Everett, Washington
Published: Thursday, November 26, 2009

Obama to unveil Afghan war strategy

Washington Post

 WASHINGTON — President Obama will reveal his new Afghanistan war strategy in a speech Tuesday evening to cadets at West Point, but his most skeptical audience is likely to be the powerful Democrats on Capitol Hill who oppose a troop buildup.

Top Democrats have made it clear to Obama that he will not receive a friendly reception should he announce what is considered the leading option: sending 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. The legislators have indicated that a request for more money to finance a beefed-up war effort will be met with frustration and, perhaps, a demand to raise taxes.

Even so, Obama appears ready to come close to accepting the recommendation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, to add 40,000 more troops to the war effort. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday that several NATO countries will send an additional 5,000 troops to Afghanistan. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that Obama had not yet informed members of his war council of his decision.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., described what she called “serious unrest” in her caucus over the prospect of another vote to finance billions of dollars for an expanded war. It is, she said, the most difficult vote she can ask of the members of her party. “We need to know what the mission is, how this is further protecting the American people and is this the best way to do that, especially at a time when there’s such serious economic issues here at home,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi met with Obama at the White House Tuesday and later sat next to him at the state dinner that evening. Her office offered scant insight Wednesday about the White House session. “The President and the Speaker had a productive meeting,” said Brendan Daly, Pelosi’s spokesman.

In June, Pelosi strong-armed anti-war Democrats into voting for a $100 billion bill to fund the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In July, she recounted her appeal to the lawmakers: “Will you change your mind and one more time vote for war funding again?” She also promised not to ask again. “This is the very last time,” she told them.

Now, barely five months later, Pelosi and Obama will soon have to go back the war well once more, even as they seek difficult votes from the same Democratic lawmakers on health care reform, climate change legislation and regulation of the financial industry.

Those domestic policy efforts are far from settled, but Pelosi has described them only as “heavy lifts” that were “nothing” compared to the war votes of the past three years. “You have to go to somebody who is totally, completely, entirely opposed to war funding, and you need to have them vote on it. And you don’t even want to vote on it yourself,” Pelosi said in July. > Back to Nation & World

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