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 The Beginning Of A Process For Making Some Eventual Determinations - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 9/28/09 — Monday, September 28, 2009 —  Q Robert, a couple of topics, first Afghanistan. Tomorrow you guys are having a meeting -- the President is meeting with the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, General Petraeus obviously on Afghanistan. Is that where he's going to at least lay out a timetable for making his strategy review decision, sort of saying --MR. GIBBS: No, I think I'll leave it at it's a number of weeks. Q Can you lay out a little bit of -- is tomorrow's agenda just hearing ideas? Is the President going to be talking? I mean, what is -- can you give a little more description? MR. GIBBS: We're not going to have a meeting to set a meeting agenda. We're going through the process of assessing where we are, what's changed, what needs to happen, where we need to go. This isn't going to be finished in one meeting, it's not going to be finished in several meetings; it's not going to be finished in several meetings. But this is the beginning of a process for making some eventual determinations -- understanding that, as we've said before, the President came into office, he asked that our policy be reviewed; in late March, in the lead up to elections the President requested 21,000 additional troops be sent to Afghanistan. The end of that number is beginning to get to Afghanistan now. But I think, again, as you heard Secretary Gates say over the weekend, in that time period we've had an election that has thus far been inconclusive and the United States does not pre-determine who that winner might be. And secondly, Secretary Gates said that the assessment of conditions on the ground were worse than previously assumed. Q So citing the -- the President cited the election, the uncertainty surrounding the election, can you do -- can you fully carry out or at least roll out a new strategy before there's certainty? MR. GIBBS: Well, that's one of the things that's going to be discussed over the course of the next several weeks. Q Is this a change you might wait to see -- MR. GIBBS: I'm not going to get into hypotheticals about what may or may not. I think that's what the meetings are for. Afghanistan | Defense Secretary Robert Gates | Military | President Obama | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | War on Terror | White House Press Corps Labels: Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Military, President Obama, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, War on Terror, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 7:39:00 PM  A Wholesale Reassessment Of The Strategy - Waldorf Astoria New York, New York Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 9/23/09 — Friday, September 25, 2009 —  Q Can I follow up on Afghanistan? In March, the President laid out a comprehensive strategy that was in part based on a civilian surge and new money for training. Is that now being reevaluated?MR. GIBBS: The President said in that speech that we would constantly assess and evaluate where we were in achieving the defined goal that he laid out in that speech in March. That's -- I think we've all, in the past several years, watched conflicts that we didn’t assess where we were and how we were getting there and where we were trying to go. In many ways, that's why we find ourselves where we are in Afghanistan. The President is determined not to repeat that, and instead, to assess constantly where we are. I think the President understands that decisions like this put our men and women in harm's way. And I think he owes it -- as he said over the weekend, he owes it to the parents of the men and women that we put in harm's way to constantly assess and evaluate where we are. I would point out a few things. The effort in Afghanistan continues robustly. The very last portion of the additional resources that the President okayed in March are beginning to arrive in Afghanistan. I think obviously this administration has taken our efforts against al Qaeda and extremist allies -- has taken the fight to them on many fronts, be it in South Asia, be it in the Indian Ocean area, be it in addressing threats with state and local authorities in the United States. So I sometimes get the feeling or the notion that because of this discussion and this assessment that somehow everything is on hold, and I think obviously that's not the case. Q If I could just follow up, I mean, it's one thing to reassess tactics, but this sounds like it's a wholesale reassessment of the strategy -- MR. GIBBS: Well, no, no -- Q -- the military thought they were -- understood what it was, European allies thought they understood what it was. MR. GIBBS: Well, again -- well, first of all, understand this is also being done in conjunction with European allies. Right? I mean, NATO is briefed on and working through the McChrystal assessment just as the national security team in the United States are. So the notion that somehow this isn't being done in conjunction with all of those that have equities or troops in the area I think is inaccurate. The President has, and continues to have, a defined goal for our mission in this region, and that is to disrupt, dismantle, and destroy al Qaeda and its extremist allies. There is an evaluation and assessment of the best tactics -- the best way tactically to achieve that, again, taking into account the assessment of where we are on the ground with a new commander, as well as different things like, as we mentioned, the outcome of recent elections -- all of which -- again, I think the President believes strongly we have to take into account moving forward and assess where we are, rather than simply continue in many ways as we did to get us where we are today. Afghanistan | NATO | Military | President Obama | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | War on Terror | White House Press Corps Labels: Afghanistan, Military, NATO, President Obama, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, War on Terror, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 5:46:00 AM We've Seen That Movie Before - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 9/17/09  MR. GIBBS: Suzanne, do you have one?Q Yes, on Afghanistan. Our Pentagon team has learned that General McChrystal made a decision in terms of the resources, the U.S. troops, that would be necessary in Afghanistan, but that he hasn't communicated that to the White House. Do you know if, for any reason, that he's been asked not to yet give that information to the White House at this point? MR. GIBBS: No, I don't think that -- best to my knowledge, that's not been also communicated to the Pentagon, and this would go up through the normal chain of command. I'd reiterate exactly what I said yesterday and what, quite frankly, the President said far more eloquently than I: We are going to take a broad assessment and review of where our policy stands in Afghanistan, and that we are going to assess and get that strategy right and use that strategy to make those resource decisions. We have all seen -- both in the somewhat short term and in the longer term -- what happens when one makes resource decisions and then looks for a strategy. I think there's some -- we've seen that movie before. The President is determined not to repeat that movie again. Afghanistan | General McChrystal | Military | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | War on Terror | White House Press Corps Labels: Afghanistan, General McChrystal, Military, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, War on Terror, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 4:10:00 AM Ungoverned Spaces - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 4/13/09 — Monday, April 13, 2009 —  MR. GIBBS: Do you have one more follow-up on this?Q No, I’m thinking about pirates. MR. GIBBS: All right. Well, thank you. MR. RESTREPO: Thank you, sir. Q So, pirates. MR. GIBBS: Yes, what's next? Q Well, the President talked, both in his statement yesterday and in his remarks today about addressing the bigger picture here, the increasingly problematic situation off the Horn of Africa. In his briefing over at the Pentagon, the Defense Secretary said, you know, some language, something like we're going to have to figure out what in the world to do, which implies that there really isn't much -- a plan or a strategy yet to figure out how to attack this problem. Can you talk about what's going on here? MR. GIBBS: When you say that, you mean the -- do you mean specifically maritime or do you mean -- I mean, obviously, you've got -- look, I think you've got a number of problems. Q Well, I mean, the maritime piracy problem, which I think is what the President was referring to when he said -- MR. GIBBS: Right. Well, I think also -- you know, the President has spoken about this before, and I'm sure will continue to speak about and work on the issue also of ungoverned spaces. And I don't think that can be in any way really minimized here. That's something that -- that trip when -- when he went to Africa in 2006, we spent some time in this region of the world and -- (Cell phone interruption.) MR. GIBBS: At least it's a normal ring. (Laughter.) We spent some time in this region of the world, and you quickly understand some of the challenges that lay before you. I think some of the things that we can -- that we have done and can continue to do to ensure maritime safety is to work for sustained international cooperation in order to coordinate security. Q Does that mean more military power on the part of the U.S.? MR. GIBBS: I think that is certainly -- operationally, I would point you over to the Pentagon, but I know in terms of the increased risk that we had over the past few days, you saw more resources and assets. Obviously this is a -- it's also a very huge expanse of space that has to be patrolled. I think also what has to happen is we do have to evaluate and be prepared to take stronger action interdicting acts of piracy. And I think another thing is to encourage greater efforts to bring individuals and groups suspected of these type of acts, to bring those to justice. We have seen an increase in this type of violence and I know the President is concerned about the safety and security of men and women that are in that area. Africa | Military | President Obama | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | White House Press Corps Labels: Africa, Military, President Obama, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 8:41:00 PM
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