The White House scrambles to defend President Barack Obamaâ„¢s leadership style in the face of blistering criticism by former Pentagon chief Robert Gates in his forthcoming memoir.
In the book, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” Gates accuses President Obama and his top civilian advisers of lacking faith in their own strategy for the war in Afghanistan especially the surge of 30,000 troops in late 2009.
Å“The fact that there were some debates in the prolonged policy review over Afghanistan is hardly news,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Wednesday.
Carney said that Obama “believes thoroughly in the mission” in Afghanistan and was “extremely conscious of the responsibility” involved in deploying troops to a war zone.
In his book, the former defense secretary also accuses Vice President Joe Biden of Å“poisoning the well” with the military and being Å“wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
Carney said that Obama disagrees with Gatesâ„¢ views about Biden. Å“The president greatly values the counsel of the vice president on matters foreign and domestic.”
He also hit back at reports in the book of clashes between Obama’s political team and military leaders, saying the president had intentionally assembled a Å“team of rivals” to encourage Å“robust” debates about policies.
“When you pick a team of rivals, you do so because you expect competing points of view,” Carney said.
Republicans seized on the memoir as a confirmation of their criticism of Obama as a commander in chief.
Å“I blame Obama and Biden for not listening to their commanders, rejecting sound advice and Bob Gates talks about that in his book, how military commanders were overruled by the political people in the White House,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said Tuesday night on Fox News.
The forthcoming memoir threatens to exacerbate current criticism of US policy in Afghanistan and Iraq. It reveals deep divisions between the White House and the Pentagon.
HJ/HJ
With permission
Source: Press TV