Obama’s Wars
Page 43
205 But Graham’s comments a few days earlier: Senator Lindsey Graham Interview with Fox News, Fox News Sunday, October 6, 2009, http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=5021.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with 10 firsthand sources.
213 Obama awoke that next morning: Scott Wilson, “Nobel for Obama Brings Praise, Ire,” The Washington Post, October 10, 2008, p. A1.
214 He had published one short story: Ben Rhodes, “The Goldfish Smiles, You Smile Back,” Beloit Fiction Journal, vol. 15, Spring 2002.
214 Obama appeared at a podium: Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, October 9, 2009, Remarks on Winning the Nobel Peace Prize, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/presdocs/2009
/DCPD-200900793.htm.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with 10 firsthand sources.
231 “This is a long war”: See “Vietnam, Not Afghanistan, Still Longest War: Holbrooke,” The Two-Way (blog), NPR, June 7, 2010, http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/06/vietnam_not_afghanistan_still.html.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with 11 firsthand sources.
234 The Afghanistan commander responded: Contents described to the author by a knowledgeable source.
237 Under the law as a member: See U.S. Code, Title 10, Subtitle A, Part I, Chapter 5, 151, Subsection d, http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html
/uscode10/usc_sec_10_00000151____000-.html.
237 And the law said that the chairman: Ibid.
242 At least one copy never made it back: Author review and dictated notes of Petraeus’s October 14, 2009, memo entitled “Lessons on Reconciliation.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with 13 firsthand sources.
246 The Washington Post and ABC News: ABC News/Washington Post Poll: Afghanistan, “Drop for Obama on Afghanistan; Few See a Clear Plan for the War,” October 21, 2009, http://abcnews.go.com/images/PollingUnit/
1095a3Afghanistan.pdf.
247 Former Vice President Dick Cheney: “Cheney: ‘We Cannot Protect This Country by Putting Politics over Security, and Turning the Guns on Our Own Guys,’” former Vice President Dick Cheney, October 21, 2009, http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/p18209.xml.
247 At the White House press briefing: White House press briefing by Robert Gibbs, October 22, 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov.
249 A survey of the Kandahar population: “District Assessment: Kandahar-city, Kandahar Province,” commissioned by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, November 2009, p. 23.
249 The survey was later heralded: Major General Michael T. Flynn, USA, Captain Matt Pottinger, USMC, and Paul D. Batchelor, DIA, “Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan,” Center for a New American Security, January 2010, p. 25, footnote 10, http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/
publications/AfghanIntel_Flynn_Jan2010_
code507_voices.pdf
255 Just before midnight: Michael Fletcher and Ann Gerhart, “In Pre-Dawn Darkness, Obama Salutes Victims of War,” The Washington Post, October 30, 2009, p. A2; Jeff Zeleny, “Obama Visits Air Base to Honor Returning Dead,” The New York Times, October 30, 2009, p. A16.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with 12 firsthand sources.
260 On October 30, Gates sent Obama: Author’s review and dictated notes of Secretary Gates’s October 30, 2009, memo.
261 The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan had sent: Eikenberry’s cables can be viewed in document form at http://documents.nytimes.com/eikenberry-s-memos-on-the-strategy-in-afghanistan. See also Elisabeth Bumiller and Mark Landler, “Envoy Expresses Doubt on Forces for Afghanistan,” The New York Times, November 12, 2009, p. A1; and Eric Schmitt, “Cables Detail Envoy’s Worry on Karzai Role,” The New York Times, January 26, 2010, p. A1.
263 Newsweek had put him on its cover: Cover story, Rod Nordland, “Iraq’s Repairman,” Newsweek, July 5, 2004, p. 22.
264 Only about 42 percent of the Afghan populace: Central Intelligence Agency, “Afghanistan,” The World Factbook, 2009, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html.
264 So for example, they would not have to worry: Ibid.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with 10 firsthand sources.
266 About noon on Veterans Day: Jeff Zeleny, “Obama Salutes Fallen Americans on Veterans Day,” The New York Times on the Web, November 12, 2009, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/presdocs/
2009/DCPD-200900902.htm.
266 They walked around Section 60: Rick Atkinson, “Where Valor Rests,” Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2009, p. 21.
266 Around 2 P.M. on Veterans Day: CNN Newsroom, CNN, November 11, 2009, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS.
268 The Journal story quoted: Peter Spiegel, “Obama Receives New Afghan Option,” The Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2009, p. A10.
272 Eikenberry wrote: Eikenberry’s cables can be viewed in document form at http://documents.nytimes.com/eikenberry-s-memos-on-the-strategy-in-afghanistan. See also Elisabeth Bumiller and Mark Landler, “Envoy Expresses Doubt on Forces for Afghanistan,” The New York Times, November 12, 2009, p. A1; and Eric Schmitt, “Cables Detail Envoy’s Worry on Karzai Role,” The New York Times, January 26, 2010, p. A1.
275 In my interview with the president: Interview with President Barack H. Obama, July 10, 2010.
279 This was the second lesson: Gordon M. Goldstein, Lessons in Disaster (New York: Times Books, 2008), p. 69.
279 I later pressed the president twice: Interview with President Barack H. Obama, July 10, 2010.
279 “Hooah, Sir!” Dowd said, using the universal: This loose definition of “hooah” is frequently cited but rarely explained by members of the military. According to a humorous definition on usmilitary.about.com, definitions of “hooah” can include: “Referring to or meaning anything and everything except ‘no,’” “What to say when at a loss for words,” “Message received,” “Welcome,” “I don’t know the answer, but I’ll check on it,” “I haven’t the foggiest idea,” “Thank you,” “Go to the next slide,” “I don’t know what that means, but I’m too embarrassed to ask for clarification” and “Amen!” See Rod Powers, “Dictionary Definition of Hooah,” Military Jokes and Humor, http://usmilitary.about.com/od/militaryhumor
/a/hooahdef.htm. See also Martha Brant, “West Wing Story: You’re in the Army Now,” Newsweek (Web Exclusive), December 19, 2002.
281 Three days later, Mullen: Author’s review of the graph entitled “Alternative Mission in Afghanistan,” November 14, 2009.
282 In my interview with the president: Interview with President Barack H. Obama, July 10, 2010.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with 14 firsthand sources.
284 “I don’t think anybody believes”: Jenna Jordan, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago, published a study in late 2009 that suggested the targeted killing of terrorist group leaders was mostly ineffective at stopping the group. Her study, “When Heads Roll: Assessing the Effectiveness of Leadership Decapitation,” examined 298 incidents between 1945 and 2004. It found that large, decades-old, religious-based groups were largely resilient to targeted killing. Jordan wrote, “Decapitation is not ineffective merely against religious, old, or large groups, it is actually counterproductive for many of the terrorist groups currently being targeted. In many cases, targeting a group’s leadership actually lowers its rate of decline. … Moreover, going after the leader may strengthen a group’s resolve, result in retaliatory attacks, increase public sympathy for t
he organization, or produce more lethal attacks.” See Jenna Jordan, “When Heads Roll: Assessing the Effectiveness of Leadership Decapitation,” http://cpost.uchicago.edu/pdf/Jordan.pdf. See also Andrew Exum, “Two Documents of Note: The Ridiculous and the Sublime,” Abu Muqawama (blog), April 14, 2010, http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawama/
2010/04/two-documents-note-ridiculous
-and-sublime.html.
284 In the two-page letter: Author’s review of President Obama’s letter to President Zardari, November 11, 2009.
287 Later in November, Zardari answered Obama: Author’s review of President Zardari’s letter to President Obama, November 25, 2009. 289 The president told me: Interview with President Barack H. Obama, July 10, 2010.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with nine firsthand sources.
307 Obama had met that week: Michael D. Shear and Paul Kane, “President vs. Party on Troop Increase,” The Washington Post, November 26, 2009, p. A1. 307 On a conference call with bloggers: Ibid.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with eight firsthand sources.
311 When I asked the president about this advice: Interview with President Barack H. Obama, July 10, 2010.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with three firsthand sources.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with nine firsthand sources.
328 After the 9/11 attacks, President Bush: Bob Woodward, Bush at War (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002), p. 30.
331 “The days of providing a blank check are over”: President Obama, Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan, December 1, 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov.
331 I went back and read Eisenhower’s: President Dwight Eisenhower, Farewell Address, January 17, 1961, http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/
speeches/detail/3361.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with 10 firsthand sources.
334 Obama, wearing a dark suit: President Obama, Remarks at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, December 1, 2009, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/presdocs/2009
/DCPD-200900962.htm.
335 Although most news coverage: Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Helene Cooper, “Obama Adds Troops, but Maps Exit Plan,” The New York Times, December 2, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/world
/asia/02prexy.html.
335 The day after the West Point speech: Federal News Service, Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Subject: Afghanistan, December 2, 2009.
337 Later, at the White House press briefing: Chip Reid, “White House: July 2011 Is Locked In for Afghanistan Withdrawal,” Political Hotsheet (blog), December 2, 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162
-5868282-503544.html.
337 Gates went to Afghanistan and declared: Media availability with Secretary Gates en route to Afghanistan, December 8, 2009, http://www.defense.gov/transcripts.
337 At a December 13 regional security conference: Address by General Petraeus, Panel on Regional Security Architecture, IISS Manama Dialogue, IISS Regional Security Summit, December 12, 2009, http://www.iiss.org/conferences/the-iiss-regional-security-summit/manama-dialogue-2009/plenary-sessions-and-speeches-2009/fifth-plenary-session/fifth-plenary-session-general-david-petraeus/.
340 On Christmas Day 2009: Dan Eggen, Karen DeYoung and Spencer S. Hsu, “Plane Suspect Was Listed in Terror Database,” The Washington Post, December 27, 2009, p. A1; Elisabeth Bumiller, “Napolitano Says No Evidence of Wider Terrorist Plot,” The New York Times, December 28, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com.
340 On vacation in Hawaii: Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, December 29, 2009, Remarks on Improving Homeland Security in Kaneohe, Hawaii, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/presdocs/2009
/DCPD-200901019.htm.
342 The final six-page report: Memorandum on the Attempted Terrorist Attack on December 25, 2009: Intelligence, Screening, and Watchlisting System Corrective Actions, January 7, 2010, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/presdocs/2010/
DCPD-201000009.htm.
342 After it was released: Press briefing, January 7, 2010, http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room.
343 “I think of Jim as the glue”: David Ignatius, “Jim Jones’s Team,” The Washington Post, June 7, 2009, p. A17.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with eight firsthand sources.
356 Things were closing in on them: Mark Mazzetti and Dexter Filkins, “Secret Joint Raid Captures Taliban’s Top Commander,” The New York Times, February 16, 2010, p. A1.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with 10 firsthand sources.
358 The operation into the town of Nawa: Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “In Helmand, a Model for Success?” The Washington Post, October 22, 2009, p. A1.
359 Even though a blight: Richard A. Oppel, Jr., “Mysterious Blight Destroys Large Portion of Afghan Poppy Harvest,” The New York Times, May 13, 2010, A12.
361 Several days earlier: Kimberly Dozier, “Petraeus: Times Square Bomber Likely Acted Alone,” Associated Press, May 7, 2010.
363 During my Oval Office interview: Interview with President Barack H. Obama, July 10, 2010. 369 When I interviewed President Obama: Ibid.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with six firsthand sources.
370 The CIA had won and the feud: Walter Pincus, “Senate Panel Backs DNI in Turf Battle with CIA,” The Washington Post, July 23, 2009, p. A3; Washington Post editorial, “Settling an Intelligence Turf War,” The Washington Post, November 17, 2009.
370 “Covert action programs”:
DNI Principles for Covert Action:
1. Covert action should be employed only to support an overarching set of clearly defined, well articulated U.S. policy objectives.
2. Covert action should not be employed for the purpose of circumventing a lack of U.S. public support for any particular overt policy.
3. The secrecy and flexibility of covert action does not make it a substitute for overt diplomatic efforts, strategic communications, economic sanctions or incentives, or military action. It should be employed only as a complement to robust overt policy objectives and activities.
4. Covert action to influence the short-term policies and actions of other governments should be routinely evaluated to ensure it is not undermining the development of stable, non-corrupt and representative governments that respect the human rights of their citizens, control their territory and borders, and resist aggression from their neighbors.
5. Not every clandestine activity conducted by the U.S. government is or must be an unacknowledged covert action activity. For example, the Department of Defense, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and other elements can and do conduct activities that will be undertaken in the manner intended to minimize the likelihood of discovery, but those activities are not necessarily covert activities.
6. Covert action programs should continually be considered for transition to non-covert activities, whether classified or unclassified.
371 Within several minutes: Jake Tapper, “Exclusive: President Obama to Replace Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair,” Political Punch (blog), ABC News, http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/
2010/05/exclusive-president-obama-to
-replace-director-of-national-intelligence
-dennis-blair.html.
371 It contained some disparaging and mocking comments: Michael Hastings, “The Runaway General,” Rolling Stone, June 25, 2010, http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/
n
ews/17390/119236.
372 “I believe that General McChrystal”: Defense Secretary Gates Statement on McChrystal Profile, June 22, 2010, http://www.defense.gov/releases/.
373 “Is removing the general from his position”: White House press briefing by Robert Gibbs, June 22, 2010, http://www.whitehouse.gov.
373 Obama told me: Interview with President Barack H. Obama, July 10, 2010. 373 At 1:43 P.M. on Wednesday, June 23: President Obama, Remarks on the Resignation of General Stanley A. McChrystal as Commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, June 23, 2010, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/presdocs/2010/
DCPD-201000525.htm.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The information in this chapter comes primarily from an on-the-record interview with President Obama.
375 In the interview I had with the president: Interview with President Barack H. Obama, July 10, 2010. 375 This was the speech he gave: State Senator Barack Obama, “Against Going to War in Iraq,” October 2, 2002, http://www.asksam.com/ebooks/releases.asp?file=Obama-Speeches.ask&dn=Against%20Going%20to%20War%20with%20Iraq.
375 Isn’t this undetermined cost: Interview with President Barack H. Obama, July 10, 2010.
377 Near the end of the interview: Ibid.
378 “For war was not just a military campaign”: Rick Atkinson, The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944 (New York: Henry Holt, 2007), p. 121.
378 “I sympathize with this view,” he said: Interview with President Barack H. Obama, July 10, 2010.
378 “The instruments of war do have a role”: President Obama, Remarks on Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, December 10, 2010, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/presdocs/2009