White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters President Obama is still “weeks away” from making his decision on whether to send up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
When Obama does decide, he wants to help Americans understand how he came to the conclusion, Gibbs said.
“The president has told us … that it is important for the American people to understand why he made the decision that he’s made,” Gibbs said today in his briefing. “And I anticipate that the president will spend some time walking the American people through the process that we’ve undertaken and the decision points that he’s made along the way to come to the ultimate conclusion that he’s come to.”
White House officials say they haven’t discussed if that will be in the form of a speech or if it will come in an Oval Office address. Obama has held seven meetings with his war council in the Situation Room and last week attended a pre-dawn ceremony for troops that had been killed in Afghanistan.
Gibbs said Obama has spent close to “20 direct hours of his time” on the issue, and added that he often re-reads his notes from the meetings in the evenings.
One question that also remains unanswered is whether Obama will travel to Afghanistan either before or after making the decision. Reporters expect it’s a strong possibility later this month when he leaves to spend more than a week in Asia or on the way back.
Here’s some more from Gibbs last week on how Obama will tell the American people:
“I think the President strongly believes that it’s important for the American people and for the international community to know his reasoning behind whatever decision he makes, and to clearly explain our goals and objectives in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, and the region as a whole.
So I anticipate that whatever form it ultimately takes, the President will use the occasion to explain some of that to the American people so that they understand his decision-making and his thought process.”
