President Obama told the American people tonight his rationale for sending 30,000 new troops to Afghanistan by offering a stern rebuke of mistakes made with the Iraq war and promising to be tough on Pakistan.
In his less than 35-minute speech, Obama did not offer a firm commitment for when the nearly 100,000 troops who will serve in combat in Afghanistan will return home, and instead assured cadets at West Point Military Academy and military families across the country that his decision did not come lightly. He also declared Afghanistan was no Vietnam.
He told them casualties weigh on him every day and that he feels he owes the troops “a mission that is clearly defined.”
Obama did not specifically mention what his advisers have been saying for weeks, that nine Situation Room meetings of his War Council prove the president is being deliberative, not “dithering,” but he said the process has helped him reach the right decision.
“The review has allowed me ask the hard questions, and to explore all of the different options along with my national security team, our military and civilian leadership in Afghanistan, and with our key partners,” Obama said. “Given the stakes involved, I owed the American people – and our troops – no less.”
Obama also blasted critics who suggested his decision took too long.
He used a national audience – perhaps his largest outside of a State of the Union address to Congress – to plug his push for job creation and to outline his own foreign policy platform.
Obama talked about his push for a world without nuclear weapons and an end to global poverty, and reminded the viewing audience he prohibited torture his first month in office and repeated he will close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
The president closed with the language of global friendship, saying “it’s easy to forget that when this war began we were united” due to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“I refuse to accept the notion that we cannot summon that unity again,” Obama said.
But before he event left the stage statements were coming in from key groups in the antiwar movement and left-leaning Vote Vets questioning if Obama had made the right decision.
Members of Congress took it farther, with some saying they oppose his call. Rep. Maxine Waters said on MSNBC she was disappointed and won’t support the increase, Rep. Louise Slaughter said the cost of the war is too much already and called for troops to come home.
In a bit of down is up, Republicans who had been criticizing the president said they were heartened by his choice, though they managed to attempt political point scoring.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, whose report calling for at least 40,000 more troops to avoid “mission failure” kicked off this weeks-long debate also issued a laudatory statement.
Here’s the close of the speech:
