The notable political developments today are statements from former President Hashemi Rafsanjani — thanks to an EA reader, we have an English summary — and from Mir Hossein Mousavi for 16 Azar, which we have posted in an abridged translation.
And don’t forget that our 1st Enduring America Photo Caption Contest, featuring a Mr M. Ahmadinejad, is still open.
Afghanistan/Pakistan: It’s super-spin day for the Obama Administration, as it sells the President’s escalation plan on Sunday talk shows. (There’s also puffery in the “inside reports” in The New York Timesand The Washington Post on how Obama reached his decision.)
We’ve got transcripts, with snap analysis, of the interviews of Secretary of State Clinton and Secretary of Defense Gates on ABC News and on NBC News. Meanwhile, here’s the top-quality, hard-hitting questioning you can expect from CNN’s John King: “We’ll use the Magic Wall for help during our interview w/ National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones.” (He has even put up a picture of the magical Magic Wall.)
Have a good viewing of the video or read of the transcript of the interview of General James Jones, President Obama’s National Security Advisor, on CBS’s Face the Nation and you’ll get the big story. The fight between Obama advisors who want to limit US involvement in Afghanistan and the military commanders who want escalation just went public, big-time. The decision of General Stanley McChrystal, in a speech in London, to trash Vice President Joe Biden’s preference for a tightly-defined American effort against Al Qa’eda was a Take That to the Administration. That’s why he got hauled aboard Air Force One, as President Obama made a special stopover en route to Copenhangen, for “consultations”.
Jones, with his military background, has been Obama’s chosen tough guy to face down the commanders (thus his comment this summer to the commanders in Afghanistan that, faced with a request for more troops, the President would react, “WTF?”). So, watching and reading this, how firm a line will Obama hold against the persistent demands and public pressures of his Generals?
(Below the CBS interview we’ve added the transcript of Jones’ appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, which goes over similar ground.)
BOB SCHIEFFER, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: General, thank you for coming. More bad news from Afghanistan this morning. Eight American troops killed in this latest attack. This as the White House is debating whether to send more troops to Afghanistan. I want to begin by asking you about this meeting that the president had with General McChrystal, our top general in Afghanistan. He met with him in Copenhagen after the general basally shot down the idea of changing strategy in Afghanistan. Two questions. First, did the president feel that the general was trying to bring pressure on him in public and did he tell him not to do that?
GEN. JIM JONES, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, Bob, first, thank you very much for having me on. It’s good to be back. Secondly to answer your question, I wasn’t at that meeting. And this is a one- on-one meeting between the two of them. And I haven’t really talked to the president about that. So I couldn’t answer this question except to say that the two had a good meeting and it was a good opportunity for them to get to know each other a little bit better. I’m sure they exchanged very direct views. Read the rest of this entry »
JOHN KING: Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us.
We learned as the week came to an end about a new underground secret Iranian nuclear bunker, and the president described it this way. “The size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program.”
Tell us more about what we know, and do you have any doubt Iran was using this facility or planned to use this facility to develop nuclear weapons?
GATES: We’ve been watching the construction of this facility for quite some time, and one of the reasons that we waited to make it public was to ensure that our conclusions about its purpose were right. Read the rest of this entry »
KING: I want to begin with the economy. I get out of Washington every week for the show, and we’re in Connecticut and Rhode Island this week. And I knew I was going to be seeing you, so I asked 20 people: “What would you ask if you had the privilege that I have at this moment?” Eighteen of the twenty, eighteen, asked a variation of…
Our readers, who are a pretty sharp bunch, might have noticed that I was none too happy when I posted the video and transcripts of the Sunday interviews with the Obama Administration’s Dynamic Duo on Afghanistan, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and the US Ambassador to Kabul, General Karl Eikenberry.
In part, that was because of the insipid set-up questioning of CNN’s John King and the asinine opener of NBC’s David Gregory, “Have the American people lost the will to fight this war?”. In part, it was because Mullen and Eikenberry were hopeless once they got beyond their scripted talking points (to Gregory’s credit, he exposed the limitations with the challenge, “We’re rebuilding this nation?….Is that what the American people signed up for?”).
But, mainly, I’m angry, concerned, resigned because the strategy of Mullen was so blatant: “You know, let’s just aside this complicated politics stuff and throw in some more soldiers.” Read the rest of this entry »
This may be one of the most depressing interviews I have read since the start of the Obama Administration. (And it will get worse later today — I have seen clips from a similar performance on NBC’s Meet the Press; we’re waiting for the full video and transcript.) The White House, amidst the political complexity of this week’s events in Afghanistan, put up two military men — Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and the US Ambassor to Afghanistan, General Karl Eikenberry — for set-up questions from John King.
The political knowledge in this exchange is almost vacant, with the platitudes about “democracy” (note Eikenberry’s excited spin that he couldn’t get the indelible ink off his finger) substituting for the serious issues about the election — today, there are reports that the declaration of the vote may be delayed because of fraud allegations — and the politics beyond it.
Instead the conversation turns to militarising the US involvement, with the question, “How many more troops?” And, of course, this is all rationalised by skipping over the Afghan people and referring to “Al Qa’eda” (who, I’ll note for the record, are not in Afghanistan but in another country).
KING: This is the “State of the Union” report for Sunday, August 23rd.
In Afghanistan today, both President Hamid Karzai and his top challenger are claiming victory in last week’s election, raising tensions, even though it could be weeks or more before the official results are certified. It is an uncertain military situation, as well, with fighting between U.S. forces and the Taliban intensifying. And fresh indications President Obama could soon be asked to commit more American troops.
Here to talk about this and other global challenges are the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen , and the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry. He joins us from Kabul.
And Mr. Ambassador, let me start with you. There are complaints, escalating complaints this Sunday about fraud in the elections. On the threshold question of will this balloting be credible, what is your answer?
EIKENBERRY: Well, John, it was an extraordinary two months that we’ve been through, with this being a very historic election. Afghanistan, the first time in the past 30 years that the Afghan people have led an election for their president, for provincial councils, very intense campaign that occurred over the last two months, all new in Afghanistan. Presidential televised debates, campaign rallies. A very civil debate that occurred over this time. Read the rest of this entry »
Days before US forces are supposed to withdraw from Iraqi cities, American commander General Raymond Odierno appeared on CNN’s State of the Union. As we’ve noted many times, Odierno is a veteran in public relations. This was no exception, as he fudged the issue of withdrawal amidst the recent escalation of violence and bombings: “We’ll still be conducting significant operations outside of the cities and the belts around the major cities.” Meanwhile, John King’s hard-hitting interview style was highlighted in the final moments of the interview, as he turned to Odierno’s encounter with TV satirist Stephen Colbert and closed with this assessment: “We close and say thank you to you, sir, we want to make sure you know you’re in our thoughts.”
JOHN KING: Tuesday is the deadline for U.S. troops to pull out of bases in Iraq’s major cities and to turn major security operations over to Iraqi forces. It is without a doubt a major benchmark in the more than six-year war, and to some, a huge achievement. But even some U.S. generals say they would prefer more time in some cities, and there are worries the shift in power could bring a spike in violence. The man managing this delicate shift is the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, who joins us now from Camp Victory in Baghdad. Good morning to you, General, and thank you for your time.
A simple question off the top. Are the Iraqis ready for these awesome new responsibilities?
ODIERNO: I do believe they’re ready, John. They’ve been working towards this for a long time. And security remains good. We’ve seen constant improvement in the security force, we’ve seen constant improvement in governance. And I believe this is the time for us to move out of the cities and for them to take ultimate responsibility. Read the rest of this entry »
JOHN KING: General Petraeus, welcome back to “State of the Union.” I want to start with the offensive under way by the Pakistani military in Pakistan. It took a long time for you to convince Pakistan to get about this. And I’m starting at the map so I can pull out and show our viewers the area we’re talking about, the Swat district up here, right in here.
Just a basic question for you, sir. This offensive has been under way for quite a bit of time now. How effective is it?
PETRAEUS: Well, let me say, I’m not sure I accept the characterization that you said. This is Pakistan’s offensive, and it was galvanized by Taliban action, certainly not by American rhetoric or encouragement. Read the rest of this entry »
Iran: It’s the day before the important protests of 16 Azar. In addition to our LiveBlog, we have Enduring America’s analysis of the significance of the demonstrations and an opinion from Iran News Now, “Why the Green Movement Will Prevail”. The routes and information for 16 Azar are posted, and we’ve got tonight’s rooftop “Allahu Akhbar” chants.
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Robert Gates on CNN’s “State of the Union”
KING: Mr. President, thank you for joining us.
Our readers, who are a pretty sharp bunch, might have noticed that I was none too happy when I posted the video and transcripts of the Sunday interviews with the Obama Administration’s Dynamic Duo on Afghanistan, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and the US Ambassador to Kabul, General Karl Eikenberry.
This may be one of the most depressing interviews I have read since the start of the Obama Administration. (And it will get worse later today — I have seen clips from a similar performance on NBC’s Meet the Press; we’re waiting for the full video and transcript.) The White House, amidst the political complexity of this week’s events in Afghanistan, put up two military men — Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and the US Ambassor to Afghanistan, General Karl Eikenberry — for set-up questions from John King.
Days before US forces are supposed to withdraw from Iraqi cities, American commander General Raymond Odierno appeared on CNN’s State of the Union. As we’ve noted many times, Odierno is a veteran in public relations. This was no exception, as he fudged the issue of withdrawal amidst the recent escalation of violence and bombings: “We’ll still be conducting significant operations outside of the cities and the belts around the major cities.” Meanwhile, John King’s hard-hitting interview style was highlighted in the final moments of the interview, as he turned to Odierno’s encounter with TV satirist Stephen Colbert and closed with this assessment: “We close and say thank you to you, sir, we want to make sure you know you’re in our thoughts.”
JOHN KING: General Petraeus, welcome back to “State of the Union.” I want to start with the offensive under way by the Pakistani military in Pakistan. It took a long time for you to convince Pakistan to get about this. And I’m starting at the map so I can pull out and show our viewers the area we’re talking about, the Swat district up here, right in here.
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