific message to the general at the meeting. The men met at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, which is roughly halfway between Washington and General McChrystal’s headquarters in Kabul, the Afghan capital.

The meeting occurred as General McChrystal’s formal request for a specific number of troops was expected to arrive at the Pentagon. As of Friday evening it had not, said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, who held out the possibility that the request would be on the desk of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates by Saturday...

The Pentagon official said that Admiral Mullen and General McChrystal discussed the specific number of troops to be requested at the meeting in Germany.

The official said that after Mr. Gates received the formal request, he would keep the number secret until President Obama decided on a strategy [emphasis added] for Afghanistan that would, in turn, help determine how many troops to send.

“This will reside with him and maybe a couple of others,” Mr. Morrell said of Mr. Gates. “No one will do anything with it until he determines it is the appropriate time — no staff work, no contingencies.” Mr. Morrell declined to say by what method the troop request would be sent to Mr. Gates.

Others at the meeting in Germany included Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Adm. James G. Stavridis, NATO’s supreme allied commander [emphasis added].

Next week there are White House meetings on Afghanistan scheduled for Mr. Obama and his top national security advisers, including Mr. Gates and Admiral Mullen. Administration officials say they expect to reach a conclusion on how to proceed — and whether to send additional troops — by the end of October.

Army planners say they would have to start planning now to be able to get troops into the region by spring [emphasis added--ah, the curse of logistics].

On Sunday morning, Mr. Gates is to be interviewed on programs on CNN and ABC [emphasis added, I'd recommend watching - MC]].

While from the Washington Post:

...

The purpose of Friday's meeting was not for McChrystal to deliver the troop request, which Pentagon officials said will go through normal channels in being submitted to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates by this weekend. However, officials said they expected that Mullen would return to Washington with a copy of the request. Senior military officials said the request will lay out options for Obama, along with the level of anticipated success for each [emphasis added]...

Some spin from the Christian Science Monitor:

US military united on Afghanistan troop request
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, delivered his request for more troops to top military brass at a secret meeting in Germany this week.

The top US military officers now agree that more troops are needed to win the conflict in Afghanistan, leaving President Obama with potentially less wiggle room in making a decision about deepening America's involvement there.

This week, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, received a troop request in a secret meeting in Germany with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, whose recently submitted strategy review concluded that a larger US force is necessary to win the counterinsurgency there. That request will arrive on Mr. Obama's desk in coming days, bringing debate on the way forward in Afghanistan to a head.

Should Mr. Obama turn down the request from his commander on the ground, he may risk alienating a military that is now publicly in favor of sending more troops. Earlier this week, Gen. David Petraeus voiced support for a troop increase in Afghanistan. General Petraeus oversaw the surge of forces in Iraq in 2007 that is widely held to be a counterinsurgency success story.

In a bid to keep options open, Obama administration officials have stressed that the military's perspective is "just one input" of many. Many of these officials have serious concerns about escalating the conflict in Afghanistan and question whether resourcing a counterinsurgency campaign would serve American interests. Vice President Joe Biden, for one, has backed an alternative counterterrorism strategy that would involve more targeted attacks on Al Qaeda and fewer troops.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a key player in the discussions, seems to be on the fence [emphasis added], so far.

Today's debate echoes the one that preceded the surge of forces in Iraq three years ago, but this time there is more consensus within the military, making Obama's situation more difficult in some ways [emphasis added]...

The president can only keep dancing away so long. From the LA Times:

Top general in Afghanistan asks Pentagon for more troops
Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request will not be submitted to the White House for 10 days. Obama officials have asked the military to devise options for pursuing other strategies.

Reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Washington -- The top general in Afghanistan submitted a request for additional troops to his Pentagon bosses Friday, defense officials said, a recommendation that will be evaluated by a White House that appears to be increasingly skittish about sending reinforcements into the war.

It is unclear how many troops Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal requested. Officials have estimated that he needs 20,000 to 40,000 additional combat troops to pursue an expanded counterinsurgency strategy.

McChrystal's request will be reviewed by Pentagon officials and is not likely to be submitted to the White House for at least 10 days [emphasis added], according to a Defense official...

Coming to a real showdown? I do wish we had reporting like the above in this country.