President Obama is calling world leaders all day to outline in general terms his decision for sending more troops to Afghanistan and he’s also deployed Vice President Joe Biden and key Cabinet secretaries to phone allies today and tomorrow in the lead up to the announcement.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama added Danish Prime Minister Anders Rasmussen to his list of calls on Afghanistan.
“The president expressed his appreciation for Denmark’s leadership in this process. The president also updated the prime minister on his review of our strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and thanked him for his country’s significant contribution to the effort in Afghanistan,” Gibbs said.
In addition, Obama is calling President Karzai, President Zardari, Chancellor Merkel, Prime Minister Tusk of Poland, President Hu of China and Prime Minister Singh of India to offer details of his decision, to be formally announced during a speech tomorrow night..
Gibbs said administration officials, including Biden, General Jim Jones, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Adm. Mike Mullen of the Joint chiefs are will “make consultation calls to our allies over the course of the next many hours before the speech.”
As TPMDC has reported, Gates and Clinton are testifying before the Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. The House Armed Services Committee just announced they will testify Thursday at 1 p.m. before that full panel as well.
Gibbs said in the speech Tuesday Obama will touch on the cost of the war, and said the nine meetings of his war council have been the most extensive discussions of
It is “neither the beginning of this debate nor the end of it,” Gibbs said.
Late Update: Another hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
