Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Signaling he's decided on new troop levels for the Afghanistan war, President Barack Obama said Tuesday he intends to "finish the job" on his watch and destroy terrorist networks in the region. The president said he would reveal his decision on how many additional soldiers to deploy to Afghanistan after Thanksgiving. The White House is aiming for an announcement by Obama either Tuesday or Wednesday in a national address. Congressional hearings will quickly follow. Military officials and others have been expecting Obama to settle on a middle-ground option that would deploy an eventual 32,000 to 35,000 U.S. forces...

WASHINGTON — Hours after being named a Nobel peace laureate, President Barack Obama Friday shouldered his duties as commander in chief of the US armed forces and convened his war council for crucial talks on Afghan strategy. Obama gathered his top political, military, and security aides in the secure Situation Room of the White House for the fourth in a series of in-depth consultations on rescuing the US mission in the unpopular eight-year war. "The president had a robust conversation about the security and political challenges in Afghanistan and the options for building a strategic approach going forward," an administration...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama and his Afghanistan war council turn to Pakistan Wednesday, exactly eight years after the first thunderous US air raids heralded a conflict that still lacks an exit strategy. Obama will gather top security, military and political advisors in the secure White House Situation Room for a third in-depth meeting on Afghan policy as he mulls whether to pitch thousands more troops into the unpopular war. On Tuesday, the president told lawmakers he had no intention of reducing the US military footprint in Afghanistan, which will reach 68,000 troops by the end of this year,...

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq, Sept. 3, 2007 – Local tribes siding with coalition forces to repel al Qaeda must be incorporated into Iraq’s central government and its security forces, a senior Defense Department official said. The official spoke to reporters on background while traveling to Iraq with Defense Department Secretary Robert M. Gates. Gates joined President Bush and other top U.S. officials in a surprise meeting here today. It is likely the president’s last meeting with all key leaders before deciding the course of U.S. involvement in Iraq. The official told reporters in flight than an “awakening” of tribal...

Al ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq, Sept. 3, 2007 – President Bush has assembled his “war council” here in a surprise holiday weekend-meeting, at this remote airbase, in what is probably the group’s last meeting before the president makes his decision on next steps for U.S. involvement in the war. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Adm. William Fallon, commander of U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker are all slated to meet with...

Bush holds 'war council' in Iraq Mr Bush is facing intense debate over his troop surge strategy US President George W Bush has met senior US and Iraqi officials at a US air base in Anbar province in Iraq.The talks at al-Asad air base were attended by the US secretary of state, defence secretary, the US ambassador to Iraq and the head of US forces there. They were joined by Iraq's PM Nouri Maliki and other senior Iraqis. Mr Bush is facing pressure at home for a US withdrawal, but he insisted any pull out will only result from...