Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters this morning she wants more information on President Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan. Though she said “the president has spoken,” when asked if Democrats in the House would attempt to stand in the way of Obama’s new plan, she said there are still questions about the strategy Congress needs answers to “so we can make some judgment about the nature of the threat” in Afghanistan.
Pelosi called on Obama’s war council to come to Congress and brief all members on the details of the strategy. The Secretaries of State and Defense as well as other Pentagon leaders have come to the Hill this week to take questions on the strategy, but Pelosi said those committee appearances were not enough.
Pelosi said she wants to know what changed to lead Pentagon generals to apparently change their recommendations on the war after George W. Bush left office. Pelosi said that during those years, the Bush administration said generals didn’t say more troops were needed in the Afghan theater. Now, they do. Pelosi said the nature of what changed “is what members of Congress want to know.”
The speaker praised Obama’s speech at West Point Tuesday night, calling it a “tour de force.” She also said she recognized the difficult political and foreign policy terrain Obama had to navigate when drafting the new war strategy.
“This much is clear,” she said, “for seven-and-a-half years, President Bush did not have a plan” for Afghanistan. “[Obama] has been dealt a terrible hand, and now he has to deal with that.”
Asked how Congress will handle paying for Obama’s new strategy, Pelosi said “the deficit will be a concern” when Congress reviews the costs of sending more troops to Afghanistan. But she personally rejected Rep. David Obey’s (D-WI) plan to levy a war surtax on middle class Americans when asked about it.
“I’m not in support of the proposal,” she said.
