President Hope N'Change Now Wants To Delay Afghanistan Troop Buildup

That was quick:

ABC News has learned that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has decided to delay a decision to send additional troops into Afghanistan until after the Obama administration concludes its ongoing review of the strategy for Afghanistan.

The surprising decision comes after the much anticipated proposal to send three additional combat brigades to Afghanistan -- or 17,000 troops as reported by ABC News last week -- was presented to Secretary Gates for his approval this afternoon. The Pentagon troop proposal anticipated a large Marine brigade to be followed by two Army Brigade Combat Teams, including a Stryker Brigade. The top US general in Afghanistan , Gen. David McKiernan favors using the armored vehicles as a way of extending his troops' presence to remote regions of Afghanistan.

Gates told Congress last week that he anticipated that should a decision to send additional brigades be made, "we could have two of those brigades there probably by late spring, and potentially a third by mid-summer."

It's unclear how long the decision will be delayed given that the reviews are expected to go on for at least another few weeks and possibly a few months.

Now, forgive me if I misheard,but it seems to me that a certain presidential candidate made a huge deal of attacking President Bush for 'taking his eye off the ball' and not devoting proper attention to what this candidate called 'the real war, in Afghanistan.'

Dare I mention his name?

Actually as little as ' 5 days ago, President Obama was saying he wanted to add troops to turn back the Taliban, but hey..things change.

The real story likely has to do with some of our European NATO allies telling the One that hell will freeze over before they commit any combat troops....and with what I see as the Administration's real desires, which is a major troop drawdown in both Iraq and Afghanistan so the defense budget can be cut substantially and the money spent on 'more important things' like the gimmees in Obama's so -called stimulus package.

That would also explain the stories of a major rift between Generals Petraeus and Ordiano and the Obama Administration ( a commendation for that one to Joshua's Army member Ymarsakar).

Is the delay will going to be used to come up with a plausible exit strategy? I wouldn't be at all surprised.